Gotcha: 13 Job Hoaxes to Avoid

After months of unemployment, work-at-home jobs can sound mighty tempting. Advertised on Internet job sites and in Penny Saver type newspapers, these jobs promise big money for little or no experience and allow you to work in your pajamas. 

Sad to say, most of these ads are frightfully blatant hoaxes; as are ads promising to help you get a job in the federal government or as a movie extra, mystery shopper or envelope stuffer. The Federal Trade Commission recently filed seven cases against the operators of such deceptive and illegal job and moneymaking hoaxes (see list at the end of this blog).

As a result of this investigation, the FTC has partnered with Monster.com, Bing and Craigslist to help job seekers recognize cons before they cause trouble. Until this campaign gets into full swing, here are six job-hoaxes to avoid, along with a list of specific companies facing FTC charges.

 1. Rebate Processing
A 2009 Better Business Bureau warning detailed problems with work-from-home jobs processing rebates. The ads usually claim you can earn up to $1,000 a day without leaving the comfort of their home. The BBB received hundreds of complaints from victims nationwide who never earned a dime and were, in fact, ripped off for hundreds of dollars in upfront fees.

2. Cash and Product Forwarding
This hoax turns your home into a staging post for stolen cash or good. You agree to receive money or items and forward them to your "employer" overseas. In reality, the products or cash are the proceeds of a  fraud. The first time you realize it's a hoax is when the cops come knocking in response to victim complaints. 

3. Government Jobs
The ads claim to be actual listings for jobs with the post office or other government agencies. Apply and you'll learn the company is either selling info on taking application tests or charging you for access to job listings. In actual fact, you never have to pay for information about job vacancies for federal, state or local governments or the Postal Service. All jobs are publicly listed on their respective websites, at offices or advertised in local newspapers. For example, all federal jobs are listed on USAJobs.gov.

4. Pay to Work
These ads offer to find you work for a fee. While it's not illegal, a qualified agency will never charge money as they earn their fees from employers. Many times, you'll pay a fee and receive a useless list of places to apply, offers to polish your resume and/or for-fee coaching classes to pass entrance exams. 

5. Work-at-home Schemes
Earn hundreds in the comfort of your home by stuffing envelopes, searching online, assembling parts, medical billing or craft work. The list goes on and on and the offers are almost without-fail bogus. For detailed information on these hoaxes, read the Federal Trade Commissions publication on work-at-home schemes.

6. CraigsList Jobs
While CraigsList is an excellent clearinghouse for many things, it's become a swamp for job hoaxes. Avoid listings that hide the employer's identity, include unrealistically high salaries, contain many misspellings and grammatical mistakes, require you pass a security clearance before applying, or ask you submit financial info (including bank account data, social-security number, etc.). Watch out for identical ads placed in numerous cities, as well. In how many cities can one employer use a personal assistant or nanny?

FTC Law Enforcement Actions

1. Government Careers 
Government Careers claimed it could help people get postal, border patrol and wildlife jobs, as well as administrative support and clerical positions with the federal government.

2. Real Wealth
More than 100,000 people were conned into buying booklets that "explained" how they could earn money by applying for government grants and working from home.

3. Darling Angel Pin Creations
Darling advertised starter kits that would allow applicants to earn up to $500 per week assembling angel pins. Ad respondents paid between $22 and $45 to get started, and sometimes paid hundreds more for the supplies to make the pins.

4. Abili-Staff, Ltd.
Billing itself as a "hoax free" and "legitimate" job-search service, Abili-Staff sold "pre-screened" lists of jobs consumers could access after paying a fee ranging from $29.98 to $89.99.

5. Entertainment Work
This bogus company markets memberships in a Web site allegedly listing movie-extra, television and print-media jobs.

6. Independent Marketing Exchange
These jerks claimed huge earnings for those accepting such work-at-home opportunities as envelope and postcard mailing and mystery-shopper opportunities.

7. Preferred Platinum Services Network
The husband-and-wife team who owned and operated this network allegedly marketed a work-from-home scheme in which consumers were told "they could earn significant sums by labeling postcards describing a non-existent product called a 'mortgage accelerator."

Photo by jukebox909