Salary or Hoax: 13 Online "Employers" Predatory Practices

Too many online job ads these days are turning "help wanted" into "help!!"

Thanks to the millions of Americans searching job sities daily, online con artists have come up with new and improved hoaxes that will steal your identity and money, not to mention your hope of a job.

Consumer watchdog groups report roughly 25% of ads on such giant job sites as CareerBuilder and Monster.com are fake. Scammers are especially prevalent on CraigsList, where it costs nothing to post a job.

In an effort to protect job hunters, the Federal Trade Commission launched a major crackdown in February on thieves who take advantage of Americans already struggling with unemployment and hard times.

Since last spring, the FTC has brought charges against 11 companies allegedly offering various job and money-making hoaxes. They esetimate more than 100,000 applicants were led in by the ads.

Here are 13 indicators to help job hunters identify these soul-sucking hoax.

1. Generic Titles
Vague job titles like Administrative Assistant, Customer Representative and Marketing Specialist are particularly popular. The listings often don't include a job description and require you email for more information.

2. Email Only
Understandably, employers are hesitant to provide phone numbers in ads because they'll be inundated with calls. It pays to be suspicious of ads, particularly CraigsList ads, that only provide a blind email address.

3. Work at Home
Jobs indicating "telecommuting allowed" or "work from home" attract many people but either require an up-front investment or rarely offer an actual job.

4. .Gov or Not .Gov?
Watch out for bogus government job sites that are little more than Google Adsense ads, require you pay a membership to see the full job listing, or include affiliate links that take you nowhere. These websites make money every time you click on the affiliate link or sign up for a subscription. USAJobs is the only official site for U.S. government jobs. State government jobs will be listed on your state's official website.

5. Online Trainings
A very clever person came up with this con. Applicants are required to complete training via a Web-conferencing service. The "employer" receives a commission for every applicant that signs up. The service makes money by requiring you pay for time spent on the phone. They then delay the call by putting you on hold, so you're forced to pay and pay and pay.

6. Hunting for Heads
Ads for this hoax offer great jobs that don't really exist. Instead, the ad hooks you up with a headhunter who offers a low-paying job that doesn't suit your experience or credentials.

7. Going Postal
These ads appear to advertise jobs with the U.S. Post Office but actually have no affiliation. In reality, they're just trying to sell you test and course materials that you can get for free from the government.

8. Bad Speling and Gramer
Why would you want to work for an employer that can't spell and hasn't grasped the basic rules of grammar? These ads are so fraught with errors it looks like a word jumble.

9. Multiple Listings
Run away if a Google search for a posted job title, such as "Executive Assistance CraigsList," and it turns up with identical ads in multiple cities. CraigsList is free so it costs conners nothing to post the same bogus ad in multiple cities.

10. Hyped Copy
You can tell an ad is bogus if it lists a too-good-to-be-true salary, indicates no experience is necessary for a high level job, and contains a multitude of exclamation points and bold copy.

11. Wireless Bank Heist
Ads from high-powered sounding companies like Xian Energy, Delta Soft Labs, International Health Care and Future Tech promise big rewards for little effort. The only reward for their victims is a depleted bank account.

Respond to these fraudulent ads and you'll be told the companies are based overseas and, "due to the delays in clearing checks and money orders in Europe" they need financial agents to process payments for their U.S. orders. You're instructed to deposit large checks from the company into your bank account and wire-transfer the funds to a foreign bank. Once the check clears, you'll receive a 5-percent commission. The company's reimbursement check, however, is counterfeit and you lose the amount you transferred and the company gets information needed for identity theft.

12. Pay First, Get Nada
Many of these hoaxes require you pay upfront fees, supposedly for materials, certifications or memberships, employment placement fees or bogus sales leads. Once you pay, you either get nothing or receive shoddy and useless supplies. If you pay the fees by credit card, conners can use your account information to make unauthorized charges.

13. Online Applications
"Employers" interested in identity theft require your Social Security number and other personal information before your online application can be processed. Often, these conners represent themselves as legitimate companies with fake websites and contact information.

Always check with your local consumer protection agency, state attorney general’s office  and the Better Business Bureau if you have any concerns about a company with which you intend to do business.

Photo by andysternberg