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Have a Job Scam story?
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Job Hunting
Have a Job Scam story?
<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><div>Whether re-careering or part-timing it, get resume, cover letter and interviewing tips from your peers. Learn what job hunting Web sites work, which ones to stay away from, and how to network.</div></font>
Do you have any stories about fake job advertisements/scams that you've seen recently?Warn others about it! You may also be interested in learning about&nbsp; 5 ways to detect if you're getting scamme
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Forums » Work & Retirement » Job Hunting » Have a Job Scam story?

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Forums  »  Work & Retirement  »  Job Hunting  »  Have a Job Scam story?

Have a Job Scam story?

posted at April 12, 2012 10:18 AM EDT
Posts: 39
First: July 23, 2010
Last: September 17, 2012
Do you have any stories about fake job advertisements/scams that you've seen recently?Warn others about it! You may also be interested in learning about 5 ways to detect if you're getting scammed.

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at May 23, 2012 11:33 AM EDT
Posts: 2
First: May 23, 2012
Last: May 7, 2013
In Response to Have a Job Scam story?:
Do you have any stories about fake job advertisements/scams that you've seen recently?Warn others about it! You may also be interested in learning about  5 ways to detect if you're getting scammed .
Posted by AARPMiller

About a year ago I had an experience that I recognized as a scam just in time.

I responded to an advertisment on Craigslist for a work-at-home administrative assistant, either part-time or full-time. I received an email response requesting an interview in a chat format. I responded and set an appointment for an online chat interview. After completing the online chat interview, I was told they would like to schedule a telephone interview.

At this point, I felt slightly uncomfortable because they still hadn't given me any specific details about the job itself, so I thought I would find out that information in the telephone interview.

During the telephone interview, the interviewer wouldn't give me specific answers to my questions regarding the job. All of his answers were rather vague. He did tell me that the work would be performed at home and I would need a high-speed Internet connection. All payments to me would be made as direct deposits to my checking account.

After about 10 minutes, he asked me hold for a minute. About two minutes later he came back on the line and said he had consulted with his partners, and they wanted to hire me for the position. I would be able to start immediately. They would need my social security number in order to pay me, as well as my bank information for direct deposit.

At this point I began to become suspicious. I still didn't know what the job responsibilities were, and they were asking for personal information over the telephone. I asked if we could meet in person before I started work, but he said he was located in Chicago, and the business was located in Pittsburgh, so they did everything remotely. My response was that I wanted to think about the job first. His response was: "I don't think you are really interested in this job. I'm withdrawing the offer." And he abruptly hung up.

Two days later I tried calling the telephone number again (which was a local number, by the way), and it had been disconnected.

It was all an elaborate scam to obtain personal information that could be used to steal my identity. The advice to never provide identifying information over the Internet or the phone is certainly sound advice. And never consider taking any job unless you can have a face-to-face interview with the employer first.

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at May 23, 2012 11:38 AM EDT
Posts: 2
First: May 23, 2012
Last: April 16, 2013
Around 2003 I saw an ad in an urban newspaper for "talent scouts".  I had experience as a talent agent and was looking for work, so I called and made an "appointment" for an interview.  When I arrived at the building for the interview, I saw that the company did not have their name on the building directory, and it was obvious from the lack of decor that the offices themselves were being leased temporarily.  But the real clue was:  there was a line of "interviewees" waiting to be seen that extended out the door and almost completely around the atrium balcony.  I also saw enough of the handout materials to grasp that what they were really looking for were people to sell spots in their talent book, probably along with modeling "classes", etc., and that the "scouts" were really commission salespeople.  What a ripoff!

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at May 23, 2012 11:32 PM EDT
Posts: 2
First: January 6, 2012
Last: May 23, 2012
I've encountered five scams in the past 11 months. Two were by phone and three by email. One was a phone call from a recruiter who said she'd seen my resume on the internet and wanted me to come in for an interview. I checked the company name, which was a reputable one, but then checked a website that exposes scams and found this one specified - I knew it was the same because of the address for the interview. They wanted insurance salespeople who would work on commission only and pay their own expenses - but what they had said over the phone was that they wanted back office operational support. Another scam was a posting on the web. I looked up the company on LinkedIn, and it was a legitimate company. But when they contacted me by email, they offered me a position as Accounts Receivable Manager, and all I had to do was receive and deposit payments - to my own account - and then forward the money to the company! A tip-off to email scams and false job postings: the email address is something like Yahoo or Hotmail. A genuine company sends email from its own corporate address, like ABC.com, not Yahoo.

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at May 24, 2012 12:47 PM EDT
Posts: 1
First: May 24, 2012
Last: May 24, 2012
I got several estimates from different companies to replace the tiles on my roof after a very hard and disasterous hail storm. One of the companies sent out a worker who was doing measuring and ect... @ this time my daughter (who lives next door and just had a baby) called and asked if Icould come over because shethought the baby was sick. I left the worker outside and went to atte3nd to the baby. A little whilee later the worker came to my daughters front door and said I needed to sign his form for the estimate. I told him I wasn't sure which company I was going to use...he said that I needed to sign his form so that he could get paid. He said his boss woul;dn't know for sure if he had been to do my estimate or not without a signature. I signed the form against my better judgement. Monday morning the roofing company called me to set up a date to start....I had already hired someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The roofing materials were already ordered! I called my roofing contractor and he assured me that this is a frequently used scam for those type of companies to get a roofing or other cfonstruction jobs. I did nothing and told them to stop calling me that I wasn't interested. Finally the calls stopped. I am so thankful for my contractor.    he is a god guyt...Please be careful when dealing with people who work on huoses. So... Buyer Beware!!!!

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at May 25, 2012 8:39 PM EDT
Posts: 1
First: May 25, 2012
Last: May 25, 2012
In Response to Have a Job Scam story?:
Do you have any stories about fake job advertisements/scams that you've seen recently?Warn others about it! You may also be interested in learning about  5 ways to detect if you're getting scammed .
Posted by AARPMiller


Insurance company sales people seems to be common.  I have received calls and emails in regard to resumes I have posted.  My resume clearly states I am looking for accounting positions but keep getting messages from the insurance agents anyway.
In one instance, I responded to a craigslist ad for a part time bookkeeper.  I received a call from a woman who wanted to schedule an appointment for me to come in and meet her boss.  She was very vague to say the least about just what the job was.  I kept asking questions and finally told her it was apparent this was not for a bookkeeping position but rather to sell insurance and as I was (I thought) obviously not looking for sales I wasn't interested. 
Why would they run an ad for a bookkeeping job when they are looking for sales people???

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at September 29, 2012 12:48 PM EDT
Posts: 1
First: September 29, 2012
Last: September 29, 2012
I rec'd a phished e-mail from my son to ck. out a work from home oppty earning hundreds of dollars per week. It  linked to a tricked out news broadcast web site that featured a home town single mom making lots of money weekly.   I opened the site to learn how to  get started a learn their system for the reduced price of $79 . This would only be good for two people in my zip code area for a little while longer. During the sign up stage, they directed me to a managed trust acct. that asked for my SS No. and bank routing no. which I did not provide.  They also offered many more bonuses to this deal for more money.   I very stupidly bot the basic  program and by the next a.m. had buyers remorse and tried to cancel the transaction for a refund.  For several days I tried their so called cust. svc. help desk phones but they were never answered by human beings and voice mails to no avail.  Their chat room did not have the capability of refund any transactions and must speak to a cust. svc. rep for security purposes.   It says you have 30 days to try the program and if you are able to notify if this window of oppty you would get your refund. How can you notify them if they refuse to answer the phone?  I have filed a complaint and plan to file more if I do not get a refund. 

Re: Have a Job Scam story?

posted at March 28, 2013 6:41 PM EDT
Posts: 5
First: March 17, 2013
Last: March 28, 2013
An acquaintance of mine kind of got scammed.  After doing two months worth of work the person never paid her.  She tried to fight it legally and got a nasty, threatening note from the guy's attorney.  People have a lot of nerve.  We are in a different world since the collapse and you really have to watch your back.

Forums » Work & Retirement » Job Hunting » Have a Job Scam story?