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Pay close attention to the details when you're talking with someone about a job.
Sherry Ferguson of Towamensing Township told me she inquired about an administrative assistant position advertised in The Morning Call. She received an e-mail from a man who said he had reviewed her resume and would be happy to offer her the job.
Ferguson immediately knew something wasn't right.
"I never sent him my resume, and he knew nothing about me, so how could he offer me a job? That was the first clue something was amiss," she told me.
The fact the man said he was in Malaysia and needed her to run his business here also rightly worried her.
You can't even rest comfortably when you think you're dealing with a well-known company. Scammers use brand names, hoping you'll let down your guard and provide them with sensitive personal information in an application, or click on a link and expose yourself to a computer virus.
Readers have alerted me fake job offers using the names of well-known entities such as Habitat for Humanity and SC Johnson. WThankfully, corporations know their brands are being used for illegitimate purposes, and they try to warn people by exposing these scams on their own websites. So check corporate websites for warnings.
More tips on how to identify and avoid job scams are on the Watchdog blog at http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/.
The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me by e-mail at watchdog@mcall.com, by phone at 610-841-2364 (ADOG), by fax at 610-820-6693, or by mail at The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101.
Signs of a job scam
•Good money for little work
•Working from home instead of an office
•Employer is overseas and you can't meet
•Cashing checks and wiring money
•Paying fees to apply for a job
•Sending a copy of your credit report to apply
Source: PA attorney general's office
Sherry Ferguson of Towamensing Township told me she inquired about an administrative assistant position advertised in The Morning Call. She received an e-mail from a man who said he had reviewed her resume and would be happy to offer her the job.
Ferguson immediately knew something wasn't right.
"I never sent him my resume, and he knew nothing about me, so how could he offer me a job? That was the first clue something was amiss," she told me.
The fact the man said he was in Malaysia and needed her to run his business here also rightly worried her.
You can't even rest comfortably when you think you're dealing with a well-known company. Scammers use brand names, hoping you'll let down your guard and provide them with sensitive personal information in an application, or click on a link and expose yourself to a computer virus.
Readers have alerted me fake job offers using the names of well-known entities such as Habitat for Humanity and SC Johnson. WThankfully, corporations know their brands are being used for illegitimate purposes, and they try to warn people by exposing these scams on their own websites. So check corporate websites for warnings.
More tips on how to identify and avoid job scams are on the Watchdog blog at http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/.
The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me by e-mail at watchdog@mcall.com, by phone at 610-841-2364 (ADOG), by fax at 610-820-6693, or by mail at The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101.
Signs of a job scam
•Good money for little work
•Working from home instead of an office
•Employer is overseas and you can't meet
•Cashing checks and wiring money
•Paying fees to apply for a job
•Sending a copy of your credit report to apply
Source: PA attorney general's office
