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Luna Rasheed

Have you ever felt a job posting was a little too good to be true? You’re not alone. As entry level developers, navigating job postings online can feel treacherous, and that’s without even considering the weight of fending off scams or scam listings. A scam listing is a job or career opportunity that is fraudulently posted with the goal of capturing and selling your data, stealing your money, freebooting your work, and more. It can be difficult to tell a scam listing from a real listing, especially if you are just emerging in your field. In this post, we are going to talk about how to identify a scam, what types of scams exist and are common, what to do if you have been scammed, and what we can do to combat scams to protect our communities. This guide isn’t the end all be all to identify scams, but it will hopefully serve as a helpful tool in your toolbox when navigating career sites.

So, we’ve already talked about what a scam is, but what do they actually look like? What signs do we look for? For starters, TRUST YOUR GUT. If something looks too good to be true, then it most likely is. For instance, if you see a remote/ work from home (WFH) posting with great pay, benefits, and little to no experience required that is just begging you to submit an application, be
cautious. More likely than not, the posting is asking for your information, like an email, a local address, etc, to be sent out and sold by data brokers. Be wary of sending any personal information to any untrusted source, especially your social security number or EIN. Be especially wary of a cold call or email. Sometimes, scammers will approach you from multiple angles and act as if you had submitted an application already for a position that never existed.

Make sure to read postings carefully. Another sign of a scam could be many typos and grammatical or formatting errors. Or if a posting is vague, or looks like a mass- produced copy and paste script that addresses you as a [Candidate] of some kind. Especially so if the email is sent from a random string of numbers and letters without an official company address. The age of the posting might also be a clue: the longer a posting is open, the more likely it is a ghost job, or a job that is listed by companies simply to look good to shareholders, or to hold on to resumes for the next round of layovers. With the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) used in recruiting, some postings will use AI to check the contents in your resume against the contents of the job posting. If you never hear from an actual person, don’t feel discouraged. Perhaps the posting wasn’t in the cards for anyone. If you apply to the wrong jobs, it can feel like constantly running into a brick wall. Prepare and customize each application for every job, just as the recruiter should do in their email when reaching out to you.

Please, always remember: you are smart, strong, and capable. Never feel pressured that you “need” a job from anyone, especially a job that is urging you to send information or money on a time limit. Indeed has some great resources on common scams, such as check scams and reshipping scams, that I have linked below¹.

Protecting yourself from scam posts can be as simple as searching online to verify the companies that are posting them. When in doubt, ask a trusted adult for their opinion, and keep in mind what kind of information is readily online for any scammer to use as a pretense. Above all, trust in your community: research a company on a forum site, look at reviews on Glassdoor, Indeed, or reach out to current and former employees on LinkedIn. Ultimately, if you are the victim of a scam: immediately change any compromised passwords, cancel any card
information, call your financial institution, report the company for fraudulent behavior, and know that you are not alone. It can happen to anyone. Just keep your head up, trust your gut, and know that the right opportunity will come around the corner for you without the need to sacrifice yourself or your safety.

Indeed: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams