Sophisticated Remote Job Scams

Searching for a new job is a stressful, time consuming experience with job seekers often sending out hundreds of applications. There is a growing scam targeting work from home employees that is costing victims thousands of dollars with no way to get their money back, it almost happened to me.

The estimated national yearly costs of frauds and scams is over X dollars! These scams and frauds are highly sophisticated and can fool even highly intelligent people. With so many people looking for work from home jobs, this has become a prime target for cyber criminals.

This article was inspired by myself almost falling victim to this scam myself. As a result I want to share my experience as a way to help warn others from falling victim to these low life criminals preying on people who are just looking for a job.

How Work From Home Job Scams Work

Do you think you would be able to spot this as a fraudulent invoice?

Something wasn't sitting right with me so I decided to lookup this office depot location and call them directly. When the employee answered I began laying out what was going on with this suspicious invoice I received and before I could even finish she answered, “it's a scam”.

This was not the first time she had heard this story and added, “we don't even sell apple products”. Sure enough, it was an Apple MacBook Pro M1 on the invoice. I had been expecting that this equipment was being shipped to me preinstalled with the software for my new job.

The scammer told me that the equipment was being shipped from their vendor, and they would send me a check for the cost of the equipment. Of course this made me suspicious, but I now understand how scammers prey upon people's hope for a good opportunity.

I received an email with a check for $3,400 which was exactly the cost of the equipment. I later found out some scammers will sometimes give a check for a value even higher than the equipment cost to help sell the scam. I did as instructed and deposited the check using my bank's mobile banking app.

The next morning I took opened my banking app to see that the funds from the check had been deposited into my account. Around noon I received a message from the scam employer regarding the funds. I told them I had received them, but what he said next set off my alarm bells.

There was an personal type gmail account and I was to send them the $3,400 in varying amounts using a banking system called Zelle. I later found out this system makes recovering your funds impossible, leaving you 100% responsible for all the full amount. 

Remote Job Scams vs. Frauds

Most people are familiar with both scams and frauds, but often don't the details and differences between the two. This distinction is extremely important because it helps determine who is liable when money is lost to cyber crime.

Frauds

One of the most common types of frauds involve criminals using stolen credit cards being used to make high ticket purchases. Credit card companies have protections in place to protect card holders from being held permanently liable for these unauthorized charges.

Other types of fraud can include bank and check fraud, like from the movie “catch me if you can”. An employee taking money without permission or other types of financial crimes.

Scams

Scams operate slightly differently because they often require active participation on the victims part. Scammers are highly intelligent and know exactly how the banking systems work, and what they need their victim to do to remove these safety protections.

One of the most classic scams is a Nigerian prince, or some other elaborate story requiring the victims assistance. It's dangerously easy to dismiss the victims as stupid for falling for an obvious lie. Scams take on endless and sophisticated variations that catch highly intelligent people everyday.

When I spoke with my bank's support agent she unfortunately knew this story all too well. Luckily I was able to realize it was a scam before it was too late. She encouraged me to share my store with others so they can better help protect themselves from becoming another scammer victim.

How To Spot A Work From Home Job Scam

From the very beginning there were little details that made me suspicious. With so many people looking for jobs online, this is becoming one of the most prime targets for scammers because the potential value of this traffic is so astronomically high, tens of thousands of dollars per year per job.

It's not unusual to get a lot of messages from recruiters and suggestions when looking for jobs on platforms like Indeed. When I received a message regarding this position, the company appeared like the perfect fit. The first red flag was when my first interview was done via Skype text messaging.

After the Skype session I was directed to take an additional survey which I completed. A few days later I received an email letting me know that I was selected for this position. They emailed me an employment offer on an official looking letterhead.

In hindsight the scammer also appeared to rush this process, requiring a response within a few days. I emailed them back a completed job offer and was directed to another Skype messaging session. Up until this point I had never spoken with anyone on the phone, just instant messaging.

The red flags were really starting to add up, but my hope that this great job was real kept me engaged. It felt like a scam, but I didn't realize how until the money actually showed up in my account. It was only my suspicion and verifying everything that I realized what was happening.

Trusting Your Gut

Intelligent educated people are often actually more vulnerable than less intelligent people with street smarts. Scammers operate within the cracks of the system, navigating it like their personal highway. People looking for a job are going to be far more vulnerable to requests from a scam employer.

It's possible there are some legitimate employers who use skype messaging as an initial screening. Taken on their own, it might not mean anything, but if you ever start to feel that it might be a scam, then it's probably a scam.

I believe that thousands of years of human history have given us a natural instinct when something isn't right. Scams and frauds have existed as long as civilization itself, they just adapt and change with the times and new technology.

Finding Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities

There are tens of thousands of legitimate work from job opportunities currently available today and growing. One of the best ways to get a good paying job is to develop good paying, high value skills. This will make you more sought after by employers and help you earn more money.

Another great option for employees is to start a blog or other small online business. Any additional income will help people improve their own personal financial situation. This should be a supplement to your existing job until you have no choice but to go full time.

Looking for a job is never fun, but it's a necessary part of life to reach your goals. The resilience you build applying for jobs and facing rejection are the same skills you will need when you have your own clients and your own business.

Don't let your feelings of needing a job cloud your judgment when you notice requests that seem off to you. Be confident and speak up, any reputable employer should be more than happy to actually speak with you and answer any questions you have.

Hopefully my story about this incident will help someone avoid falling victim to this new scam targeting job seekers. Always trust your gut, it's usually right about things like this, even if you can't see the scam at first. In this case it saved me $3,400 which would have been devastating.