How federal workers looking for jobs can dodge employment scammers

It’s a boom time for employment scammers amid steep cuts to the federal workforce that already threaten to impact Maryland.

Job scams, which often use fake job postings and other strategies to extract personal information and money from unsuspecting victims, are among the most common and financially damaging schemes, according to the Better Business Bureau, which has collected reports of nearly $5 million in losses to these scams over the past five years.

“Criminal syndicates watch the news as much as anybody,” said Tracy Rezvani, the administrator of Howard County’s Office of Consumer Protection.

While job scams are perennial, there’s been a significant uptick, Rezvani said. “It’s my belief that it’s because there are so many people in the job market right now,” she said.

Here are some tips to avoid job scams, and what to do if you get ensnared in one.

Do your research

If you’re looking for jobs online, be skeptical of listings you find on social media and cross-check with the company’s official website. It’s common for scammers to imitate legitimate companies, so if a job posting doesn’t link back to a company website, look up the business online and see if the job is really listed as available on the careers page, said Clay Campbell, the director of marketing for the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland.

Work-from-home scams have become common since the COVID-19 pandemic, offering jobs that sound low-effort and appear to pay well. If a job offer is vague or the pay seems too high for the workload, that’s a red flag.

“Where it’s really easy sounding money, it’s never the case,” Campbell said.

It’s also common advice to look for typos and grammatical errors in job listings, but Campbell said artificial intelligence has made it increasingly easy to make realistic-looking job postings without these giveaways.

If you’re unsure, you can also look up the company’s contact information on a website like the BBB and call to confirm whether the job or recruiter is legitimate.

Be wary of unsolicited outreach

Use caution if you’re approached by an unknown job recruiter, Rezvani said. Job offers made over text message, and especially texts that come from an email address, are especially suspect.

Scammers can also use job sites, like LinkedIn and Indeed, to find people who are looking for work and might be vulnerable to a scam offer.

Armed with information about a particular job seeker, fraudsters can go from a broad “phishing” scheme directed at anyone who might click a link to a “spear phishing” attack aimed at a specific person, Rezvani said.

A common thread among job scam victims is that their communication with the scammer just didn’t feel quite right, she said.

“If you get an interview and it’s short, perfunctory, anything that seems like it’s just ‘off,’ that’s a common element,” Rezvani said.

Scammers will also use emotion to get you to move quickly, Campbell said. If someone is pushing you to act fast on a job you’re unsure about, that could be a warning sign.

“When you are new on the job scene or you’ve been let go and you’re anxious to find a new career path or job, it’s all about trusting your instinct and not feeling rushed,” he said.

Be careful with your personal information

Just like any other scam, employment scammers are going after your money or personal information, said Karen Straughn, an assistant Maryland attorney general who works in the Consumer Protection Division.

It’s common for scammers to tell job seekers they need to purchase equipment or hand over bank information; they might also send you money and ask you to send it back or to a third person.

“These are all warning signs,” Straughn said.

If you’re in the middle of a job interview and realize you’re being scammed, end the conversation and make a report to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC also offers an identity theft checklist — if you have already given away personal information to a suspected scammer, it’s important to follow those steps, including changing passwords and checking your credit reports for unauthorized activity.

If you lost money, you can make a report to the FBI.

You can also call the Maryland Attorney General’s consumer hotline at 410-528-8662, Straughn said, to get help determining if a job posting is suspicious or legitimate. The hotline is available on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.