Anne-Marie spent many years working in the field of public health, but when she recently found herself unemployed, she turned to internet resources such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter to hunt for a job

"I submitted a bunch of really quick applications for jobs like that," says Anne-Marie, a resident of Atlanta whose name has been altered at her request because she does not want it to be associated with her.

She had worked remotely before, so she was aware that "sometimes these companies operate a little differently." This was not her first time working in this capacity. It's not quite the same as the HR representative sitting down with you in person for the standard interview. It is somewhat less formal."

So Anne-Marie didn't bat an eye when she got an email from a company situated in Belgium telling her that they found her résumé to be appealing and that they wanted to organize a virtual interview with her. The fact that the interview was scheduled for the next day, on a Sunday morning, did strike her as weird; nonetheless, she didn't let that deter her from applying because the job sounded fantastic: it offered a signing bonus, full benefits, paid time off, a 401(k), and so on; it was the complete package.

The interview took place on a texting program called Wire, which Anne-Marie had never utilized before, but other than that, everything went according to plan. They talked about her previous work experience and talents, as well as the requirements for the data entry job. The recruiter was taken aback by her performance and went straight to business, asking whether she could begin on Monday. Anne-Marie answered, "Sure!"

But after that, things started acting quite strangely. The headhunter informed Anne-Marie that in order to be successful in the position, she would require certain pieces of home office equipment, such as a new laptop, a printer, a scanner, and even a laminator. In addition, there was software available for purchase, all of which was somewhat pricey. The recruiter responded to Anne-Marie's objections by stating that they would, indeed, pay for all that she had spent, but that doing it this way was simply more convenient.

"I've done work from home," admits Anne-Marie. "In most cases, they will provide you whatever it is that you require to finish the work. That did strike me as a little strange. However, she was still prepared to give it a shot despite her reservations.

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The following day, she was sent a link through which she could have a conversation with the recruiter regarding the orientation. But as they continued to chat back and forth, suspicions began to arise. Anne-Marie observed a significant number of grammatical and typographical errors. The day before, the recruiter was able to communicate in perfect English, but this individual was all over the place.

Anne-Marie eventually emerged and voiced the problem that preoccupied her the most: how she was going to be compensated for the expense of purchasing all of the office equipment.

Anne-Marie states that there was a significant lull in the conversation. "We were texting back and forth when there was a gap of 15 minutes with no response from either of us."

She then dialed the number for the human resources department of the Belgian company's Atlanta office, which had just begun its business day at this point. She was told by a representative that they had not advertised the job and that if they had, they never would have let an employee be responsible for purchasing their own equipment. She sat there in complete and utter silence.

Anne-Marie remarks, "I can't even figure out what their scam was," which is a statement that begs explanation. "I have no idea if they intended to take my money or my identity in some way. Even now, I have no idea.

Since the pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of job scams.

When COVID struck, businesses were forced to close, children were sent home from school, and millions of people lost their employment in the service sector, which includes industries such as restaurants and retail. There has been a significant increase in the number of people looking for work that they are able to perform from the comfort of their own homes on a timetable that is entirely up to them. It was a veritable treasure trove for con artists.

"Job and employment scams have been around for generations, but with COVID and what we've experienced over the past 36 months, we've seen an enormous uptick," says Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations at the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which published a research in 2020 on job frauds. "We've seen an enormous uptick," he adds. "We've seen an enormous uptick."

Phishing and fraudulent online purchasing are the two most common types of internet scams, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Job scams are the third most popular sort of online scam. More than 2,500 reports of job scams were submitted to the BBB through its Scam Tracker tool in 2022 alone, leading in losses of more than $3.5 million; however, Planos believes that this is only the top of the iceberg.

"It's rampant," says Planos. It has never been simpler to communicate with someone on the other side of the world, and the number of chances to work remotely has increased dramatically in recent years. Swindlers have a golden opportunity to take advantage of the expanding market of people looking for jobs that offer some degree of freedom.

It's interesting to note that young people are the demographic most likely to get taken in by a work scam. The Better Business Bureau discovered that the age group most susceptible to work scams in 2021 was persons between the ages of 18 and 24, in contrast to other online schemes that rely on older people with less familiarity with technology.

"A lot of college students and young people are looking for remote work opportunities with flexibility, and they don't think twice about conducting job interviews via a messaging app," adds Planos. They are willing to ignore a great deal of warning signs in order to seize the correct opportunity.

Warning Signals for a Job Scam
 

The con artists who targeted Anne-Marie were operating their scheme according to a tried-and-true script for online employment fraud. You should be on the lookout for the following warning signs, and here is how you can protect yourself:

• Check to see if the email address provided by the sender is legitimate. In many instances, such as the one involving Anne-Marie, the con artists will make believe that they are employed by a legitimate business, such as Apple or Amazon. Check the recruiter's email address twice to be sure it's correct. According to Planos, the presence of a Gmail address is cause for concern. In the case of Anne-Marie, she found it quite weird that the email address included the name of the company but ended in.work rather than.com. This was something that she had noticed and found very peculiar.
   
• Check the website of the potential employer to check if there is an ad for a job. Because Anne-Marie is not the only person who applies for dozens of jobs at the same time, it might be difficult to keep track of all the available positions. If a company contacts you about a position, you should check their official website to determine if there is a job vacancy that corresponds to the description of the post.
   
• Question unsolicited emails, calls or messages. If you don't remember applying for a job and then you get a phone call from someone offering it to you, you should be suspicious of the situation. Inquire further for clarification on the source of their copy of your resume and contact details.
   
• Warning sign number one is if they want you to pay for something before you receive it. When seeking new employees, a genuine company will not request that they purchase a large quantity of their own equipment. According to Planos, some of these frauds send you to a certain website to purchase the equipment, which is also a front. In the end, the victim loses his own money, does not receive anything in return, the check for reimbursement is returned unpaid, and the con artists now have his credit card information as well.

The High Price Paid for Employment Scams

Anne-Marie has a lot of good fortune. She gave up before the con artists could obtain her address, Social Security number, or any other sensitive personal information that could be used to steal from her. The con artists requested for her bank's name, but not (yet) for any account details. "They're going to try to get as much out of you as they possibly can," says Planos, "and once they have that composite picture — Social Security number, credit card number, bank account information — it's really hard to turn off the proverbial spigot."

For victims of identity theft, regaining complete control of their credit and finances can take a significant amount of time—sometimes even years. According to Planos, there is a widespread belief that if you fall victim to a con artist, the worst that can happen to you is that you lose some money, but other than that, life goes on as normal. In point of fact, it's more comparable to picking up the pieces after a natural disaster.

You're talking about repairing your credit, which requires you to cancel all of your credit cards, right? You are going to have to replace everything," advises Planos.

What to Do If You Think You've Been Scammed at Work
 

Anne-Marie made the appropriate choice. When the recruiter started making odd requests, she questioned her motives and demanded to know why. Why am I being asked to make a payment for the equipment before I even receive it? How will I be reimbursed for my expenses?

According to Planos, "There's a very specific script that a scammer likes to stick to," and this is something that scammers like to stick to. They have certain talking points that they use. If you continue to question things, the whole thing will fall apart.

And if you fall prey to an employment scam, you should always report it, even if you make it out of the situation undamaged. You can report fraud on the excellent website maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), or you can do it on the Scam Tracker maintained by the Better Business Bureau. Mark the posts as suspicious or send an email to customer care if you discover that a fraudulent organization is using Indeed or ZipRecruiter to post job openings. If you spread more information about this prevalent scam, then fewer people will fall prey to it and it will have less of an impact overall.

"Speak up and speak loudly," advises Planos. "Speak up and speak loudly." "The most essential thing that you can do is not be quiet. You are doing nothing but assisting the offender. The con artist is counting on your shame to make you fall for their scheme. Because of this, they are able to carry on committing the crime. You truly have the ability to generate something positive out of something that is so immensely awful, but in order to do so, you must speak up.