Job Scams & Prevention

The “employer” sends you a recruitment email, but it does not lead to an official recruiting platform such as Workday or their careers page on the organization’s website...

Urgency leads to poor decisions. Normal recruiting shouldn’t force you to decide things quickly. If you’re pressured to respond right away to a job offer, ask why and consider if they might be trying to scam you. Ask for things in writing before committing to anything.

Be careful downloading random unknown files, scanning random QR codes, and clicking on unknown links! They may download harmful, invasive software or try to steal your personal information by mimicking a company’s real website—especially if it takes you to a log-in page. If anyone sends you an urgent message and encourages you to click on something, navigate to the organization’s website on your own instead.

Vishing, or voicemail phishing; and smishing, or text phishing, are similar to email phishing except that they use your phone!

Receiving a text message with a link in it from an unknown number, especially when they warn you about something needing immediate attention like an issue with your taxes or a bill, is also a type of phishing! Don’t click on mysterious links in your text messages. Common text message phishing attempts include warnings about a missed delivery, utility bills due, or compromised accounts. For jobs scams, many fraudulent recruiters will send strange messages through text!

As for scam calls and voicemails, the same principle applies: a scammer—possibly using a pre-recorded message, a robotic text-to-speech recording, or an advanced AI voice—urges you to answer or call back for something urgent like debt collection or a relative in danger. Be vigilant of how a call sounds!

The golden rule of any job hunt or “deal” is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Beware of job opportunities without an extensive interview or application process, or a posting that promises too big of a benefit for the type of work you’d be doing.

A recruiter tells you that you must provide credit card, bank account access, or other personal financial documents. The employer asks you to help set up your office with purchases done by yourself, asking for banking information. They offer a large payment to use your bank account for depositing checks or transfers. They might ask you to shop/buy things for them or ask you to process payments through wire transfer or courier. You might even unexpectedly receive a large check! Don't provide any information or cash any checks! You don't need to give out personal documents and accounts to find a job, nor should you ever process any financial transactions on behalf of others in your own accounts!

Personal info like SSN and Driver's License number should not need to be provided to organizations during application processes.

If the job's salary is strangely high compared to the average compensation for that position type, then that's a red flag! Jobs that ask for little work or no experience needed for high pay are suspicious. The salary range may also be very, very wide (30K to 100K, etc).

The position may present itself as a traditional full-time or part-time job. However, if you research and read more into the responsibilities and how the job functions, it seems more like an independent contractor opportunity. If the job is being advertised as something it's not, that's a red flag!

The position is with a reputable, familiar organization—but the email handle doesn't match the usual domain, such as a misspelling or they're using a generic domain like @gmail.com. Examples include:

"example@wallmart.com" (slight error in name)
"example@g00gle.com" (using a look-alike letter or number)

They might also be using an email spoofer—if you reply and the email's different than who you received it from, watch out!

Is there a link to a website with the position? Go to it. Does it seem like a normal organization's website with lots of different types of pages, or does it only contain information about the position and that they're hiring for it? Scammers often create basic webpages to try and increase how legitimate they look, but the webpage has a lot of errors and doesn't make sense.

They can also spoof real websites! Try googling who the business is and finding their website on your own. Remember to watch out for phishing links and scammers who are imitating real companies!

Do you know the recruiter or organization? Look them up online. If it is hard to find an address, contact information, organization name, or social media accounts... this is a red flag! Scammers want to be hidden, and legitimate organizations likely don't. You can use websites like the Better Business Bureau and Dun & Bradstreet to look up businesses.

Does someone contact you by phone, but the number isn't available, and you can't call them back? That might mean they're using a phone number spoofer to look like someone they're not—or hide their actual information.

Someone might immediately and eagerly respond to your application and ask for a remote/phone interview. They might offer you a job immediately. This is suspicious and a red flag. Be sure to ask many questions and do your research.

You're offered a job, but they’re asking/telling you things that don’t align with what you applied for.

Scams are common on social media, so you can expect that there’s many job-related scams on LinkedIn, too. Do not expect spontaneous offers in direct messages on LinkedIn, nor official correspondence to happen there.

There are some common types of positions that are more likely to be scams or are looking to steal your personal information. Watch out and look closely at roles like Virtual Assistants, Entry-level Remote jobs, Online Survey Applications, Mystery Shoppers, Online Tutors, etc.

You've received an email about a position or are offered a job spontaneously—you haven’t subscribed to job alerts or a job-related newsletter. The email isn't targeted directly at you, or it's just simply addressed to a large number of emails (likely collected from a data leak or taken from an online database). This is likely a scam and happens often to University Emails! Do not reply to any emails you get in your @fsu.edu email offering or seeking an entry-level position. Report any messages that look suspicious to abuse@fsu.edu, then delete the message.

If you Google the company or names involved in the position and the suggested searches or results include “scam”, it’s likely that others have looked up the same thing and there's something fishy going on! Use a site like https://www.ripoffreport.com/ to check for previous incidents with a specific position/company.

No company should require YOU to pay THEM to get a job with them!

You shouldn’t need to provide a photograph of yourself for 99.9% of jobs. This is a red flag. They may be scouting for easier targets to scam or are human traffickers. Continue to use caution when submitting applications for modeling and acting opportunities, too!

If the description regarding the position contains a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, focuses primarily on the money you could make rather than detailed responsibilities, and has urgent and unusual requests, those are red flags!

Multi-Level Marketing schemes are operations that involve selling a product and recruiting others to do the same. They are also called network marketing or direct marketing. Many are illegal pyramid schemes.

According to the Federal Trade Commission: "Most people who join legitimate MLMs make little or no money. Some of them lose money. In some cases, people believe they’ve joined a legitimate MLM, but it turns out to be an illegal pyramid scheme that steals everything they invest in and leaves them deeply in debt." Read more about MLMs here: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes

If you believe you have fallen victim to a phishing email or fraudulent part-time job scam, The Career Center can guide you through your next steps – reach out directly to (850) 644-9775 or HireANole@fsu.edu

You can reach out to FSU’s Victim Advocate Program for additional support.  Victim Advocate services are available 24 hours a day, including holidays. To reach a confidential advocate day or night please call: (850) 644-716