(Getty Images)
Job seekers, beware. In the first three months of 2023, Better Business Bureau (BBB) Scam Tracker received reported losses of nearly $840,000, up over 250% compared to last year. With a median loss of over $1,500 during that timeframe, job hunters tell BBB the financial impact is devastating.
Since BBB issued the 2021 study, Job Scams: BBB study finds job scams increased during the pandemic and warns job seekers to verify employment offers to avoid illegal jobs, identity theft, and fake checks, the blistering pace at which fraudsters ensnare the public in employment scams has increased each year, according to BBB data. In extreme cases, some individuals found themselves in a deep financial hole with little recourse.
For Donald from Lake Placid, Florida, it started with an email. A woman calling herself Laura Hoffman said she worked for a company called International and wanted to offer him a reshipping job. All Donald needed to do was purchase and send computers overseas. The pay would be $76,000 with bonuses.
Donald wanted to test the offer's legitimacy, so he bought a single Apple computer and sent it to an address in Hong Kong. He eagerly awaited the reimbursement on his credit card, and, to his surprise, it came through quickly. After that, he threw himself into the job, buying and shipping over $100,000 computers.
Things were going exceptionally well until one day, in late January, the payments on his card disappeared. They were fraudulent, his bank said, and Donald immediately owed the total balance on his cards. He frantically reached out to Laura Hoffman and Also International, but they were nowhere to be found. Donald had been scammed out of $105,000. He still hasn’t been able to resolve the issue with his bank.
“I am afraid to apply for another job,” Donald told BBB in an interview.
How do employment scams work?
Like many scams, those perpetuating employment fraud seek at least one of two things from their potential marks: money or personal and financial information. Because normal employers have close access to both regularly, it leaves many with their guard down.
Scammers sometimes strike immediately upon making contact by extracting personal information. In others, the fraudsters lay a trail of deception for weeks or months, slowly taking money from an unaware victim.
The BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust found those in the 18-34 age range at the most risk for employment scams. About 15% of reports to BBB Scam Tracker showed a monetary loss, meaning anyone contacted for an employment scam is at significant risk.
Job seekers should always have their guard up when considering new employment opportunities.
Scammers contact consumers through various means, including phone calls, text messages, emails, chat platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, job sites like Craigslist and Indeed, and social media like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Several reports to BBB describe how scammers found resumes on job listing sites like Indeed and tailored their scams to an individual's background. Scammers sometimes impersonate real companies, tarnishing the names of legitimate businesses.
According to BBB Scam Tracker reports for employment scams in 2022, job hunters said they often encountered fraudsters on Indeed. Over 700 reports referenced Indeed, with LinkedIn (288) and Telegram (250) trailing behind.
In an email, Indeed said it “removes tens of millions of job listings each month that do not meet our quality guidelines. A representative from Indeed said its number of reports was likely tied to the large size of the internet job board, and the company “will not do business with an employer if their job listings do not pass our stringent quality guidelines."
Craigslist, Meta, LinkedIn, and Indeed warn consumers extensively about scams and urge them to report cases to the websites and the authorities.
In an interview with BBB, a LinkedIn representative said the company works proactively to curb scam profiles and postings.
In the latter half of 2022, the company removed over 91 million instances of scams or spam. Over 99% of that work was done automatically by the company’s “automated defenses.”
“Scams and fraudulent activity are something we take seriously,” said Adele Austin, spokesperson for LinkedIn. “There has definitely been a rise in fraudulent activity over the last couple years.”
To combat the rise, LinkedIn debuted several new features, including one showing the age of a profile and when it was last updated. Job hunters should also look to see if a business has a verified email and phone number, Austin said.
Facebook and Craigslist did not respond to requests for an interview.
In many cases reported to BBB, scammers set up a job interview over email, phone, or voice chat. They ask serious interview questions and give their (intended) target the impression the job is legitimate. At this point, the interviewee is already at risk, as the fraudster may ask for their social security number, bank account numbers or other personal information to "do a background check” or “set up direct deposit”.
Others may run a slower scam, ending the interview and later offering a job. That offer might come with an acceptance letter and an attractive salary, all on official-looking letterhead.
Most common employment scams reported to BBB
Reshipping scams
In these scams, fraudsters hire people to ship items, almost always outside the country. They may use excuses about different laws in their country or the difficulty in obtaining certain pieces of technology, like computers. They will convince their target to purchase high-priced goods on their credit cards before instructing them to send the items overseas. Scammers submit a fraudulent payment to their victim’s credit card, knowing it will bounce. Before it does, they instruct the “employee” to purchase more items, cranking up the debt owed once the bank claws back the false payments.
In another twist, some scammers may recruit their targets as the address to which they send stolen goods or money. The worker believes they are part of the logistics team for an international shipping business, but they are serving as so-called money mules. Money mules can be prosecuted for their participation in scams, even if they claim to be unwitting victims. Legitimate businesses run reshipping in-house and never send checks to employees through the mail as a part of accounting practices.
Mystery shopping, car wrap
While it may seem different, these scams use fake checks to convince potential employees of the company's legitimacy. These scams are well-known to law enforcement agencies and regulators, but their effectiveness means fraudsters continue to deploy them widely.
Mystery shopping
In mystery shopping scams, the fraudsters ask a victim to participate in an “undercover” review of a money order company like Moneygram or Western Union or to rate a company’s practices around selling gift cards.
She was excited when someone claiming to be “Jerry Wallace” supposedly hired Nydia in Highland Falls, New York, to be a mystery shopper at Whole Foods. She received a packet that contained her work to-do list and a check for purchasing American Express gift cards. Wallace told Nydia to review several stores on how they sell gift cards and report back to him.
Nydia deposited the check and quickly went to the stores to start her work. Everything seemed fine, and she submitted a report which included the gift card numbers. A few days later, Nydia checked her bank account, and the check had bounced. Jerry Wallace disappeared with the cash, but Nydia remains on the hook for over $1,000 in purchases.
Car wrapping
In a car wrap scam, a check is sent, deposited, and the victim is asked to send a money order or buy gift cards to pay a company to put temporary advertisements on their car. The victim sends money to the scammers, and the check will be pulled from their account shortly afterward. In some reports, the fraudsters sent “extra” on the check, meant to serve as payment for the job. In other cases, they promised regular paychecks as long as the wrap stayed on the worker’s car.
Rebecca, in Alpine, Virginia, went looking online for work-from-home opportunities after being out of a job since November 2022. She found a company offering cash to wrap her car with various advertisements. She was told the installation would cost more than $15,000, and the company sent her a check.
It cleared three days later, and Rebecca believed the company was legitimate, so she sent a money order for wrap installation. Soon after, however, her bank told her the check was bad, and she owed $15,000 to cover the charge. Rebecca was scammed.
Previously, car wrapping scams were one of the most reported scam types. That type of scam appears to have decreased in popularity since BBB published its job scam study in 2021.
New reports skyrocket, millions lost
Employment scams have been one of the three riskiest for the public out of all those tracked by the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust since 2016. “Though the susceptibility of employment scams remained the same, the number of employment scams reported to BBB Scam Tracker increased 23.1%, from 7.8% of all reported scams in 2021 to 9.6% in 2022,” the report notes.
According to the most recent BBB Scam Tracker data in which a consumer filled out the contact method category, fraudsters' initial outreach is most likely to occur through email (41% of reports) or text messages (18%). Messaging platforms, like WhatsApp and phone calls, were the next most popular at 9%.
Online classifieds like Craigslist, social media such as Facebook, and postal mail all showed slight declines in 2022’s BBB Scam Tracker data compared to the previous year.
|
BBB Scam Tracker data |
||||
|
Year |
Reports |
Total Loss |
Median Loss |
Susceptibility* |
|
2020 |
3,320 |
$1,370,123 |
$1,000 |
17% |
|
2021 |
3,386 |
$1,159,443 |
$900 |
15% |
|
2022 |
4,402 |
$1,401,482 |
$1,510 |
15% |
|
2023 (Jan-Mar) |
2,177 |
$839,820 |
$1,569 |
16% |
*Susceptibility indicates the percentage of victims who lost money
At least two dozen BBB Scam Tracker reports are fraudsters asking targets to send equipment, cash, or personal information to China and Russia. While organizations like BBB and the United States Postal Service have warned the public about Russian and Eastern European scammers' alleged role in reshipping fraud, China-based scammers have avoided the same level of scrutiny.
BBB of the Canton Regions and Greater West Virginia received reports from New York, Texas, and Michigan about scammers using a local address to impersonate a real company. In all three cases, the fraudsters stole the name of SCADA Integrators and Services LLC, a real company based in Lafayette, Lousiana. They attempted to send fake checks to potential employees for equipment purchases. That equipment, however, was supposed to be purchased through a money order after receiving the check.
Luckily, all the targets realized there was something off about the fake SCADA and stopped short of losing any money. The real SCADA has put out a warning on their social media page.
BBB Canton is one of many places seeing employment scams. The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel data shows many reports over the last three years.
|
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Sentinel “Business and Job Opportunities” data |
||||
|
Year |
Reports |
Total Loss |
Median Loss |
% reporting loss |
|
2020 |
62,806 |
$174.3M |
$1,941 |
37% |
|
2021 |
105,809 |
$209.1M |
$1,979 |
25% |
|
2022 |
94,129 |
$373.5M |
$2,000 |
32% |
|
2023 (Jan-Mar) |
19,317 |
$88.2M |
$2,000 |
31% |
In another string of cases in March, BBB Wisconsin tracked down a scam spanning at least twelve states and almost two dozen reports. Fraudsters impersonated an unrelated company, calling themselves “Limco Logistics” or “Limco Post.” Due to the scam, they attempted to recruit unsuspecting job hunters in a reshipment fraud where employees were offered a position as a “packaging inspector.”
Consumers told BBB Wisconsin they were asked to print labels and reship vacuum cleaners, blenders, jewelry, and Apple watches. As a part of the complicated scheme, the scammers developed a “dashboard” where victims entered their bank accounts and personal information.
“Sharing such sensitive data with unknown actors leaves you wide open for identity theft, which is a huge concern,” says Lisa Schiller, BBB Wisconsin Director of Investigations. “Anytime anyone supplies such personal information, BBB advises they file reports with the proper authorities and closely monitor all accounts for suspicious activity.”
BBB Great West + Pacific recently warned the public about three companies claiming to do business in the region. Fulter Logistics, LLC, Mango Group Logistics LLC, and Nova Logistics LLC each received over a dozen BBB Scam Tracker reports alleging deceptive practices since the beginning of the year. The reports said the three promised work-from-home jobs as a cover for reshipping and packing schemes.
"Over the past three months, BBB has seen an uptick in employment scams of this nature. Scammers go to great lengths to create what appears to be a real company and employment opportunity,” said Dene' Joubert, Investigations Manager for BBB Great West + Pacific.
Canadian job hunters are at risk as well.
Agatha, in Scarborough, Ontario, saw a job ad on Facebook. It promised a stable income and growth chance, and it was all done from home. Once hired, Agatha was told she would fulfill orders and compile sales data online. Agatha could make over $100 a day depending on how much work she did.
Her alleged manager contacted her over Telegram, a messaging application, and taught her how to purchase the cryptocurrency, Tether. Agatha was then sent to a website with Amazon, a BBB Accredited Business, branding to purchase items. Unfortunately, the scammers set up a convincing Amazon clone. After several days, Agatha began questioning why she had yet to be reimbursed for her nearly $13,000 purchases. Her "manager" froze her account and said she would be fired if she didn't keep working. Agatha reported them to her bank and the police, yet the scammers continued to reach out to her.
“Scammers who attempt to impersonate Amazon put consumers at risk,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services, wrote online. “Although these scams take place outside our store, we will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on how to avoid scams.”
For those interacting with the company, Amazon provides tips and tricks to avoid scams and impersonations.
|
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre data |
|||
|
Year |
Reports |
Total* |
% reporting loss** |
|
2020 |
4,444 |
$4,440,705 |
41% |
|
2021 |
3,878 |
$9,461,825 |
50% |
|
2022 |
2,614 |
$7,134,363 |
65% |
|
2023 (Jan-Mar) |
499 |
$1,206,700 |
72% |
*Canadian dollars
**Losses include money or personal information
Red flags for potential job scams
- Jobs requiring you to pay money
- Remote jobs involving checks
- Cold calls about jobs
- Higher-than-average pay
- Interview processes are done strictly over email
- Fake URLs, company names, and photos; impostors of well-known companies
- Mystery shopping, re-shipping, check-cashing, and car wrap job offers
Tips and recommendations
- When searching for a job online, expect to encounter job scams. They are widespread and come in various forms.
- Research companies that offer jobs at BBB.org.
- Find a number on the business’s website and call to confirm the job or offer is real.
- Check the email address to ensure it is connected to the company, not a personal “Gmail” or “Yahoo” address.
- Be cautious about providing personal information to unverified recruiters and online applications.
- Never pay a stranger for a job.
Where to report
- Better Business Bureau or BBB Scam Tracker
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or call 877-FTC-Help.
- Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre - or 1-888-495-8501.
- Report the scam to the source where the fraud was initially encountered
Additional links
BBB Tip: Avoiding job scams this holiday season
BBB Scam Alert: How to spot a job scam – no matter how sophisticated
