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Employment scams are everywhere, and scammers are continuing to find new ways to trick consumers into falling for too-good-to-be-true job opportunities. Many times, employment scams start with claims of representing real employers, require interviews, and even provide “offer” letters. In other employment scams, you apply for a job online through a reputable, third-party job site, or you see a posting for a remote job on social media and message the poster.
BBB has received several reports on BBB Scam Tracker of a new employment scam involving text messages from a fake recruiting agency spoofing a real company's name, Pearl Talent. Pearl Talent LLC is a recruitment firm with registrations in Florida and New York, but these text messages are fake.
How the scam works
You receive a text message from "Katherine from Pearl Talent." In the messages, Katherine tells you that the recruiting agency was impressed with your profile and would like to provide a chance for you to take on a flexible remote role.
The role is described as assisting merchants by updating their data, visibility and managing bookings effectively, and only requires 60 to 90 minutes of remote work each day with the opportunity to earn anywhere from $200 to $500.
A few days or weeks later, you get a text message or email asking if you are still interested in the position or a similar one at the same company. Since contact information was shared, the message doesn't seem unusual. If you reply to the message, the scammer will invite you to interview for the job. However, this is when red flags start to appear. Instead of a traditional interview over the phone or on a video call, the "employer" asks you to download a messaging app to conduct the interview over text messaging.
BBB offers the following tips for avoiding potential employment scams:
- Research the person or company who contacted you. If you suspect the person contacting you could be a scammer, look them up. If the person is claiming to be from a real company, reach out to the company on your own to verify that the person does work there.
- Guard your personal and banking information. Never give sensitive information to anyone you aren't sure you can trust. You should not have to give up any financial information or personal information, like your Social Security Number, in a job interview.
- Watch out for overpayment scams. Legitimate companies will only send you money after you've done work for them, so be wary of jobs that involve receiving and returning the money.
- Don't fall for jobs that seem too good to be true. They probably are. If you are offered a job - without a formal interview - that has excellent pay and benefits, it's likely a scam.
- Report any scams to BBB Scam Tracker.
For more information
Read BBB's tips on employment scams and impostor scams.
Learn more about reshipping scams, a common employment scam.
If you experienced an employment scam, report it to BBB Scam Tracker to warn others.
The BBB Serving Metropolitan New York BBB of Canton Regional and Western West Virginia, and BBB of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean contributed to this scam alert.