HARRISBURG — Attorney General Tom Corbett urged consumers who are searching for work, including college and high school students looking for summer jobs or adults hoping for full-time or part-time employment, to be watchful for a growing number of online job scams.
“Thieves typically use Internet ads or email messages to circulate bogus employment ads, including offers for high-paying positions as personal assistants, check processors and mystery shoppers,” Corbett said. “They are hoping that the lure of high-paying work will convince consumers to respond quickly, without carefully reviewing the offer for warning signs of a scam.”
Corbett said that the specific details of bogus job offers can vary, but added that nearly every job-related scam shares common themes:
- They offer “easy money” for doing little or no work.
- You work from home, rather than an office.
- Consumers must respond quickly.
- It is often impossible to meet your employer face-to-face because they “travel” or are “based overseas.”
Corbett noted that at some point during most of these job scams, consumers will be asked to cash checks for their employers and then wire-transfer some of that money:
- Personal assistants may be asked to pay bills for their “employers.”
- Check processors are told that they are handling payments for an overseas business.
- And “mystery shoppers” may believe they are evaluating stores that handle wire-transfers.
“The expensive reality of these scams is that consumers are depositing counterfeit checks and then wire-transferring money to scam artists outside the United States,” Corbett said. “Victims typically learn they have been scammed when their banks notify them that the checks they have deposited were actually worthless, which may not happen until days or weeks after consumers have electronically transferred money to the thieves behind these schemes.”
Corbett said other job-related scams may ask consumers to pay up-front fees in order to apply for a position, or may ask consumers to send a copy of their credit report, revealing detailed information about bank accounts, credit cards and other personal data.
“All of these scams have the potential to repeatedly victimize consumers – stealing their money, their personal information and their hopes about online job opportunities,” Corbett said. “Consumers should be wary of online job offers that seem ‘too good to be true,’ especially any situation where you are being asked to wire-transfer money, pay fees or reveal personal information to strangers.”
Possible scams can be reported using the online consumer complaint form, located in the “Complaints” section of the Attorney General’s website, at www.attorneygeneral.gov, or by filing a complaint with the national Internet Crime Complaint Center, at www.ic3.gov.
