Employment Scams
Occasionally our office sees students who have fallen prey to experienced con artists who post as recruiters offering employment opportunities that may seem attractive or “too good to be true.” Positions may be posted on Craigslist, sent to your email account, Internet job listing websites, etc. Our screening process for employers requesting access to Handshake is stringent but occasionally a scammer may even make it past our processes. If you receive a suspicious email, refer to the characteristics of a scam below to see if the email fits any characteristics listed. If you are still unclear of the validity of the email after reviewing the information, please contact our office to speak with a member of the Employer Relations Team.
Typical Characteristics of a Scam
- Employer email may claim they found your resume on a site such as Monster, Indeed, or other job sites. You may not remember whether you applied on those job sites.
- Employer pretends to be a legitimate employer but advertises opportunities unrelated to employer hiring needs.
- Business name is not easily identifiable. Business website not listed or if provided there is typically no substance to the information provided.
- Email address of the ‘recruiter’ is typically a Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc. address. Often their email domain name does not match the business for which they claim to work.
- Email may be a phishing scam. Emails will appear to be legitimate and claims there is an urgent need to log into your account and verify personal information through a link which will transfer you to a false website. Any personal information you provide may give the scammer access to your accounts.
- Vague job responsibilities and language that may be poor and include grammatical errors. Job may include personal assistants, mystery shopping, shopping duties, etc. and the employer may be out of the country.
- Employer does not meet you face-to-face but instead interviews you through online chat, Google Hangout, etc.
- Job is advertised as high paying, no experience necessary, work your own hours, etc.
- May charge a fee to access any job opportunities. The employer may indicate you have a job but require you pay a fee for training materials, certification, or other expenses. NOTE: Employers and employment firms should not ask you to pay them for the promise of a job.
- Employer offers to send you a check to deposit into your own account. You are told to keep a percentage of it for your own pay but are then asked to withdraw cash, using it to pay for various items that they ship to ‘clients’. You may be asked to transfer funds from your account to the ‘employers’ business accounts. Once the check clears (which can take a few days to a few weeks), it is determined to be fraudulent.
It’s a tough job market out there! Being scammed is additional stress you do not need.
How can you avoid a scam?
- Do not provide money up front and do not accept a payment for services you have not provided.
- Never provide your bank account, credit card numbers, driver’s license or passport information when applying for a position.
- Be cautious of payments made by wire service, courier, or who indicate they are using a third party to pay earnings.
- Be cautious of employers who are not willing to meet in person or are recruiting from overseas.
- Be cautious of email addresses not associated with a legitimate business.
- Watch for emails written that lack proper verb usage or poor grammar. Emails may have text in all caps or in bold font.
- Conduct your own search using key information from the email such as the name of the position, the “recruiter” name, and email address (i.e. johnsmith@uscolleagegea.com scam; John Smith, US College GEA scam; or Personal Assistant for US College GEA scam).
- Reach out to the employer provided in any communication to confirm job availability, contact information, and email address.