Last fall, Aaron Perkowitz applied for a job as a technical writer. The hirer asked him to compose a paid test article - and when he finished, requested his banking information, to pay him. Perkowitz asked why so much information was needed - couldn't they just mail a check? No response. "The article took me three hours," he says, "but I'm glad I didn't fall for their scam."
Perkowitz got off easy. Today's scam ads are often indiscernible from legitimate listings, and can appear on reputable job sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, as well as in your inbox as phishing attacks. Other scammers extract money from applicants under the guise of background checks, security clearance, uniforms or training.It's a lucrative line of crime: of the 22,325 job scams reported to the Federal Trade Commission in the third quarter of 2022, the median loss was $2,000.
