Top 3 Ways to Protect Yourself from Legal Hiring Scams

Anytime you see a job hiring advertisement whose deal sounds too good to be true, think twice! Job scams are widespread everywhere, and anyone, including you, could fall victim. Based on the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, 16,012 people fell victim to job scams in 2020. The losses incurred amounted to over $59 million. 

Please note that scammers are always targeting two essential things: 

• Your money
• Your personal details

The fraudsters try all means to ensure they trick many people. Some seek business partnerships. But, in all their scams, they apply different channels to target people. Hence, protecting yourself from such tricksters and their schemes is essential. 

Our article gives you the top 3 ways to protect yourself from legal hiring scams. Once you follow these essential tips, you can safeguard yourself and your business from fraudsters, no matter their skillful tactics.

Before we delve in, let’s find out what a legal hiring scam is.

What Is a Legal Hiring Scam?

Legal hiring scam, or recruitment fraud, describes a deliberate entanglement that impostors devise to trick job seekers. The scammers pose as recruiters or hiring representatives of a business or company. As a result, they promote fake job opportunities to potential job seekers.

The primary and ultimate goal of recruitment scammers is to benefit financially. And, if you do not pay them any money, the fraudsters can still trick you into identity theft. 

Here, they ensure you give them your personal data, which they can use to fake your identity. They then go ahead to access your bank details.

Ways to Protect Yourself from Legal Hiring Scams

1. Stay Alert to Identify the Popular Types of Job Scams

Please note that not every job type is legitimate. Gone are those days when you could walk into an office with your resume, submit it, wait for the interview, get confirmation, and start working. Today’s era involves seeking employment on online job boards such as LinkedIn.

Here, you can fall into the hands of illegit employers and scammers. With the rise of tricksters disguising themselves as employers, it helps to identify the common types of job scams. The popular ones include:

• Work-From-Home Job Scams

Many people love working from home. Generating income from the home’s comfort zones is always appealing to many job-seekers. Hence, it becomes easy to fall into the hands of job scammers who understand this very well.

One of the most common ways of seeking to hire work-from-home employees is by placing ads online. Once you express your interest in the jobs, the scammers will tend to ask for your contact details and may reach you via phone call or text message. 

They’ll most likely promise you a good salary but later ask you to send in some cash advances to secure the job. The work-from-home job scams have existed for some time now. 

But, statistics indicate that job scamming cases increased with the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. This is because many people were left unemployed, and with the physical isolation, millions ended up desperate to work from home. 

These types of job scams seek to squeeze your money in ways like:

• Luring you to pay an enrollment fee
• Pay the advance training fee
• Cater for non-existent certifications, among other enticements

• Fake Email Job Offers

Receiving fake email job offers is another popular job scam. Usually, you’ll receive an alluring email message coming from an ‘employer or recruiter.’ 

They use sweet words to claim that they got your resume on a job board or any other legal platform where you might have applied for the position. 

They go ahead to state that you’re the ideal candidate. So, if you’re too desperate for a job, you can be quickly blindfolded and fall into the trap. You might even fail to remember that you did not apply for such a position anywhere. 

Here, the sender’s email might not even make you think it isn’t an official business email address. And, since you desperately want the job, you could easily fall into their trap, accept the offer, and be willing to do anything they ask you.

Please note that countless fake job offers are sent via email, and you must always stay alert. The scammer will often ask you to submit your details, such as:

• Your social security number in the pretense that they need it for the hiring process
• Your bank account details for the transfer of paychecks
• Your driver’s license (in some instances)

Once they hold such private information, they can quickly harm you by stealing your money and faking your identity to access your bank accounts. 

1. Seek the Help of Corporate Business Lawyers for Legal Actions on Hiring Scams

Most legal hiring scams involve a fake employment agency seeking to obtain your details to access your bank accounts. The scammers also tend to devise direct means to gain your money.

A corporate lawyer may be able to help you recognize postal or federal job scams when you are confronted with one. The business attorney will also inform and help you know the legitimacy of the various government agencies seeking to offer jobs.

So, anytime you feel victimized by such a scam, it helps to involve business corporate lawyers. In this case, if you’re being lured for a federal or governmental job position, the business lawyer can help you confirm from the institutions.

This is possible, especially for the fake companies that reached you via an online advertisement, email, or toll-free phone numbers. Such companies can be traced, and once they realize their fraudulent activities are already in the limelight, they can quickly dissolve their scams. And they might fear engaging in such frauds in the future.

If you’ve fallen victim to the employment scam, you don’t have to suffer in silence. The highly experienced business corporate lawyers can help you get hold of the liable party. They can stand on your behalf, follow up and file a claim against the responsible parties. 

As a result, you might receive some monetary damages award to cover your losses. In this case, if you paid money for fake services, you can easily have the fees refunded back to you.

Indeed, working with a top corporate law firm is crucial. Once the scammers are identified and charged under a lawsuit, they can hardly engage in frauding job seekers again. Besides, upcoming fraudsters might also fear getting into the tricking game to avoid possible legal actions.

When employment scams involve legal issues, they can be very devastating. Also, you may have a lot of questions regarding the fraud. In this case, always seek to work with experienced business attorneys. 

Your corporate lawyer will use their knowledge and expertise to analyze the situation with you. This will help determine the best legal options available. Remember, this is the only way you may be entitled to receive damages for any of your losses. 

1. Always Do Your Due Diligence to Avoid Fraud Cases

We would all wish to trust the people, businesses, and companies we seek jobs from. But the reality is different. There are many people out there who aren’t trustworthy at all. 

So, how do you guarantee their legitimacy? Often, if there’s no readily available verification source for the hiring personnel, insist on letting them provide their legal and verified business documentation.

Do not proceed with that engagement if they hesitate to offer the documentation. Chances are that; they are hiring scammers. Actually, for every hiring decision, it helps to call and confirm details on the hiring business or company. From the conversation, you can quickly gauge their legitimacy.

Key Takeaways

Today, frauds and job scams are a real threat to job seekers. Instead of getting the job you’re looking for; you end up falling victim to the hands of scammers. And they take advantage by robbing you of your valuables, mainly money. 

No matter how desperate you are to secure a job, you must always remain vigilant and safeguard yourself against legal hiring scams. But, again, vulnerability should not hinder you from seeking employment. 

Remember that there are many reputable jobs on legitimate websites. You can apply for a position on their website, and a few days or weeks later, they might send you an email invite for an interview. So, if you’re sure of their eligibility, please do not hesitate to take the offer.

Most hiring frauds happen online, and with the growing number of people trying to secure jobs online, many may fall into scams. So, if you find doubtful requests, please do not give in to their demands. 

For example, you might spot one asking you to click on a strange link to a suspicious website to pay in order to check your credit score and then have a job interview. 

Please do not fall into such scams, commonly known as recruitment fraud. No legit employer will ask you to pay money for a job interview.