Keeping Your On-Line Job Search Safe

Recently, I was the victim of computer hackers. For some reason, I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. My personal email address was taken over, the hackers sent a scam email to all of my contacts making it look like I emailed everyone to ask for help as I had been mugged in London and I needed money. My phone rang off the hook with friends and family calling to make sure I was safely at home in Atlanta. Even close friends seemed to believe the email even though I had spoken to them recently and hadn't mentioned a thing about a trip overseas. It was weeks before all of my on-line content was returned to me and the whole experience was a nightmare.

Searching for jobs on-line can open you to similar issues, but ones that may be harder to determine their authenticity. This article from MSN Careers gives some scenarios and some ways to protect yourself.

Keeping Your Online Job Search Safe
By CareerBuilder

Scenario: Imagine searching online for jobs one day, applying to a handful of them and hearing back from one of the employers. After an e-mail interview process, you are told that your new job as a finance manager requires you to transfer money deposits made to your personal bank account to a new account. You sign the contract and send it off via e-mail.

You receive your first assignment: Transfer money overseas. Upon going to the bank to make the transfer, you are arrested on the spot and charged with grand felony theft because the money you were about to forward was stolen. You are indicted by a grand jury for the theft and now, you're awaiting trial and facing prison time if convicted.

While the above situation is true, according to a report by the World Privacy Forum, it's also the worst case scenario to result from a job scam. Enticed by advertisements to work from home or make quick cash, more and more job seekers are falling prey to Internet employment hoaxes.

"Job scams target job seekers searching for high-paying, convenient opportunities," says Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder. "They con workers into divulging personal information such as bank account or Social Security numbers. Instead of getting paid, the victim ends up losing their money, their identity or worse, they can end up in jail."

Read on to get a crash course in (almost) everything you need to know about job scams, according to the World Privacy Forum, a California-based public interest research group and the Better Business Bureau.

Types of scams

The most common type of employment swindle is a payment-forwarding or payment-transfer scam, of which there are many variations. All of these stings involve forwarding or wiring money from a personal bank account, a PayPal account or from Western Union to another account, which is typically overseas. Usually, the con artist pretends to be an employer and, after he wins the job seeker's trust, he tricks job seeker into giving up his or her bank account number. For compensation, the job seeker is told to keep a small percentage of the money. While the amount of the transfer varies, almost always the money is stolen.

Another typical ruse is reshipping. These scams begin with an employment offer, usually via e-mail, for a job forwarding packages. Victims receive packages at their homes and are instructed to repackage and reship the parcels to another location, usually abroad. Frequently, the packages are stolen property.

A third set-up to be aware of is work-from-home opportunities, which generally promise quick cash and a lot of it. Victims have to pay a "registration fee" or a fee for training and/or equipment; often, the paid for materials aren't sent to the job seeker and refunds aren't available. Keep in mind that not all work-from-home opportunities are crooked, but take caution when applying for them.

Warning signs
Here are a few known "red flags" of phony job listings:

A request for bank account numbers.

A request for Social Security number.

A request to "scan the ID" of a job seeker, like a drivers' license. Scammers will say they need to "verify identity" -- this isn't a legitimate request.

A contact e-mail address that is not a primary domain. For example, an employer calling itself "Legacy Inc," will have a MSN hotmail e-mail address.

Misspellings and grammatical mistakes in the job ad.

A lack of interest in meeting the employee.

Tips to avoid scams
The following tips can help job seekers protect themselves from fraudulent job opportunities:

Never give personal bank account, PayPal or credit card numbers to an employer.

Do not transfer money and retain a portion of the payment.

Never forward, transfer or "wire" money to an employer.

Don't divulge private information such as a copy of your driver's license, passport or Social Security number. *

Do not re-ship products.

Don't partake in cross-border action.

Research the prospective company.

If you have questions about the legitimacy of a job listing, contact your Better Business Bureau, your state or local consumer agency or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

If you feel you have been a victim, file a complaint about fraudulent jobs posted on an online job search Web site by calling the FTC complaint line at (877) 382-4357. If you ever receive a suspicious request that mentions CareerBuilder.com, please do not respond and immediately contact CareerBuilder customer service at (866) 438-1485 or report the suspected fraud using our feedback form.

To find a consumer agency near you, visit www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml.

*Remember, this advice only applies to work from home jobs where you have not actually met the company or completed paperwork such as the Form I-9. Legitimate companies, like DISCOVER STAFFING, are required to get this information for the Federal Government. We will not ask for it until you've completed the application process.

Using Craigslist to Help Find a Job

As a recruiter, I get asked all the time about resources to help find a job. The Internet, of course, has been the top job searching tool for years with the domination of websites like Yahoo! Hotjobs, Careerbuilder and Monster. A few years ago a crazy on-line experiment started by Craig Newmark at his home in California started a new phenomenon. The website soon spread like wildfire and nationwide hubs of the website appeared in all major metro areas and even some minor ones. Next thing we know, Craigslist has become a source for jobs. Since it has a local flavor and started out free in most cities; and if eventually becoming a pay site only costing $25, or so, a posting (a steal compared to the major job board that require huge contracts), Craigslist was a place to find more than just the legitimate jobs. Craigslist very much has a split personality when it comes to being a job board.

Because it is local and inexpensive, many legitimate companies are really using the site to post their openings. People with certain skill sets are not using the major job boards and Craigslist is more accessible for those types of positions. On the other hand, it is a hotbed for scams that propose a lot of benefits and end up leading to lost dignity at the least and lost money in the worst case. How do you tell the difference between a legitimate job and a real one? That is hard to say, because the individuals crafting the posts are generally good at what they do in either case. Even posting a company website doesn't necessarily add an air of legitimacy as it doesn't take much to throw something together to look professional.

It is always best to trust your instincts. If you contact the posting via email or phone and simply don't get a good vibe from the person at the other end, walk away. This could mean you miss out on real jobs, but not everyone gets along and maybe that is not a bad situation in either case.

The following article offers a lot of great advice for working on Craigslist.

Using Craig's List to Find a Job
From Job-hunt.org

Each Craigslist site has the same "look" and organization - but not content - as all the others, with many categories of classified ads, including jobs and gigs (projects), as well as events, housing, and things for sale.

2 Important Cautions

Craig's List is different from most sites you have used in looking for a job because the cost of posting a job is non-existent (a.k.a. free!) or very low cost ($25 to $75), in comparison with most job sites. That difference is a major benefit of using Craigslist since it attracts postings from employers of every size. However, as with most things, there can also be a downside.

1.) Watch out for scams.
The Craigslist people work hard to minimize the scams posted, and visitors can "flag" postings that they think are inappropriate or badly categorized. However, since posting an entry is free for most categories and locations, there is abuse by scammers, scammer wannabe's, and just plain inept people. So, be careful. To help their visitors, Craigslist has a section called "avoiding scams and fraud." Be sure to read it!

2.) Protect your privacy if you post your resume.
There is a category where people can post their resumes. Those postings will be visible to anyone who visits the site, so limit the contact information and details that you include. Anyone, including your current boss, can view your resume on Craigslist if you post it there. See Job-Hunt's CyberSafe resume article for tips on methods to use to protect your privacy while enabling your job search.

Finding the "Right" Craigslist

To find the Craig's List for your state or town, or where you want to live, go to Craig's List and select the location you want from the lists of links on the right side of every Craig's List home page. Just click on the appropriate location link from those listed. The new home page will look like the one you just left except there should be a different name in the heading at the top of the page. If you pick a state with several local Craig's Lists, you will get a page that offers you a choice of towns and cities in that state.

Understanding Craigslist

The listings are organized by category, in reverse chronological order which means that the newest ones are at the top, with yesterday's next, and so on to the oldest at the end. So you can pick a category and/or a sub-category to see the listings. Listings may be mis-categorized by the people who post them, so focusing on a sub-category can be a mistake if something you want is listed in a sub-category you don't check (more below).

Finding the Jobs (and Gigs) in the "jobs" Column

Near the top center of the home page, you'll find the column heading -"jobs".

To get started, just browse through the job postings by clicking on the word "jobs" and scrolling down to see what was posted today (so far), yesterday, the day before yesterday, etc. as far back as you want to go. I like to browse through everything posted recently (last few days) in Jobs so that I don't miss something that is in an unexpected category.

Below the jobs on the home page are the "gigs."" Gigs" are mostly short-term jobs, also organized into sub-categories and presented in reverse chronological order. Browsing through the gigs is usually very interesting in most locations. Sometimes you can end up with a permanent job starting out with a "gig;" sometimes you'll just make enough money to cover your bills until you get a "real job;" and sometimes you're just adding experience to your resume (and maybe a skill or two, too).

Searching in Craigslist

Craigslist also has a search function that works very well. They provide different search capabilities depending on what page of Craigslist you are visiting. If you select the category or subcategory for "jobs" or "gigs," you get an advanced search function that provides you with good fine tuning capabilities for that category. Pick the category or subcategory you want, and then search through the postings using the usual key words and the fine tuning.

If you type your query into the search bar on the Craig's List home page, select the part of Craigslist you want to search through from the drop down list (e.g. "for sale," "events," "jobs," "gigs," etc.) for a simple keyword search.

Networking with Craigslist

Networking is still the best way to find a job! And, in addition to the jobs and gigs, Craigslist's "community" and "discussion forum" sections may also be helpful to your job search. In the community section, you'll find activities, groups, events, volunteers, classes, and politics. All of those are potential sources of opportunities for networking. And, volunteering to help less fortunate people in your community usually makes you feel better about yourself while you help someone else (and network, too). In the discussion forums, there is a "jobs" discussion group, although at this point there isn't a separate forum for each location - the forums are combined into one very large one.

Subscribing to Craigslist Updates

Craigslist offer RSS feeds for most categories and sub-categories. Just click on the RSS feed button - or on the Add to My Yahoo button at the bottom right of each page to subscribe to updates of that page's contents.

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About the author...

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff "graduate" who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

All that glitters...

As the old saying goes "All that glitters is not gold." You can also say that sometimes things are too good to be true. This can happen on a job search as well. With the advent of the Internet, more and more people can get their message out to the general public and sometimes that message is not legitimate.

When searching public job boards such as Craig's List, keep in mind some general safety tips. The following were compiled by Yahoo! Hotjobs.

Yahoo! HotJobs takes security very seriously and does a number of things to help protect job seekers from fraud. Despite our best efforts, some fraudulent listings may appear on our site from time to time. Thus it is very important that users take common sense precautions to protect themselves:

Never give out personal financial information such as your bank account or credit card number to a potential employer.

Do not give out your social security number unless you are filling out a job application for an employer at their offices. Be wary if you are asked to give your social security number by phone, email, or online.

Do not accept any cashier's check, money orders or any other offer to cash checks for someone.

Never wire money via Western Union or any other money wiring service to a potential employer.

Carefully research companies before sending any information to them. Look up the company's name in an Internet search and get comfortable that they are a legitimate company.

If you have doubts about a company's legitimacy, research the company using Web sites operated by the Better Business Bureau and the United States Federal Trade Commission.

If you think information about you may have been used illegally, report the details to your local police immediately.

Yahoo! Hotjobs also recommends if you see anything posted on their site that appears to be fraudulent, contact their customer support department. Craig's List also has an easy way to flag information that seems to be less than legitimate.

Internet tools are a great resource to finding position, but just remember that not everyone on the Internet is who they say they are. Use a common sense approach.