LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — If you’re job hunting and looking to make extra cash, you might want to think twice about where to apply.
Officials with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) said that instead of making money, you might be losing it to scam artists.
The bureau said there’s a new round of scams targeting job applicants; something the organization started keeping track of seven years ago in 2016.
“We’ve always seen a steady increase in those scams and the amount that victims are losing,” Better Business Bureau Marketing and Community Relations Manager Katie Grevious said. “In the first three months of 2023, we saw that $840,000 jump and that 250% increase. Meaning that we are on track to far surpass any number we’ve ever calculated for job scams in just a year’s time.”
She added scammers are reaching for ways to appeal to a large crowd of people.
“More people are online; more people are looking for jobs online now past the pandemic. We’re looking for that work from home, not so much that face-to-face interaction in anything we do,” Grevious said.
She explained that if you think a position is too good to be true, most of the time it is.
“The typical job scam that we are seeing is that work from home or remote offering and usually those salaries and that pay, it’s a too good to be true offer,” she said. “They’re offering a lot of money for a very small amount of work.”
Before giving away any personal information, like a social security number or bank information, you should always double check first.
“Do a follow-up with that company. Give them a call. Look them up on places like bbb.org to make sure that they actually exist, that they have an address, that their email address makes sense for the company,” she added.
Officials with the BBB added that a representative from the job-searching company Indeed told them it “removes tens of millions of job listings each month that do not meet our quality guidelines.”
