Laid-Off Workers Are Flooded With Fake Job Offers (wsj.com) 25
Employment scams using fake job opportunities to swindle applicants are on the rise and have found a new, prime target in laid-off tech workers. From a report: These schemes -- which often involve fictitious job listings, interviews with fake recruiters and sham onboarding processes to steal job seekers' money or identities -- proliferated during the pandemic alongside virtual hiring and remote work, according to Federal Trade Commission data. Scammers now appear to be zeroing in on workers who have recently lost jobs, particularly in the tech industry, workforce experts and recent job-scam victims say. The number of reported job scams nearly tripled to 104,000 between 2019 and 2021 and remained elevated in 2022, according to the FTC. U.S. workers lost more than $200 million from employment-related scams in 2021, up from $133 million in 2019, agency data show.
Simple solution (Score:2)
Meet the recruiter in person at their office before filling out any paperwork.
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Anything else is likely to be similar to my employment offers. I get a Statement of Work. We both sign it. They pay my company by check, net 10. For most companies I still have to go on-site to pick up a badge, laptop, and phone.
and the remote / 3rd party recruiter that is not l (Score:2)
and the remote / 3rd party recruiter that is not local?
Or cases like the JOB is at X site but the firm doing the hiring is out of state.
Hired trolls are workers too! (Score:1)
I hear people like you get paid by the number of responses. This ones on me!
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Most people don't have access to a time machine to travel back to 2019.
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I've never interviewed for a job where I had the opportunity to physically interact with the recruiter before submitting an application, or at least my resume. Many times the recruiter is located somewhere very far away from where I live and where the job is. Not realistic for the vast majority of job seekers.
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Many job offers are fake only to satisfy legal requirements to offer jobs to external candidates. The question is how much will these fake jobs cost the job seeker and if there is a significant scam element. Any cash up front, such as a Amway, has always indicated a scam. Piece wise or commission only jobs, such as those that sprung
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Meet the recruiter in person at their office before filling out any paperwork.
The body shops (eg Robert Half and their ilk) want you to fill out all of the paperwork before they even consider you for a job. I fell for that exactly once - they told me there was a position and I had to "hurry up and get submitted by EOB that day." It was all bullshit.
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What if their offices and recruiters are fake too? :P
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good luck. no employer I've dealt with would have paid a sign-on first. only after pretty much every single piece of paper has been signed would they even start the process. Generally it shows up with the first paycheck, sometimes later than that.
Re:Anyone who falls for this, deserves it. (Score:5, Insightful)
So they send you a Check, they get the return check with your bank account info, as well because it passed they have your info now, and will take that $1000 + whatever you have left back to them.
Lets face it, if you are out of work, you are normally going to feel more desperate, and will have to take risks to get by. Especially if you applying for a job at a smaller company, they are not going to give you a sign on bonus, unless there is a lot of competition out there.
I have serious issues with the Idea if the Person Gets scammed, then they deserved it, because they were either too Greedy, Stupid, or Lazy to catch on and prevent it. While the Greedy, Stupid and Lazy folks can get scammed due to their own failings, however there are a lot of others who can get scammed because they are desperate, overwhelmed and exhausted.
The person who had lost their job, but have bills to pay, may be Desperate, thus may do things that a Greedy person would, because when you are desperate, you have to focus on yourself more than others to get past the current crisis.
A person who is elderly, is often a late adopter to technology. When technology finally becomes mainstream they become overwhelmed because they have to be forced to use technology that has been evolving for the past few years which gives them a steep learning curve. Which will make them overwhelmed trying to get up to speed, which might make them look stupid.
If you have been ill, or going threw a lot in your life, or had a stressful toxic work envrionment... You may be exhausted you really cannot deal with too much more conflict or stressors. You can no longer keep in goof form, and you are hunting for the easy way out. Which may make you seem like you are actually a Lazy person, where you are actually just exhausted mentally and/or physically so your guard is down.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Happened to me in December. Still hurts.
I was about to start a holiday job at UPS as a delivery person using my own vehicle. I was laid off in April 2022 and have been a graphic designer for 26 years. It's been hell trying to even get an interview as a graphic designer anywhere, let alone a response.
So I was being a grown up, swallowed my pride, and went to UPS. It was good pay and pretty fair hours. I always heard that UPS was a good place to work, but I had education and years of experience doing graphic
3am (Daytime in Nigeria) You've been accepted (Score:1)
received an invoice just don't pay it! (Score:2, Insightful)
received an invoice just don't pay it!
Twenty years ago this was happening.../. covered (Score:2)
Twenty years ago this was happening...even covered it here on /.
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
citking writes
"News.com.com reports that, in an attempt to curb identity theft on its service, online career listing site Monster.com has begun warning its users of fake job postings bent on stealing personal information. 'Regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers', according to an e-mail sent by the compa
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No enforcement (Score:3)
Laws without enforcement only constrain honest people.
They are hitting FB local groups as well... (Score:2)
There was a scammer(s?) that loved to post fake job offers on our FB neighborhood pages claiming to have 3rd shift jobs nearby for Amazon (including transport to/from the job), or even better; work at home for Netflix. Both were 3rd shift positions, claiming up to $85/hr. They'd post hiring events to lure victims in.
And looking at their website, it was obvious they were not legit, (generic with unfinished pages in the wordpress template) but I'm sure lots of out of work folks fell for it, desperate for an
Priorities (Score:1)
If Bubba Wallace sees a garage pull string that scares him there's 15 FBI agents at the ready.
For this.... ?