LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- Experts are warning those seeking employment to beware of scam job postings, fake recruiter emails, and work at home schemes.
These scammers often use real company names and look to be a start to a new career.
In reality, you could be giving your personal information or even money to scammers.
One local resident is warning others tonight that this can happen to anyone.
“Sure enough, their website popped up It’s this beautiful company in San Diego,” David Tilley said. “They’ve got seven locations across the country. I clicked on the career link and one of the jobs was for a customer service representative. At this point, I’m thinking here we go, everything’s good.”
The Lafayette resident, come to find out, was dealing with a scammer. Tilley is an unemployed oilfield worker who’s actively looking for a job.
He said he put his resume on a job-seeking website and received a text message from a person identifying himself from an engineering firm based on the west coast.
It sparked Tilley’s interest, so he responded.
“I got the receptionist, and she was in San Diego, California, and she said, “Yes, they’re aware of the scam, and they’ve been after us for about six months, and we’ve reported them to the FBI and they continue to use our name, our logo, our literature, all without our permission.'”
Chris Babin, with the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana, said scammers are putting a lot of effort into employment scams.
“Based on our scam tracker report last year, employment scams were the No. 1 riskiest scam, which means that consumers are most likely to fall for them,” he said.
Luckily, Tilley was savvy enough to avoid this potential fraud, however, the BBB offers these tips to protect yourself from employment scams:
- Some positions can be scams. If the job listing is for a popular company, check the company’s job page to see if the employment opportunity exists.
- Be suspicious of different procedures. Be wary of on the spot job offers- job offers are usually not made without an interview.
- Government agencies post all jobs. If you are paying for the promise of a job, it’s probably a scam.
- And lastly, get all details and contracts in writing.
