Employment Scams Are on the Rise. Here’s How to Avoid Them

Phishing attempts, fake checks, and more: Scammers are increasingly targeting job seekers

Looking for a job can be a stressful experience. If you’ve been searching long enough, any new job offer or interview request can bring such an overwhelming sense of excitement and relief that you might eagerly go along with just about anything the potential employer asks.

Scammers know this, and they’re taking advantage. Bad actors are stepping up their efforts to target job seekers with fake employment schemes, especially now that a wave of layoffs in the tech industry has sent a flood of new applicants into the job market. The rise of the remote workplace, which began during the pandemic and has endured in the post-COVID era, has only made it easier for fraudsters to ply their trade.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumer financial losses from employment-related scams nearly doubled over the period from Q2 2020 to Q2 2022. More than 94,000 people reported such incidents to the FTC in 2022, with losses totaling $367 million. Meanwhile, the cybersecurity experts at ZeroFox reported a 30 percent increase in online accounts impersonating real organizations from Q3 to Q4 in 2022.

Employment scams can take many forms, but they all have one thing in common: They’re designed to pull money or Personal Identifiable Information (PII) from their victims. Here are some commonly reported employment scams, how to avoid falling for them, and what to do if you’ve become victimized by one.

How employment scams work

Scammers often masquerade as employees or representatives of established organizations to capitalize on people’s trust of those organizations. Some pretend to be recruiters. Or they might set up a new dummy organization, complete with a fake website and fake employee profiles, as a front for their scheme. They use various elements of the recruitment and employment process—including applications, interviews, and employee contracts—as a means to steal funds or gather personal information.

These bad actors continuously monitor job and career sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter for new targets; they’re particularly looking for new college graduates, people who have just lost their jobs as part of layoffs, or people seeking a career change.

One common scheme involves fake checks. After making a job offer, the fake employer sends you a check. According to the FTC, “the employer then asks you to send some money back due to ‘overpayment,’ but the check will ultimately bounce, and the bank will want you to repay the full amount of the fake check, while the scammers keep the real money you sent them.” A variation on this scam involves the fraudster sending a fake check and asking the victim to buy and ship equipment or gift cards to the company or a third party. The victim makes the purchases with their own funds, and only finds out later that the company check has bounced.

Another scam involves phishing attempts in which the fake employer asks for banking or other personal information during the interview process. As an example, The Wall Street Journal spoke with a graphic designer who said that a potential employer requested an interview over an instant-message platform, which she found unusual. “There were little red flags that came up,” she told The Journal, “but when you’re in an interview, you get hyped up and you’re in your head.” She further said that during the job interview she was asked to provide her bank account information; when she declined, the interview abruptly ended.

Red flags to watch for

Be extremely cautious if a potential employer:

• Posts a job listing on job boards but not on the company’s own website, or does not seem to have much of an online presence outside of the job boards.
• Has been the subject of fraud complaints. (Do your research to find out.)
• Has a website that’s vague and/or has a lot of misspellings or other issues.
• Lists a URL that does not match that of the legitimate company they claim to represent.
• Does not have any recruiters or managers with profiles on LinkedIn or similar job boards, or the profiles do not seem to fit their roles.
• Communicates with you only through non-company email domains, messaging apps, or teleconference applications.
• Wants to conduct an interview not via an in-person meeting or secure video call, but through an instant-messaging platform or teleconference application that uses email addresses instead of phone numbers.
• Asks you to purchase equipment or other goods from the company as a work requirement.
• Requires you to pay upfront for background investigations or screenings.
• Asks for your credit card or banking information during the interview or job-offer process.
• Sends you a check with instructions to deposit it and immediately send money or goods to the company or a third party.
• Sends and requires you to physically sign an employment contract seeking personal information such as your Social Security number.

Don’t go it alone: If possible, tell someone you trust about the job offer; that person may be able to spot any red flags that you’ve missed. You can help put fraudsters out of business by reporting employment scams to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Protect your privacy and identity during job searches and more

Whether you’re seeking a new job or going about any other part of your day-to-day life, the best way to safeguard your privacy and identity is by installing a virtual safety net. Consider a comprehensive privacy and identity protection plan like IDX Complete, featuring advanced tools and services ranging from automatic data removal to dark web monitoring, all designed to guard against a wide array of cyberthreats.

If you’ve shared sensitive financial information and are concerned that you’ve been scammed, know that the IDX plan includes Credit Management Services, offering continuous, automatic monitoring of your credit report and credit score. You’ll be automatically alerted if there’s any new financial activity in your name, so you can act immediately on suspicious transactions.

The plan also includes identity theft insurance covering reimbursement costs for eligible expenses up to $1 million; a 100% identity recovery money-back guarantee; and access to IDX’s expert care team, who will work with your financial institutions and the credit bureaus to ensure your identity and reputation are fully restored.

Scammers are preying on job seekers, but you can fight back. Before accepting a job offer or even an interview, do your homework on the company and its recruitment tactics. And if you believe you’ve fallen for an employment scam, you’ll have greater peace of mind in knowing that you’re covered by an in-depth privacy and identity plan.