The use of job boards to perpetrate fraud on unsuspecting job seekers is growing at an alarming rate. There are many domestic and international predators looking to relieve you of your money or personal information.
Most are out of reach of law enforcement. Many, if not most, are international. Even if the US law enforcement would get involved the likelihood of convictions is very small.
So where does that leave you? Most legitimate job sites screen and eliminate bogus postings. Workforce50.com screens all postings prior to placing them online.
To make matters worse, there are totally bogus job sites. They look legitimate but peel back the onion and you’ll find the real truth. The sites look good, posted jobs look real and they provide you with the luxury of submitting your resume. What is really happening is that these web sites pirate job postings from legitimate sites and present them as their own. What they really want is your resume. Likely for their nefarious benefit. Certainly not for yours.
How do you avoid bogus sites? Simply, if you are not familiar with a particular site do not give them your personal information. Of course search their job listings, but if the only way of contacting an employer is to submit a resume or fill out a form, it’s time to move on.
Now, there are those job postings that get through a job site fraud filters. They present a legitimate looking 
job — perhaps even a real job. A red flag is that they want you to pay an up-front fee. The fees are often represented as “initial registration processing” and may be as low as $30 to $50. A request for job training fees, often several hundred dollars, is another way of extracting your gold. Should you encounter any fee requirements, my advice is don’t just walk, but run, from these scams.
It’s tough, particularly for older job seekers, to look at job sites and postings objectively. Many are so desperate to find work that they are often blinded by the obvious fraud. When we are scanning new job postings at Workforce50.com we first look for the obvious: limited or confusing job title and job descriptions, poor grammar and spelling possibly written by a non-English speaking individual, offers too good to be true, and details of specific job requirements but are willing to take individuals with no experience. Be wary of listings that have any of these characteristics.
We often see job postings from apparently real companies with real jobs and a real link to the company’s web site. But the contact email address or fax # is not related to the company. Again they are endeavoring to fraudulently obtain your personal information.
A variation to the above are postings with a link that appears to be the company site but is actually a scam site that has been duplicated from the real company’s site. Again the motive is the same.
OK, we have talked about your reading ads on job sites. Another associated fraud is scammers calling you on the phone or emailing you. They already have your resume in hand and pretend to be a legitimate recruiter but in many cases have acquired it via illegal means. Their objective is to extract more personal information than what is on the resume or try to convince you to send them money to process an application. This is the same as fraudulent job postings.
So what are the dos and don’ts? Do be suspicious. Do look at job postings or other communications with a critical eye knowing that there is fraud lurking out there. I’ve heard of cases where 8 of 10 job postings are fraudulent Most are caught and removed before they are online for any length of time. But the scammers are tenacious to say the least. You must be suspicious.
Don’t include information in your resume or cover letter that could potentially compromise your personal, confidential information. Likewise, Do Not respond to questions or queries that request for information that can be used for theft of your identity.
So what is the answer? There are many– actually most – legitimate job listings. For those that are confusing or don’t pass your initial test, quickly move on. Remember if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and smells like a duck, it is likely a duck.
A non-related note: You must make your job search a full time job, with overtime.
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on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Job Seekers.
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re: “Fraudulent Job Postings” by Gene Burnard, Oct 5, 2009
Excellent article. I have encountered many of the items that Mr. Burnard writes about, in my pursuit of employment, over the years. In order to avoid many of the potential problems, I no longer include any personal information (name, phone #, address, etc.) on my resume………just an e-mail address, which is completely separate from my personal address. It doesn’t solve all the problems, but does give you some protection from local and international “predators”.
We unemployed are becoming a majority among citizens over 50. There should be something we can do to eliminate all the bogus job listings posted on line. I’ve applied for hundreds of jobs on line and have been afforded virtually NO acknowledgment of my application. I don’t believe even the well-known, actual operating businesses are really hiring. None of the companies are interested in hiring anyone !
Is there any way we can make a joint statement to these people that we will not recognize them or patronize them until they stop pretending to be offering employment? Think about it. You qualify on every level for these advertised jobs, and you can’t even get an interview? Something’s really phony about this.
all the baby boomers need to send a message(s) to OUR government in Washington
and locally, that we are tried of the decrimination going on in our faces from Companies that are hiring high school kids, no less work experience(s) over older American workers or those that are not legal to be working in these United States.
We need to to fire under those in Washington and locally, remind them of re election, when they come up to be re elected or want to be re elected
well it is the problem but it is not only in job postings the main problemhere is information overload,you dont know which one you should check out and which one you should leave and you leave important ones because of excessive information available online.
These job scams are beyond unethical. Also, watch out for the worst employers taking advantage of good employees. That’s why I have this blog protecting people from working at toxic jobs - http://blog.ebosswatch.com.
In my market there are a number of (relatively large) companies that I am especially interested in working for. I’ve noticed that many companies have their own “Careers” section on their website. My guess is that these are at least legitimate job listings. From a little closer look at the code, sometimes a third party is administering this section of their website, so there is a potential for abuse and fraud from that.
Thanks for that post.Makes me want to learn more info on blog