Yet another way that the scammers are coming at us is through “work-from-home” opportunities. They will call/email/text/post with promises of lucrative work, but end up taking advantage of hopeful people. Here are some details to help you identify work-from-home scams:
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is. For example, I see a lot of Amazon job scams abounding, where they promise $275/day, plus a company laptop and phone. But an entry-level Amazon job might pay $15/hr. How realistic is it that you would find such a job on Facebook that pays double what is normal?
- When they ask for money up-front from you, do not pay and back away. It doesn’t matter if they say it is for job training or other initial expenses that sound reasonable. No legitimate employer will make you pay before you work. Also be wary of giving out bank account info, even if it’s for “direct deposit”. That can always be setup later, after a job opportunity has proven itself.
- False urgency should set off an alarm bell in your mind. Legitimate employers will interview and hire you with a slow, boring, mundane process. Someone urging you to sign up NOW before the opportunity is GONE is probably pulling a fast one.
- Try to verify who is actually hiring for the job, and then investigate that company. Can you Google that company and learn more about it? Try doing a web search for the company’s name plus the word “complaint” or “scam”. While you’re searching, can you find the jobs they’re offering on other, big-name websites? If you can find the same job listing on Indeed.com or Monster.com, then that legitimizes those opportunities.
- If the work is with an individual and not a company, then you must meet with them, face-to-face. And they will have to provide other proofs that they are who they say they are and how they are connected to your region and community.
How to Respond
If you encounter a Work-at-Home scam, don’t communicate with the sender. Block their number, mark their emails as spam. If you see it posted on social media, it would be extra-helpful if you report the post and get it removed. And for extra-credit, you can always report any scam or fraud attempt to the FTC.
If you figure out that a job opportunity you’re involved in is a scam, you should:
- contact the bank attached to account numbers you may have shared
- change passwords to any email or purchasing accounts that you’ve used with the scammer
- talk with your local police
- monitor your credit reports
In many cases, job scammers are just looking to get money from their marks. But with the kind of info they collect on a victim, other types of fraud and identity theft are possible. Victims of this scam should also look into freezing their credit. Talk with your bank to see if they recommend any particular identity-monitoring service.
Epilogue: Scammer Interaction
I do not recommend that you communicate with scammers, once you learn what they are. But for those interested, here’s my latest interaction (using a disposable account) with a work-from-home scammer:
The link that I sent didn’t actually go to a resume. It just led to a resume-building website, but when the scammer clicked on it, the link logged their IP address and allowed me to see where they were on the globe:
After chatting them in their local language, they blocked me.