With more and more people turning to the internet to find jobs, it is crucial to be aware of unscrupulous parties who are only out to get your personal information and money.
Here are some of the most common job scams that exist today.
1. Work-from-home scams
Generating income from home has always been appealing, and scammers know this. That’s why one of the most common scams are ads that promise great pay in exchange for work from home.
These seek to take your money through various means, such as by making you pay fees for enrolment, training, or useless certifications. Examples include:
- Stuffing envelopes, which involves signing up by paying a fee to stuff envelopes from home. The only commission you ever receive, however, is by signing others up to pay the non-refundable registration fee.
- Reselling merchandise, which involves buying luxury products for less than their retail price and reselling them at a higher price.
- Data entry scams that, unlike legitimate data entry jobs, promise great pay but require an upfront registration or training fee.
- Reshipping, which consists of receiving packages at home, getting rid of the original receipts, repackaging the products, and reshipping them. However, the “employer” never sends you a paycheck.
- Rebate processing, a job that promises high income for processing rebates from home for a non-refundable training fee, but actually involves placing ads online and getting a small commission every time a product gets sold.
- Product assembling, where the company hires you after you pay the enrolment fee and purchase the materials, but later rejects the finished products.
2. Fake jobs on social media
Since 53.6% of the population uses social media platforms, they’ve become a popular place for scammers. Commonly, they create fake Facebook pages or LinkedIn profiles to advertise “opportunities”, but occasionally even real accounts can post false job ads.
And although many platforms try to block fake profiles and job ads, some occasionally slip through the cracks.
When it comes to job offers on social media, always make sure the recruiter or employer’s social media account is legitimate.
3. Scams on verified job sites
Even verified and popular job-search sites like Linkedin Jobs or Google Jobs are not 100% immune to fake ads.
These kinds of job sites work by collecting listings from company websites, recruiting agencies, newspapers, or companies that upload job offers directly on the platform, allowing scammers easy access.
4. Job-placement service scams
Another common scam involves job-placement services such as staffing agencies. Note that these can be online or offline, such as receiving a phone call from a supposed headhunter.
Thankfully, spotting such hoaxes is pretty simple: headhunters or placement professionals will never ask you to pay for their services. In most cases, it’s the employer that foots the bill.
5. Fake recruitment websites
Scammers can go as far as to create fake employment or recruitment websites. Unfortunately, these can be harder to spot as many such websites are indistinguishable from legitimate ones.
You will usually be asked for sensitive information such as your bank details, under the pretence of a pre-screening or with the claim that they will deposit your paycheck immediately.
How to avoid scams?
- Do an online search and check if the recruiter, company, or job ad is legit.
- Reject job offers that require little to no experience.
- Never agree to a wire transfer of any sort.
- Don’t interact with potential employers who urge you to act quickly.
This article first appeared in jobstore.com.
Jobstore is an online job site that specialises in providing jobseekers with the latest job opportunities by matching talented individuals with reputable companies in Malaysia. Find your dream job with over 40,000 job vacancies in Malaysia.