Published on March 16, 2011
The World Wide Web has emerged as a powerful job search tool. Job aspirants upload their resumes on job portals, apply to job ads and respond to job emails hoping to land that dream job. Indeed this has proved providential for many a jobseeker. Yet every good thing is riddled with some hitches.
The web is home to numerous online scammers who use every trick in the book (and then some more) to first lure, then firmly ensnare and finally dupe the next innocent Internet user. And their prime targets: young, gullible, desperate job aspirants!
The modus operandi gets more varied by the day as these unscrupulous individuals hatch abominably novel schemes with amazing speed and ingenuity. Some of the common scams are:
Tricks galore: An astounding job offer lands in a jobseeker's email inbox announcing that he has been accepted for an excellent position in a well-known organisation (like Videocon, Tata Ltd., Warner Brothers or even United Nations) with a huge paycheque/lucrative perks/free accommodation/medical insurance or educational assistance. At times, they also send a fake appointment letter with an authentic looking name and logo of the employer organisation.
The email requires some details like the recipient's resume, work history or contact information. And now comes the rider: Require money transfer for some ‘minor expenses' like air tickets, which is fully refundable!
The naïvely-thrilled jobseeker cannot believe his ‘good fortune' and eagerly dispatches the requirements only never to hear from the ‘company' again.
Not only has he lost the money but also unknowingly revealed vital personal information!
Another set of emails doing the rounds is: A foreigner (mostly British) requires a nanny/driver and is willing to pay through the nose for your ‘caring, dedicated and hardworking' services along with generous allowances and free accommodation. What's more, the employer is ‘more than willing' to arrange the visa/work permit, requesting you to remit the fees (fully refundable of course) and passport copy to a ‘recommended travel agency'.
Fake job opportunity ads and even bogus job portals abound with the sole intention of acquiring personal details.
Then there are the ‘Earn good money online by working from home' offers where you just have to pay an initial amount to either sign up or download some software which unfortunately never seems to materialise!
Other offers entice innocent job aspirants with tempting allusions like ‘no experience required'.
While most of these strategically-devised tricks scream CON, many unsuspecting jobseekers still naively bite the bait - either out of desperation or are genuinely taken in by the seemingly authoritative and genuine offers. Not only do the victims lose the money they have sent, but the information can also be misused to steal finances or even perpetrate identity theft!
Smell a scam: Hence, all fresh graduates as well as experienced jobseekers alike need to be very cautious while sourcing jobs on the Internet.
It is actually quite easy to smell a job scam once you know what to look for. For instance, no employer will ever ask money to secure any kind of job.
As Mr. Ajay Merchant, manager, British Library observes, “If someone is asking for money or personal information that itself says it's a scam. …….it is impossible to get an offer from a place you never applied to, unless you are a very big personality!” So, always remember that you will never need to pay anything for a legitimate job – even if it is for training, materials or software, its required much later.
Other red flags include: A generic greeting or name is a dead giveaway as the cyber criminals send out emails in large batches and do not type individual names in the mail. For some reason, almost all fraudulent job offers are always littered with language and grammar mistakes. Not only are they random and difficult to understand but also utilise numerous fonts and colours to attract attention.
Again, if the email entices you to act fast (lest you lose the opportunity) or asks for personal information, back account/credit card information, it is definitely not legitimate.
Also, such job offers are generally sent from free email accounts like gmail, yahoo, hotmail while genuine offers will always originate from the company's own domain name!
Apart from this, exercising careful vigilance is the only way one can protect oneself from falling prey to these innovative hoaxes. So, be cautious about any job advertisement and do not respond blindly. Ensure that you visit the website, verify the web address and call up the organisation to confirm the job offer.
If the website does not exist/is ‘under construction' or if the contact numbers are not reachable, it will definitely raise your suspicions. If you do get to speak to someone, ask lots of questions to validate their authenticity.
If you do respond to anonymous/suspicious offers, send only a broad resume from a disposable email address without revealing your name, address or contact details.
If still in doubt, simply try Googling parts of the text you have received. The web has copious horror stories with the same or similar modus operandi used to dupe unsuspecting people again and again.
Last but not the least; “If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!'
Happy and safe job hunting!
Payal Chanania
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