Top Most Common Job Scams That Target IT Professionals and How To Avoid Them

Did you find a job offer on the internet that sounded too good to be true? Well, it probably is. The internet is filled with scammers trying to prey on innocent people looking for work, and if you think that developers and other IT professionals are not a target… think twice. In this article, find out about the most common job scams that target IT professionals, so you can learn how to recognize fraudulent work opportunities and how to avoid them.

In this article you’ll be able to find:

• What Is a Job Scam and How Common Are They?
• Job scam formats that target IT professionals
• How to Know If a Job Is a Scam
• Tips on How to Avoid Job Scammers
• What To Do if You’ve Been a Victim of a Job Scam
• What other types of job scams are there?

As most job seekers turn to online platforms to search and apply for work offers, they often face fraudulent employment opportunities. Scammers have always been around, but the increased development and use of the internet and technology have allowed them to become viciously creative.

Looking for a job is a hard task in itself. The growing trend of online job scams makes it even harder, and anyone can fall victim to them. They prey on people’s vulnerabilities to recruit unsuspecting victims.

There are ways to protect yourself from scams but, to do so, you must first understand what a job scam is and what drives this industry.

What Is a Job Scam and How Common Are They?

A job scam is a deceptive job offer designed to trick individuals looking for genuine employment. Scammers often aim to exploit job seekers by extracting money, obtaining personal information, or getting unpaid work under false pretenses.

In the US, reports of job scams increased 118% in 2023, in comparison with the previous year, according to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Consumers reported losses of around $367 million to these scams in 2022, a value that continues to escalate.

In Portugal, the scenario is no different. In an interview, Revolut’s head of the FinCrime department stated that job scams are increasingly growing and using tactics such as asking people to pay in advance for paid training, administration, and installation fees, or to buy necessary equipment, such as a laptop or smartphone.

This year, 1200% more cases were reported than in 2023. The average reported loss per user is estimated at €3,762, with the most targeted age group being 20 to 35 years old.

Job scam formats that target IT professionals

Fake Email Job Offers

Scam email job offers are particularly harmful especially if you’ve been applying to many different jobs at the time, and not keeping tabs on your applications. Basically, scammers will pretend to be a recruiter or employer claiming that they’ve received your resume and that you’re the perfect candidate for the job (how convenient!).

You might not even remember sending an application to said company, and you might not even recognize the sender’s email or the company’s name. But in desperate times, you might feel tempted to accept the offer anyway.

In these situations, the scammer will require access to sensitive information such as your driver’s license, Social Security number, and bank account information. Said information allows them to harm you in many different ways, from stealing your money to stealing your identity.

Social Media Job Scams

Most of us use social media, which makes social media platforms the perfect place for scammers to share fake job opportunities. Platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook have their tactics to block profiles that advertise fake job ads, but seasoned scammers can easily work around them.

Other platforms, such as X (formerly known as Twitter) allow scammers to share fake job listings through shortened URL links (bit.ly or ow.ly) which can easily link to unverified and dangerous websites outside the platform.

The best way to avoid falling for social media job scams is to make sure the recruiter or the company seems legit. Investigate their pages, check for the number of followers, and even try to see if more than one profile comes up when researching the employer’s name.

Information Material Scams

Securing a job involves getting a leg up on your competitors. Scammers take advantage of this by posing as recruitment experts who promise to optimize your candidacy by feeding you essential information to prepare for a specific interview. Provided you pay a fee, of course.

Not only will you not receive any life-changing material, but you’ll also realize that this type of information is already available on the employer’s website, job listings, and many other free sources.

Fake Career Consulting “Experts”

Scammers posing as career consultants might reach out to you to praise your resume. Amidst compliments, they’ll mention that it could be better with some additional work. In exchange for a fee, they can either improve your resume themselves or refer you to an “expert”.

In these situations, there are no experts, you won’t receive an improved resume, and you won’t ever get your money back.

How to Know If a Job Is a Scam

While there isn’t a foolproof method to detect whether a job is a scam or not, there are many different warning signs that you can be on the lookout for. Some of the most prevalent ones include:

• Unprofessional contact. Legitimate companies usually handle recruitment or other professional contacts using company email domains (i.e. john@company.com). Be wary of potential employers reaching out to you via non-company email domains or platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
• Poorly written emails. Companies often employ professionals to handle social media and email accounts, so well-written emails with curated information are expected from legit employers. Scam emails, on the other hand, tend to contain vague details and obvious spelling and language errors.
• Payment requirements. Always doubt an employer who asks you for money upfront, whether it is to purchase start-up equipment from the company, pay a registration fee, or finance some sort of training. Also, be wary of companies asking for your bank account information, before you start working with them.
• Payment methods. Scammers have their preferred payment methods that often simulate using cash. They might insist you only pay via gift cards, cryptocurrency, shady payment apps, or wire transfers. This leaves little trail and makes it almost impossible to get your money back.
• Premature contract signings. If a company sends you an employment contract to sign in advance, they might be trying to scam you. Especially if they’re asking you for sensitive information such as your Social Security number or bank details.
• Slightly altered websites. Pay close attention to the company websites, as they might be using slightly altered ones. For instance, you might be interested in a job listing at microsoft.com and end up being scammed at a job listing from micro-soft.com.
• Persistent contact attempts. Scam callers will try to reach you persistently, showing a sense of urgency in hiring you and pressuring you into accepting the job offer. They’ll also try to make you feel bad about potentially losing the opportunity to work with them.
• Unrealistic pay. If a company is offering huge paychecks for entry positions that require virtually no skills, it’s probably a scam.
• Unfamiliar interviewing software. Virtual interviews are standard nowadays, and legitimate companies typically use well-known platforms like Zoom or Google Meet. If an employer is trying to convince you to install unfamiliar software just to conduct an interview, you’re likely being scammed.

Tips on How to Avoid Job Scammers

By now you should understand what job scams are and how they work. However, there are still a few more things you can do to avoid job scammers and all of the stress that comes with dealing with them.

First (and I can’t stress this enough!), if your recruiter is asking for money, run the other way. You should never have to pay for the flimsy promise of a job.

Not only should you not disclose any personal or sensitive information, but you should also consider using a separate email and phone number for job searching. In this case, if you do get scammed, your main accounts will remain safe.

You should also conduct your research on a company whether you’ve initiated the conversation (applied to a job opportunity) or not. Don’t feel pressured to respond right away. Instead, take time to check the company’s original website to see if they have current job openings and research the name of the recruiter and whether their social media presence is verifiable.

You can even try connecting with the company directly! Shoot them an email and ask them about any job opportunities you might have found on other websites. The safest information will always come from the source.

Has a suspect company or recruiter tried offering you some work? Check for potential complaints! Job listing platforms often have review sections where candidates share their experiences with employers. Take advantage of that to understand whether the employer is legitimate or just another scammer.

Never click on links or open any type of unverified document, not unless you know for sure that the source is reputable. Also, don’t fill out any questionnaires or forms with interview screening questions that ask for personal information.

Another way to minimize the risk of being scammed while job hunting is to be selective regarding the online platforms you use. Stick to platforms such as Indeed or LinkedIn and, even then, stay alert and do your due diligence when applying for job opportunities.

Last, but certainly not least, trust your gut. If you still feel suspicious about a job offer after conducting your research, then you’re better off trusting yourself and declining it.

What To Do if You’ve Been a Victim of a Job Scam

If you’ve fallen victim to a job scam, here are a few steps to minimize the consequences:

1. Block communications from the scammer, so they’re unable to scam you any further;
2. Inform your bank if a scammer stole your bank information, asked you to send a check, or processed a charge on your credit card. They might be able to cancel any transfers or reverse unwanted charges;
3. Turn on identity fraud monitoring and credit alerts to receive real-time notifications whenever someone uses your information to, for example, apply for a credit card;
4. Report the scam. In Portugal, you can submit an online scam report at https://queixaselectronicas.mai.gov.pt/Queixas/Burla and provide details about the scam, including the type of scam, contact information, a description of the scam attempt and any screenshots or evidence you have. If you have suffered a financial loss or the attempted scam was particularly serious you should file a complaint with the Judicial Police at https://eportugal.gov.pt/servicos/apresentar-uma-queixa-crime-a-policia-judiciaria.

What other types of job scams are there?

Besides the job scams targeting IT professionals that have already been mentioned, there are many others that could also affect your family or friends. Therefore, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 most common job scam types:

Work-From-Home Job Scams

Generating income from home has become more appealing to job-seekers. Aware of the rising popularity of remote work, scammers take many different approaches in placing ads that promise exceptional pay for work from home. Some of the most common fake work-from-home job offers include:

1. Shipping schemes. These scams are also known as postal fraud and they consist of receiving packages, getting rid of original receipts and casings, repackaging the received goods, and reshipping them. Scammers offer attractive salaries for these types of jobs and even promise to cover the shipping fees. However, the candidates mostly end up shipping potentially stolen or illegal items, without receiving the promised compensation.

2. Equipment purchases. You’ve made it through the selection process for a remote job and the final step includes submitting a mandatory payment for your remote work equipment (computers, monitors, and peripherals), that’ll be reimbursed on your first paycheck. Except you won’t receive said equipment. Or a reimbursement. Or a paycheck.

3. Envelope stuffing. A company asks you to fill envelopes at home for a high weekly pay or an appealing commission. Sounds easy, right? The problem is that they’ll also ask you to pay a small fee to cover the supplies that you’ll need. But instead of receiving them in the mail, what you’ll get is some form of communication telling you that you’ll only get paid if you trick others by recruiting them into the scam.

4. Data entry scams. We’ve all seen these data entry job ads that promise a lot of money for little to no work and without the need for any particular skill. The scam here occurs when the scammer employer asks you to pay upfront registration, processing, or training fees or even share your bank account information.

5. Reselling merchandise. Scammers count on the fact that many people like having side hustles and reselling merch is the perfect opportunity to reel victims in. The job is to purchase luxury items – clothes, appliances, gadgets, or beauty items – at discounted prices and resell them for profit. The issue is that you buy the inventory, but you’ll never receive it.

6. Assembling crafts and products. For the most creative job seekers, the idea of being paid for doing craft projects at home must sound amazing. Well, it isn’t. In these scenarios, scamming companies make you buy craft supplies, purchase the product’s materials, and even pay an upfront enrollment fee. The issue is that, in the end, they’ll reject your finished products, even if they’re an exact match to the initial project.

Top 5 Most Common Job Scam Types and How To Avoid Them – Final Considerations

You can never be 100% safe from job scams as scammers are constantly reinventing their techniques to keep up with tech developments and new safeguards. However, hopefully, using our tips and tricks you can remain safe while job hunting.Are you currently looking for a job in the tech field? Look no further! With the help of KWAN, you can safely start your new career. Just take a look at our Careers Page to find our current opportunities and feel free to contact us!