Since the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, more jobs are moving online and more telecommuters are working from home than ever before, and the evil underground and crime syndicates are seeking whom they may devour in this mad dash to move from industrialized work environments to remote workers working from home.
Fortune 500 Company Job Scams
You might be surprised to discover that even the biggest and best Fortune 500 companies appear to be exploiting and ripping-off new remote worker hires. That’s what you might think if you didn’t know any better.
This means you must be cautious and exert your due diligence when you are being courted by a potential telework employer because there are wolves in sheep’s clothing looking to exploit you if given half the chance.
We’ve heard the stories, and as more come, we will let you know how you can avoid the pitfall and protect yourself by being swindled by some unscrupulous villain posing as an authentic employer.
Paid in Advance
Case in point: Julian had posted his resume online to widen his range of opportunities in the telecommuting marketplace. Not long after, he received an email from the HR department of a top-rated Fortune 500 company.
Julian is resourceful, so he looked up the HR representative, and was able to verify that he did indeed work for the company in the HR department, just as he had presented himself.
Time was ticking and the window on this $35-an-hour work from home job opening, which was a perfect fit for Julian, was closing soon. Full benefits and 45 days of advanced-expense-paid training were included in the offer.
Julian accepted the offer and received an $8,124.16 check in the mail drawn on the Fortune 500 company’s account and he was instructed to use some of the advances to buy equipment online that would be necessary for him to connect remotely to the company.
He promptly deposited the check and used his debit card to purchase the equipment which was purchased through an employee-encoded link from the company (a long-tailed URL that included the name of the company). The one-time cost of the equipment: $2,700.00 including a code (provided by the HR representative) for free three-day delivery to Julian’s address.
Three days later no package arrived. Two more days passed, and Julian was contacted by his bank reporting the check (though it for all intents and purposes was a real check from the company) had bounced and reportedly was obtained via the dark web.
Because Julian had used his debit card (which does not offer the higher degree of protection to the user as a credit card) to make the $2,700.00 purchase, he was out that money for certain, and he was also on the hook for what he had already spent of the original $8,124.16.
Google Hangouts Interview
In another case, Andrew received an opportunity to interview for a high-ranking employer via Google Hangouts (which is currently in the process of being phased out by Google) which is also a common component of these felonious fake online job scams offers.
Andrew was awarded the job and was sent two consecutively numbered checks from the company, one for the wages, and one for the equipment cost. Like Julian, Andrew had to purchase the telecommute gear through their coded link.
You or I Could be Victimized
Julian and Andrew are not incompetent. They are smart, well-educated, and honest people, just like you and me. Even the brightest individuals can be conned by a psychopathic con artist who will do anything to fleece you of your last remaining resources without blinking an eye.
You can (and should) report to your local police if you are ever the victim of an online job scam.
Note that if you do report the scam to the authorities, they will be hard-pressed to actually catch these crooks to prosecute or return your losses to you. These criminals are highly adept at covering their tracks and are potentially subdivisions of highly sophisticated crime syndicates.
With the COVID-19 lockdown in progress and many job seekers taking their job searches to the Internet, be aware that these scoundrels are out there.
Hot Tip
In both cases, Julian’s and Andrews, a simple phone call to the HR department of the company would have avoided any financial exposure, giving them the heads up to contact the authorities to report the job scam.