Many people use Indeed during their job hunts to try and get that perfect career they have always dreamed of. There are also people that use Indeed to get something that provides them with a steady income and don’t care what the listing is. Either way, most people go down the list applying to listing after listing, not paying much attention to the little signs that some of these listings might be scams. Scammers have many ways to trick their victims on almost every website they can find, and Indeed is no exception. Here are some Indeed scams to watch out for.
Types of Indeed Scams
Fake Check Scams
Scammers hire you onto a work-from-home position, usually as a personal assistant or a caregiver. The scammer sends you a check for a lot of money and asks you to set up your own office, purchase expensive medical equipment, or get other necessities for your job. They even claim that most of the money on this check is your up-front pay, as long as you send them back the rest of the money.
However, what you don’t know is that the check is fake and the bank will be calling you in a few days to get the money back. Scammers have you do this so that they can make money off of a fake check, but also so they don’t get in trouble or owe money back to the bank since the withdrawal is under your name. Therefore, this fake check becomes your responsibility.
Money Laundering Scam
Money laundering is when the so-called company asks you to perform a wire transfer for them from one of their clients to them, using MoneyGram, Western Union, or BitCoin. You think that what they are saying is true, however, this isn’t the case. You are actually transferring money from someone who is being scammed to the scammer themselves. There are also instances where the scammer tells you to transfer their money to their bank accounts under your name since it is stolen money.
Re-Shipping Job Scam
A scammer offers you a work-from-home position, where you are either the manager of merchandising or a package processing assistant. They claim that your job is to take the products mailed to you and ship them to random addresses. While this may seem innocent, what you are actually doing is shipping out stolen products to other people. The scammers don’t want to use their actual addresses because they could get in trouble if they got caught, so they trick you into using your address. You are then also paid by fake checks and counterfeit money.
Extra Fees Scam
It shouldn’t cost you money to apply, get interviewed, and trained for a job. The responsibility of all costs should be on your employer that you accepted employment with. Scammers might ask that you use payment options such as PayPal, CashApp, or gift cards in order to pay extra fees on things. If they are asking for payments on random things and you are spending more than you are making, it’s best to check if the job is even legit.
Work From Home Scam
There are many fake work-from-home opportunities that either pretend to be a well-known business or come up with their own business name. These fake businesses will then ask for your personal information to commit identity fraud, as well as send you fake checks as a form of payment. There have even been fake work-from-home businesses that have told new hires to take the check and use it to purchase office supplies, only to find out that they now have to pay the money back to their bank. They also tell you that you need to pay to be interviewed or trained, which is illegal.
Phishing Email Scams
Scammers send out phishing emails to those who applied to their fake listing, pretending to be that legit company. There have also been instances where the scammers pretend to be Indeed themselves. The phishing link provided is actually a phishing website where if you enter your information, it goes back to the scammer. Once your information gets stolen, the scammer can then pretend to be you and commit identity fraud under your name. These websites can also contain malware that infects your device and steal additional stored information.
How to Avoid Indeed Scams
- Research the company that is being advertised on Indeed.
- Report any suspicious job listings to Indeed.
- Make sure the company name and email addresses are spelled right.
- Company email addresses should contain the company name at the end, such as “SocialCatfish.com”, not “Yahoo.com” or “Gmail.com”.
- Watch out for any misspellings in the job listing.
- If they want you to pay for your interview or training, block them immediately and don’t take the job.
- Do not accept paper checks as a form of payment at your new job, only direct deposits.
- If you need to accept a paper check, ask your bank if it’s a legit check before withdrawing any money.
Social Catfish is Here to Help You With Indeed Scams
At Social Catfish, we want to help you verify the identities of those who might seem suspicious to you. If you have their name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image, you can reverse search and see who the suspected person was that you’ve been in contact with if you think you’ve been a victim of Indeed scams.