How to tackle Job Scams?

According to latest reports, job scams over the internet has tripled over the last six months. The fake job scams are targeting unemployed people desperate to work in the recession. The hike in the number of people who lost their money and personal information tells the story. The most worrying factor is that most of the victims of these scams are educated youths.

What are Job Scams?

Job scams are fake job ads circulated by fraudsters mostly through internet that seek to attract job seekers to give up personal data and perform a fake job.

How are these scams done?

There are different types of scams; some of them offer a guaranteed employment against the deposit of a fee. Some recruiting companies offer a money back guarantee as an incentive to use them but only a few job seekers will receive a refund.
Some time they advertise a job on the behalf of a real company. Interview may take place over telephone or by email and after some time you are informed that you are selected for that job. Now you need to secure the job, that point of time, they ask you to send money for your work visa or travel costs to the agent or a fake travel agent who works on their behalf. They always involve the job seeker sending them or their agent money, credit card or bank account details.

How to identify these scams?

Remember that a genuine employer will never ask for money for visa processing or travel costs. Sometimes you may be required to provide your own airfares, but you should do so through a travel agent in your area and which you know and you have trust. All the scams start by receiving e-mail or answering a job advertisement by email.

Fraudsters always use fake/personal e-mail or web mail accounts such as hotmail, yahoo, Gmail, live etc, but genuine employers and agencies never use a such e-mail service and they always use their own domain name.

How to check the genuineness of the email id?

To check a genuine e-mail address or domain name, you can extract the text after the “@” sign, add “www.” as a prefix and test the address in your browser. If it is a genuine one, it will show the web site of the company or the individual who is supposed to belong to it. You can also check for telephone and fax numbers and contact the company directly to make sure the person who dent you the email actually works for them. Always ask for phone, fax and office address details of the agency. You can very easily check this through international directory enquiries or the local directory websites.

How to avoid or tackle these scams?

• Never give your personal information or certificate copies/identity proof.
• Never give your bank account or credit card numbers.
• Never transfer, or "wire" money to an employer.

Moreover, there is need for awareness and information campaign on part of the government agencies to tackle these scams. An official government website containing information, details, updates and precaution/safety measures to avoid online scams will help.

Cheers,

Vinesh