Career opportunity scams

There has been an increase in small businesses that promise to give you a job. Unfortunately, such offers come with the "click on the link below" option that requires you to fill out a form and submit your financial and personal information, resulting in a phishing scam. 

In addition, some want to gain such information by sending links to downloads that contain viruses that can penetrate the client's computer and access all the data/ information.

How To Spot Fake Employers?

The employer hires the job seeker without an interview or communication regarding the work or the job profile. Instead, they ask the candidate to send their bank details and social security numbers. 

The prospective employer should not ask you to pay or buy something; they should never ask to transfer money from the candidate's account for any reason, nor should they ask you to buy anything from a website.

Misrepresenting your job profile, where your work supports criminal activities, can lead to risks.

The employer should not use personal email addresses to communicate; they should always use the official business email.

How To Protect Yourself?

Avoid blind advertisements for jobs where the company has no name in the market and its adverts look appealing. Instead, you should hover over the link in the application forms to see the URL to determine if it is a reliable firm. 

Do not open links and attachments sent by strangers without verifying their details or checking the attachments, as it can be a source of viruses. Check the employers' online profiles and see if they have a professional presence. Also, check their email address, call the company and ask about the offer. 

Seek references and other details.

Alternative Frauds

There are other scenarios when the recruiter asks the client who you have been interviewing with. It indicates unethical work practices where they are trying to find who is hiring, and they may not accept the client interviewing with other firms. 

Sometimes, they ask what types of jobs you are interviewing for. It indicates that your current employer or someone who knows your current job profile posted the job, and they do not intend to hire anyone as no job opening exists. 

The employer posts messages with bad grammar, misspellings and errors. Some send messages impersonating a reputable organisation, but the links do not match the exact domains, and the contact address is difficult to locate. 

You should take care if it is difficult to verify the identity of the advertisement. Be careful of remote job offers. Some of the most impersonated sites are eCommerce sites like Amazon. If you have suffered losses through such job offerings, report it to the regulatory agencies.