GLENVIEW, IL--(Marketwired - April 08, 2014) - Employment scams are becoming an increasingly pervasive method of Internet fraud, warns SurePayroll, a leader in providing online payroll to small businesses nationwide.
Internet crime has become all too common. The Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than 289,000 such consumer complaints and as much as $525 million in losses in 2012. The Council of Better Business Bureaus lists employment scams as one of the top scams being perpetrated.
Scammers are using legitimate company names to recruit people for jobs, often offering great pay, flexible hours and a chance to start right away with little to no experience. The scams can be both harmful to a company's reputation and could compromise a job seeker's personal information.
"They're often seeking money in exchange for the job or personal information to potentially use for identity theft," said SurePayroll Human Resources Director Jennifer Marszalek. "You have to be very aware and thoroughly investigate online job offers, especially when they seem to come out of nowhere. Employers too have to be on the lookout for any fraudulent use of their company names."
There are several warning signs to watch for with phony job offers such as:
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An exchange of money is required
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Requests for extensive personal information
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Unusually high salary for the position
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Ability to work from wherever you want
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Emails written with poor punctuation and spelling
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No experience required
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Lack of an interview process
"If a reputable company is offering a job, it's likely they have it listed in multiple places, and they're going to have a formal hiring process," said Marszalek. "It's unfortunate that these job scammers go after people who are anxious to find employment and perhaps don't take the extra steps to make sure a recruiter or job offer is on the up and up."
Some tips for employers to protect themselves from employment scams include:
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Always include your logo or other proprietary graphics and information about the work environment and benefits in job postings -- this will show job seekers that it is a serious job opportunity.
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Do not ask candidates to reply to an email address not in your company's domain (like yourcompanyname@yahoo.com), it looks sketchy.
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If you find that someone is running a scam using your company's name, make sure you reply to any job seekers that contact you regarding the posting to let them know it's not a legitimate job opportunity.
As Internet scams become more prevalent and more sophisticated, job seekers should do their due diligence with all employment opportunities and employers should be vigilant in protecting their businesses from this type of activity.