Watch Out for Fake Job Offers and Benefits Bait
With the fall hiring season underway, scammers are targeting vulnerable job seekers with fake employment offers that include unnecessary insurance add-ons or blatantly false “benefits.” These tactics can lead to financial loss, mental stress, compromise your personally identifiable information and leave you without real employment or genuine insurance coverage.
Fake Job Offers
Scammers might try to contact you through text, email or social media, offering job opportunities with extremely attractive benefits that seem too good to be true. They promote high salaries, remote or hybrid work setups, guaranteed employment with no further steps needed and, of course, hard-to-resist perks. To seem legitimate, many scammers send fake offer letters using the name of an established business or organization. If you fall for their tricks, you may receive requests for payments or sensitive information.
Proceed with Caution
- If you are asked to transfer funds for training, equipment or company items before starting work.
- If communications seem suspicious, or do not use official email or work addresses.
- If the offer you receive is unsolicited, remember that “if it’s too good to be true” it probably is.
Insurance Add-Ons
Fraudulent employers often pressure vulnerable consumers into purchasing fake insurance policies or even “premiums” as part of the employment package. These added costs are usually marketed as life or health insurance but provide no licensed coverage. Scammers go to great lengths to make victims believe their schemes, sometimes falsifying or forging documents to make them appear legitimate.
Protect Yourself
- Contact the insurer directly at the number listed on their official webpage (and not in the job communication you may have received) to verify the legitimacy of any policy.
- Verify the company through official bulletins or job boards
- Refuse to share personal, sensitive or financial information until you verify that the offer and the provider is legitimate.
Report Suspected Fraud
If you think you’ve been scammed, report it to:
- DISB Enforcement and Consumer Protection Division: 202.727.8000
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: IC3.govor call 202.278.2000
- Federal Trade Commission: [email protected]