Multiple Faces Detected
January 23rd, 2026
The holiday season is just around the corner, which means more temporary job opportunities for everyone trying to get through these tough times. These may be seasonal jobs, but other employers may hire you permanently.
The caveat, however, is that employment scams are also rampant. In 2019, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) scam tracker showed around 2,500 jobs scams. Read on to learn how these fake job offers work and how you can avoid them.
How Temporary Holiday Job Scams Work
The holidays are a time where a lot of money switches hands. During this time, scammers are on the lookout for people to target with Holiday scams quick buck off all of the excitement. While you look forward to earning extra bucks during the holiday season, scammers are busy creating fake job posts online. They will even imitate the websites of legitimate employers and make you enter your personal information. Others will post these fake holiday job ads on social media.
Well-known retailers like Amazon and UPS may be hiring temporary employees during the holidays. However, scammers will trick you into getting their fake job offer through overly huge wages for minimal tasks. These include answering calls, becoming a secret shopper, reshipping packages, and other work-from-home jobs.
Then, you’ll get the job on the spot — without any formal application. However, they’ll require you to provide sensitive information, including your bank account and Social Security number.
These con artists will then urge you to settle some fee. This could be for a startup kit that they insist you’ll need while working from home. Others will ask you to pay for the training fee. Once you send the payment, they’ll disappear without a trace, and you end up losing your money instead of earning more.
How To Spot Job Scams During the Holiday Season
Scammers blend in with legitimate stores and employers when creating seasonal job offers. It is important to be able to spot these scams to protect your bank account, and beware of the following signs of job scams:
High Salary for Small Jobs
One common tactic that scammers use is advertising unusually high pay that only requires minimal effort. In reality, no one will give you thousands of dollars for stuffing envelopes or merely shopping online.
Up-Front Payment
Another clear red flag is when the “employer” tells you to pay in advance even before you’ve started working. Whether it’s for the training or some job supplies, know that legitimate employers won’t ask you to do these things. They’re the ones who’ll shoulder the expenses. Besides, they’re supposed to pay you, not the other way around!
No Interview
Were you hired even without meeting the employer? If you didn’t have an interview but got the job anyway, then it must be an imaginary job. Real employers may be busy during the holiday season, but they’ll find time to screen their candidates properly.
High Pressure
If you’re being forced to decide or make an advance payment quickly, then you’re probably dealing with a con artist. Once you show hints of refusal, they also tend to become hostile and even end up sending you threats just to gain money from you.
How To Avoid Temporary Holiday Job Scams
Scammers never rest during the holiday season. So, learn how to avoid temporary holiday job scams by performing the following:
- Research the company: This includes reading online reviews, checking BBB for possible complaints, and verifying the company’s website. Other scammers will create fake websites, but if you check thoroughly, a lot of information is lacking.
- Never share your personal information: This includes your birth date, Social Security number, and bank account details. Whether it’s through phone, sites, or online forms, do not disclose any sensitive data, especially to suspicious people.
- Do not make advance payments: No real employer would ask you to wire payment for kits, software, or administrative fees.
- Do not perform any work before getting hired: Make sure that the start date, job description, salary, and other crucial information are put into writing first.
- Beware of poorly constructed job ads: Check for typos, spelling and grammatical errors, and awkward sentence constructions. You may also notice terrible edits from the images and logos used.
Beat Holiday Job Scams With Social Catfish
The holidays are a special time. Don’t let scams spoil the fun! With Social Catfish, you can search the hidden layers of the internet using any name, image, username, phone number, email address to find out the truth about who you are talking to.
Run a reverse image search today.
