Are you looking for a job? Many Americans who are either unemployed, underemployed, lacking job security or seeking a second job to make ends meet are constantly on the job search. The World Wide Web provides many connections for job opportunities but unfortunately job scammers know this is a source for job seekers too.
According to the Bureau of Labor of Statistics for the United States, the unemployment rate is 9%, and has been and up and down but 8% or above for the past two years. This makes the job scam statistics from a recent AOL survey very scary with one in nine people at least knowing someone who has been a victim of a job scam and one out of every 33 people looking for a job reporting being the victim of a job scam.
In the past job scam victims were more likely to be college students or stay at home moms lured by envelope stuffing scams that eventually asked victims to run their own ads charging $19.95 for more information on stuffing envelopes from home jobs. Today scams still hit those markets with everything from Be a Twilight Movie extra scams to Facebook scams looking for models to jobs as Mystery Shoppers.
Bethany Mooradian, author of 'I Got Scammed So You Don't Have To" has fallen for more than one job scam over the years from the "stuff envelopes from home" scam to a money order for $75.00 to cover her background check to home-caretaker.
Today it's not just work from home jobs that are scamming legitimate job seekers. Jobs scams are targeting those qualified for the financial sector, banking industry, security jobs and trucking jobs as well as well others.
How these job scams work:
Job seekers are sought out with a job posting and then ask to click on a line (URL) to help "expedite a background check" or "speed up the interview process." Beware anytime you are asked to click on link that takes you to a different web address. In house job hiring resources are not likely to link to other sites within an application. A basic online application should not ask for your social security number and should never ask for bank account information.
Monster.com and JobCannon.com have filters in place to screen out potential scammers but resume posters and job applicants still need to beware. Once you send your personal information online, it's out there so above and beyond your resume, beware of giving out any personal information such as your social security number. You should really have a face-to-face interview before you give out your social security number and never give your bank account or credit card information to "potential employers." Legit companies will never ask for this.
Vetjobs.com did their own in house research and found that many sites were actually asking for personal information only to sell job applicants personal e-mail so they could later be spammed with e-mails. There were often no jobs. These were just scams to get applicants e-mail addresses and personal information so they could be targeted with ads.
Despite the notion that nothing is for free, legit companies will not ask for training fees or payment for background checks. These fees are on the house for legit employers looking to hire for real jobs.
Signs of bogus jobs:
If they ask for "membership" fees beware.
If they ask you to pay for training such as in the Oil Spill Clean Up Jobs Scam.
If they offer payment in cash, beware.
Any job that offers good pay with few job requirements or skills is likely too good to be true.
It's sad that people looking for work often get "worked over," but be smart and use these tips to avoid job scams.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/5929777