How to Spot a Job Scam

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 19:52:47 -0400
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With Covid-19 causing many Americans to file for unemployment, many people are looking for jobs. Some malicious actors are taking advantage of them by creating new job scams. Here is a list of tips from Forbes to help spot potential job scams.

Malicious actors will use keywords when describing a job such as “work-from-home”, “work-at-home”, “quick money”, or even “unlimited earning potential”. A legitimate job will usually use keywords along the lines of “remote work”, “virtual work” or “telecommute job”.

Descriptions and emails for scam jobs will usually have grammatical or spelling errors, while legitimate jobs will not have major errors.

A malicious actor will want to hire very quickly, they may include keywords like “immediate hire” in the description and any communication will feel urgent. A legitimate job will usually take some time as they want to hire the right people.

If the job description seems “too good to be true” then it probably is.

Scam jobs are known for asking for an upfront fee for things like applications, background checks, employee processing or even uniforms. They could also request personal information prior to completing the hiring process. A legitimate job will only request information like tax documents after agreeing to the terms of hire.

A malicious actor will request to communicate through email or even chat rooms like Google Hangout. Their emails might even try to mimic the real company’s emails. Even if a legitimate job will contact you through websites like LinkedIn. They will not hire someone without having a phone or video conference interview.

The key to quick scams is urgency. The scammer doesn’t want you to stop and think, and certainly not to ask questions. If you are urged to act immediately and told that you will lose a good opportunity or that something bad will happen if you delay, be suspicious.

Lack of business details is another warning flag. If someone offers you a job without giving you a phone number, street address, or a link to their business to check out, be suspicious.

If the message tells you that your name was provided by UMBC, but asks you to reply from your personal email, ask yourself why they don’t want to use the UMBC email address they just used to contact you. If you see something inconsistent, be suspicious.

If you do receive any email that you suspect is a scam, please do not click on any URL or reply. Either of those actions confirms to the sender that your email address is valid. Please forward the message (with the email headers) to security@umbc.edu and delete the message.

How do I forward full email headers?

https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970

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