Craigslist Job SCAMS!!!
76Craiglist Job Scams!
Job hunters be aware of the Craigslist job postings! As in a process of finding jobs myself, I have come to a conclusion that not every job posting is what it may seem. Some of these postings look too good to be true, I'm talking about the ones that are specifically geared toward writing, reviewing, data entry, do it out of your home office type deals, and local companies that might be hiring in your area. True, there are some home business opportunities that might actually be legitimate, but if you are a freelance writer like myself, a mom seeking at home work, or a recent college grad in need of extra cash (while searching for a fulltime job) some of these postings aren't the answer.
You need to do a check before you send materials, like your resume, letters of recommendation, your phone numbers and address, and writing samples. These items are your valued information -- especially your contact information and your writing samples. These items can be taken and used for web material. The rising need for web material is becoming an enormous phenomenon. There are small companies out there that have a webpage (or some that claim to have a website) that get the gullible consumer to pay money to get started their work from home. I'm telling you - this is a scam! Now, some of us might say hey, no shit, it's a scam, but when you are out of work, you are almost willing to do whatever it takes to get a job.
Here are some pointers to avoid issues when viewing Craigslist (or any job posting site for that matter) that might have a wonderful opportunity for you, that might not really be so wonderful. First of all, when searching, hone in on exactly the area or field you want, it gets less frustrating this way. Do a strategic search on your job area, location, etc. Then when you pull up the job ad be sure to locate an actual website, e-mail address, fax or phone number, and company name on that particular posting. Now, granted some jobs, like government contractors might not have their name posted, due to the high level of inquires they might get - but these should still have an e-mail or legitimate mailing address.
If you don't see an E-mail and all you get is the Craigslist E-mail (ex: job-3847290239@Craigslist.org) I wouldn't send my information. To me, this doesn't seem like a smart way for a company seeking an asset to show themselves to the public. To me, this says, "We are seeking any moron that we can pay minimum wage to." Or "We want you to be our slave in our small company so we can make all the money." Basically, if the company wants you to learn about their company before applying, then they would actually have the company information readily available to you. Without this critical information it also means the company probably needs a temporary person. Who would want to work for a company or organization that's not informative?
If you are a serious job hunter, seeking employment that will take you somewhere, I think these tips should be helpful to you. You want a career? Then you must be selective and make sure all essential information is available on an ad before applying. Why should you send your information if the company won't supply theirs?
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I agree. There are way too many people preying on unemployed people at Craigslist and I wonder why Craigslist is not doing anything about it? There are countless postings there for jobs with high pay and they are cleverly worded making one think it is a legitimate job. But it seems strange that hardly none of the so called jobs have a company name listed. I think something needs to be done about this.
I posted this today on Craigslist Vancouver, Canada.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR all "employers" and "job seekers" (everywhere)
I have been monitoring job opportunities for myself on Craigslist for the past couple of weeks. I have seen lots of legitimate companies and am thinking that Craigslist is the new way to search great job opportunities. Who knows. At the same time, I have seen supposed opportunities that provide little information as to the job, no company name, discriminatory criteria, and insulting and unrealistic pay levels for qualified candidates. I couldn't help but post this message.... To job seekers - DO NOT APPLY TO JOBS THAT POST NO COMPANY INFORMATION!!! These could be recruiters using unscrupulous ways to build their database when no job is actually available, and I could stand to be corrected, but I don't think this is legal. Or it could be people looking to rip off your identity. Think about it....name, address, phone number, email address.....All they do is find a birth date and suddenly someone has a credit card in your name. Let's fight back by only applying to jobs that are valid therefore show company name, contact information. (I'm sure there will be exceptions such as people looking for nanny's or caretakers where one does not want to post their personal information). However, legitimate opportunities in the business world, trades, sales, marketing etc all should post the company name. To Prospective Employers - we as job seekers have a right to protect our personal information just as we have a right to expect that our resume is held in confidentiality. If you are a legitimate company with integrity, you will have no problem advertising your name. Craigslist is much different means of advertising jobs than the traditional. Naturally, many companies will certainly want to take advantage of "free" over the expense of advertising in the classified and on other internet job boards, especially in this economy, and with no guarantee of finding the right person - I have also made that mistake in past positions where I paid a lot of money to advertise and did not even come close to finding the right person. So do us a favour and show us your integrity, and help connect good people to good companies and good jobs. Especially in this economy. It's a win-win situation. I'm sure some will disagree with me here, and everyone has a right to their opinion.....but for the SAFETY and INTEGRITY of our personal information we can start a new standard for job listings on Craigslist. Oh, and for the safety of my own personal information, I am not posting it here. :)
I am both a recruiter and a current job seeker who happened upon this page after being reeled into what I suspect is an internet scam. A writing opportunity for a sports retail company required a written assesment test. This "test" was to describe in 300 - 400 characters certain sports gear without using a list of 40 words. They also asked the participant to include HTML codes with the writing, albeit simple paragraphs and such but still unusual. My gut feeling told me it was a scam and this website furthered that feeling, so thanks Meredith.
I would however like to comment on the anonymous employer postings found on Craigslist as I am a poster of legitimate openings, often without showing any information on the company. My reason for doing so is two fold; the recruiting industry is a very competitive business, and I'm a busy guy. I don't want my competitors being able to see exactly what jobs I have open with which company. They can use this information to steal my business from the client. I also don't want phone calls from every candidate that sees the posting. Not everyone who applies will be qualified, and I can't spend my entire day taking calls on the one position. No resumes being stored in a database, (which, with or without a job is completely legal, Mr Vancouver) no harmful phishy tricks, just a busy recruiter trying to maximize his productivity.
p.s. I'm not at work right now, in case anyone was wondering
I see your point of view, Brandon, but we job seekers have better things to do than play guessing game or emailing our resumes to someone who may just take the information and send back a phony website so they can make a buck off of us, or never respond at all. Your time is valuable but so is mine.
New Scam: A company with a very legitimate and many details in the job offer will contact you and ask you to apply on beyond.com. He then asks for the web address hoping to steal your pic & other info. Beware. Look up companies in full before you apply! Garrett and Sons Ltd is a cattle company from long ago.
oh my god. i sent my resume to a bunch of e-mails that had only the craigslist e-mail. what should i do??????
I just ran into a really elaborate job scam. It actually takes three follow up emails till you definitely realize it
there is definately some scams out there. I am new to this and not computer literate and yet I have responded to job postings only to find that the potential "employer" responds to my interst and asks me for my full name, address, email, and gender info. What is that about? Or is that more of the same?
Hey everybody ! I see how Craiglist.org could be a scam for finding jobs you have to pay attention to details!!! EXAMPLE: (receptionist/administrative assistant opening working available asap! starting pay 18.50 to 22.50/hr) Oh please that's a totally a scam right there trust me I send my resume and my email address once & all I got is "the position is full but there's openings in accounting etc,etc,etc in Europe or Africa" but they want you to wire money on your bank account (BIG NO)..... Please be careful on Craiglist.org you need to know what's out there I got a job as medical receptionist and physician assistant on craiglist.org in New York City not 2 long ago !!!!
I have found that the responses that go to a g-mail address are automatic responses. I have tried to follow up on applications, but get return mail immediately with the same response of when I applied.
I am soooo tired of people taking advantage of the internet.
My wife and I found that ONLY craigslist job postings that give a name of a real company, that you can verify, are legit..the rest are nothing but phishing scams..if the job posting doesnt say "XYZ company is looking for.." and you can then google the company and see that they are real, then just ignore it.
I would also only appy to the company directly, via their website or an email address you can find on their actual website..dont apply to anything via craigslist.
Wayne
I have to say that I actually did find a decent job using Craigslist.. Not to say that I didn't have to wade through all of the BS postings, because trust me, I did. But it is worth looking into, as long as you have the patience to try and figure out what's real and what's not.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to spot a scammer on CL. I can't remember how many of the job posts I've read that are a dead give-away based on their poor grammar alone. Most of these Nigerians are actually pretty stupid. I've replied to these jerks and insulted their Mothers, Children, families, and in general and just basically baited them. Most of these fools actually come back with sincere (for them anyway) replies. The newest ones seem to be for Nanny positions. They tend to offer hundreds of dollars per hour as a wage for what is usually a minimum wage job...HELLO. I've had a lot of fun at their expense signing these fools up for free stuff and spreading their email addresses around. The sad thing is there are so many people who are legitimately seeking work and these clowns are wasting bandwidth and time with their scemes. What really pisses me of is CL doesn't seem to give a shit as long as they make a buck. The people running CL could and should stop this in a day but they don't care. Don't waste your time complaining to CL since they are useless. Keep up the good work here and I'll keep baiting these jackasses.
If you need a job in Newark, NJ, don't answer this listing. They REALLY want you to run the streets of Newark being an unlicensed street vendor!
Looking on CL, there are A LOT of jobs that do not state the name of the employer, and this is for basic jobs like server or bartender.
At first, I thought, why would I want to work for someone that doesn't even know how to place an ad correctly?
I am wondering what is the WORST they can do with your name, address, phone and last 3 employers?
The email I provided was purely set up for this current job-seek.
Does anyone know what they can do with that info, besides send you junk mail?
We should post the website/phone # where to report these.
here's a fake one:
starlitecareers.com 866-755-2785.
I sent two emails to a personl assistant job and a house keeping job and both replys were some what the same.. Telling me there clients will send me a money order so I could take care of the jobs I need to do for them on the first week. I didn't think anything of it until I gave them all of my information so I could start working then they didn't email me back. I'm honestly a little worried because I have them my address and phone number. IT WAS A SCAM!
So be safe and think smart when applying for jobs that seem to good to be true. Because they are.
I sent two emails to a personl assistant job and a house keeping job and both replys were some what the same.. Telling me there clients will send me a money order so I could take care of the jobs I need to do for them on the first week. I didn't think anything of it until I gave them all of my information so I could start working then they didn't email me back. I'm honestly a little worried because I have them my address and phone number. IT WAS A SCAM!
So be safe and think smart when applying for jobs that seem to good to be true. Because they are.
Also pay attention to the e-mail (if there is one). If it's a company and it's offering a good position, having an e-mail like xxx@gmail.com, xxx@live.com, yahoo, or other perosonal one, then you might want to consider not sending out your resume.... good luck to all of you!!!!!
I've been going through all of the same for 2 months now. It worries me that legit companies that are using 3rd party consultants don't understand the amount of fraud that is out there. Every response i've gotten from CL has referred me to some other web site or phone # to gather information and only 1 of them i've been able to verify AND the only reason I was able to verify them is becase the gave me personal phone call, told me the name of their company and told me the name of the consulting firm that they use. Then and only then would I continue with the info check, personality test etc. So, if you're a business person who is "too busy" to follow up on your applicants, don't expect qualified reasonable applicants to respond to your outsourcing consultant, or your automated return messages.
I've been going through all of the same for 2 months now. It worries me that legit companies that are using 3rd party consultants don't understand the amount of fraud that is out there. Every response i've gotten from CL has referred me to some other web site or phone # to gather information and only 1 of them i've been able to verify AND the only reason I was able to verify them is becase the gave me personal phone call, told me the name of their company and told me the name of the consulting firm that they use. Then and only then would I continue with the info check, personality test etc. So, if you're a business person who is "too busy" to follow up on your applicants, don't expect qualified reasonable applicants to respond to your outsourcing consultant, or your automated return messages.
I think it's becoming a ridiculous trend that some employers are thinking it reasonable to stay anonymous posting jobs on Craigslist. My God-- shouldn’t Craigslist do something to discourage this deprecating trend? It just seems to undermining to the whole legit job hunting process.
I understand that employers get too many resumes today, but at the same time shouldnt the employee be expected to research the company first before applying? Why would an employer expect to get a good candidate, if that candidate shows up clueless about the company? "Hello Mr Employer, Wow nice building, I didn't even know you were XYZ .co..."
Isn't this ultimately self defeating for the employer?
Surely, I can understand the anonymity/benefit side of Craiglist, for re-selling your old junk (which was their claim to fame) but now--in the job/career section?
Anyway,here’s my solution:
(at-least until Craigslist wake up and discourage this behavior)
- Never send a resume to a Craigslist job posting where the employer is anonymous
- First email the anonymous employer, asking for a company website address, before you apply to their company.
- If all else fails, and the Craiglist world doesnt change…
Resort to sending an incomplete resume. Include no personal information, ie: no address, no phone number, only include email address.
Also, only highlight your skills and total years of experience (no date ranges). Remove actual names of places you worked, or schools you atended..
In the bottom, write.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST!
This way your information remains safe and the game is mutual for both side!
Cheers!
Good advise, I know most if not all, of these anonymous postings are bogus… what a great way to get resumes and personal information…. Scams… if the poster won’t give a company name, website or company fax…. forget it! Look at any of the official job sites and you have company names or recruiter company names. Craigslist is really the underbelly so BEWARE!
If you see a job posting for a personal assistant for Ryan Williams and he is asking you to handle money orders for Orphanages ect it is a Craigslist scam. DO NOT give him your information. Money order laundering is serious and the bank will go after you not the imaginary Mr. Williams. BEWARE! His email. Google it and see how many cities he had posted looking for a personal assistant. rynwllms266@yahoo.com
If you see a job posting for a personal assistant for Ryan Williams and he is asking you to handle money orders for Orphanages ect it is a Craigslist scam. DO NOT give him your information. Money order laundering is serious and the bank will go after you not the imaginary Mr. Williams. BEWARE! His email. Google it and see how many cities he had posted looking for a personal assistant. rynwllms266@yahoo.com
If you see a job posting for a personal assistant for Ryan Williams and he is asking you to handle money orders for Orphanages ect it is a Craigslist scam. DO NOT give him your information. Money order laundering is serious and the bank will go after you not the imaginary Mr. Williams. BEWARE! His email. Google it and see how many cities he had posted looking for a personal assistant. rynwllms266@yahoo.com
I just encountered another scam on craigslist for employment. This one seemed legit as the guy named "Kent" was looking for a commisioned sales position in Northern WI area. He said to check out his website and I did. Then when I responed how to apply, he said read the website again. I said back a real job doesnt require an investment. He proceeded with a lenghty thing about how all jobs require an investment and that I wasnt serious about a job if I didnt pay $40 and call some hotline to setup payment. I used up 2hours of my time and this is the 11th time I had this happen.
Beware of this job post on craigslist as well It totally looked legit, I sent in my resume they contacted me back and said I qualified and they gave me a list of what seemed reasonable interview questions, i.e what makes you qualified for this job. we set up an interview to be conducted by IM because they are located in Florida. At the end they said I got the job and they needed $200 to send me the software I would need to do my job at home. I'm bummed I should have know it was too good to be true:
Data Entry (Phoenix)
Date: 2009-10-09, 9:16AM MST
Reply to: job-dxzm6-1413701086@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
We are currently seeking a data entry clerk. The individual will be responsible for a variety of entry duties and general administrative services.
Requirements:
High School Diploma, Excellent verbal and written communication, Able to analyze and present information professionally to management as necessary, Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (particularly in Excel) and internet experience, excellent communication skills, be detail oriented & organized.
Email resume for immediate Consideration.
* Location: Phoenix
* Compensation: $17 Per hour
* This is a part-time job.
* This is a contract job.
* OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 1413701086
Greetings, thank you for having the courage to share your experience with other job seekers. Craiglist is over loaded with fake job ads. Any job that is an "entry-level" position offering between $15-$19 p/h is fake. The people posting these ads only have one intention...steal your information and sell it to marketing companies. They will collect your name, address, phone number and email and sell it. If you do not have a way to verify if it is a legit ad, please do not send your information. To test it, you can reply and ask for more information as to the company name, phone number and location. Don't let others fool you, if it's too good to be true...don't fall for it.
Unfortunately, the position you applied for is no longer available, however our staffing company have available another one great to have second income.
If you ever placed an ad in one newspaper, is that easy.
Description: In this Regional Advertiser position you must place classified ads in US/Canada newspapers and magazines, such as employment ads or real estate ads. You were accepted for this position. Like we specified, a cashier check of $1,270 will be released today for theposition you applied for. Simply cash the payment same day when you receive it at your bank and follow instructions.It is very important to post the ads exactly like we will send it to you, all words. After ads are posted you still have 24 hours and you can modify the content, no problems if you make a mistake first times, simply forward us the confirmation emails that publications will send and we will correct if needed. Please confirm/correct your full name and address that we have on file: First name, Last name (No Nicknames please):Street Address (NO PO Boxes):City, State, Postal Zip Code:Two E-mail addresses: You will place 2 job ads after you receive first payment in Washington Post and Newsday newspapers. You will call an 1-800 number to do this task. You will receive instructions and complete "how to" specifications, also the text that will appear in the ads. Simply let us know when you will receive the cashier's check next week. Your commission is $200 from this order. You must place the order in max. 48 hours after you receive the money. Of course, we will instruct you 100%. You may also receive few orders from various US companies that we work with to place ads in Canada and Europe newspapers.Please reply with specified info to confirm that you received this email. Thank you INCH3 Ads Germany, Support: Margarete LummerWerbeagentur Gadderbaumer Straße 3, 33602 Bielefeld, GermanyTelefon 0521-222196, Telefax 0521-222197
You will spend max. 2-5 hours weekly. You do NOT need special computer skills or degrees.
All you have to do is place the ads from home, calling newspapers at toll free numbers or online, of course after you receive the content that must be posted from us and the funds, of course.
No special requirements:
- Computer with e-mail or access to a computer to check your email daily
- Important: Minimum age of 20
- 2-5 hours free during the week (mainly in the evening/non-business hours) for communication;
How you will be paid: Every week you will post 8-10 ads, for every ad listed you are paid same day with $50.
Absolutely NO money to invest/memberships to pay. You will not buy/post anything with your money, we provide the funds.
If you are interested, simply reply to this email WITH YOUR RESUME. I sent them my resume and this is what I got back and now I am worried this is a scam, has anyone seen this one before sounds to good to be true. this is their response it comes from Germany
My advice is to call them and see if their foreign phone number actually works!
i agree 100% with the contents of this post. I have been using cragslist for 2 months and now realized that most of them are fake.
I got the exact same email as Leticia please let me know if it worked
Can't something be done about these scams? People are looking for jobs and sending their resumes out and wasting their time...
Leticia that is a fraudulent tecnique to take money from ur acounnt, they are gonna tell u to send some money via wertern union right after u cash the "check" they sent to you. Do not send money to anybody and denuncie it to the police and/or a financial institution...
I DID THE SAME thing with that INCH3ads... and had them send the check and kept sending me emails to ask if they came.. and then i finally caught on and said I would like to canel this, and not go foward with this, i dont feel comfortable deposting a check into my account.. THEY SENT ME THIS threating email...
Subject: Re: Tony Elling, INCH3 Ads received 1,925 check?
You don’t get it, you cannot quit now. This is not some kind of game, the job is real, the company is real and the money is real. We even specified when we hired you that a check left for first task to your name and address. You knew what this job involves, don’t play stupid games, we are not kids, if you play, you will pay!!!
Our lawyers will contact you soon if you don't remember ASAP what job you applied this week and what terms you accepted, you have 24 hours to process the payment like we agreed when will be delivered. Don't EVER think that long distance will protect you. We work closely with important law firms in Los Angeles, New York and Miami and they will assist us every time we have a problem in United States.
We expect that our job to be respected, if you still don't want to work for our company process the payments that are on the way right now and after that you are free. Otherwise we lose money, you are called in court and YOU pay for our loss. Tomorrow our lawyers will be alerted. This simple job that you refuse to finish will make you pay thousands in court, don’t worry, we had another case few months ago and we won.
Thank you
what do i do???!?!?..
Kelly-
Call your State attorney General's Office.
I have had luck using craigslist for my job searching. I have found my last two jobs via craigslist. Most of them you just have to use your common sense. If you are a secretary you know it is going to be a scam if they are offering you a $60,000 a year salary.
Abbagail says:
15 months ago
I agree with what you are saying. It seems to me that 80% of the job postings are bull. Plus I don't like sending my resume to somewhere where you don't know who is seeing it. I think that they should make some rules for job postings. Like who the company is. If they don't want you to know who they are, then let them pay outside for an ad in the paper. It's like I'm thinking alot of these ads are head hunters getting resumes to then look for jobs, to get a commission. It's getting out of hand. I'd like to know who actually has gotten a job off the Craigs list?