More Ways To Avoid Identity Theft Scams

Yesterday we covered a variety of ways to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft and falling for scams.  There are so many that it warranted a second article on the same topic with other ways the thieves are out to rip you off.  Beware of the following…

Job search scams

Job seekers are not exempt from scams and there are people taking advantage of them. You have to be very careful. There are scams to get your personal information and/or money.  Since the job market is tight, you can be vulnerable to offers you want to believe are true.  There are creative ways to steal your personal information through the internet, work at home scams, federal job scams, and pay to find work.

Internet scams to steal personal information – Be careful what data you put on your resume.  If you are posting on any of the job boards, do not include your phone number and complete address, only the metropolitan city and state and email.  Never include your social security number, date of birth or driver’s license number. Beware of unsolicited emails contacting you about a job and asking for personal information on an application. Don’t click on the website on the email, it may lead you to a fake site; type in the website for the company.  Don’t send a resume to an ad that doesn’t use a company email.

Another email scam is telling you a “credit check” is required, so they need personal information to locate your credit report and credit card number to pay for it. Still another is the need to scan your driver’s license.

Work at home – There are many work at home schemes that are advertised online or are sent to job seekers directly.  The most common are receiving and forwarding packages, handling payments for overseas companies, envelope stuffing, medical billing, pyramid schemes, payment and rebate processing, and mystery shopper.   You should be leery of any of these.  The scams keep changing and more are added to the list daily.

A common one is an unsolicited email from an individual representing a company overseas and wants to know your interest in being a payment processing agent. They saw your resume on an internet job board.  Their intent is to get you to accept funds from them, which is counterfeit paper or wire transfer funds stolen from another ID theft victim. You in turn send the funds to someone else, which is considered money laundering.  In addition, they steal your personal information by gaining access to you computer through the malware embedded in the email correspondence, or embedded in the HTML or fake corporate web site. Your information is sold to the black market.

Pay for applications or job information for Federal jobs – The common one is an ad for U.S. Postal service jobs. You pay for the application and or pay a fee to call a number and hear a long recorded message.  You don’t have to pay a fee for applications, information or sample tests for government jobs – city, state, federal or the U. S. Post Office.

Pay to find work – Be aware of companies that offer to find work for you and charge fees upfront.  .  Most companies don’t require payment up front to find you a job; you pay when they find you a job and are hired.  Be leery of those requiring a fee upfront.  Some state they have exclusive lists, but just provide a list from a public directory, which you can do yourself.  Others write your resume, cover letter and send them out.  There are legitimate companies that offer services to job seekers, Make sure you understand the services, ask for references, and check them out in Google.

Remember there are people out to scam you, even in a job search.  You can’t be too careful. Keep in mind, if it is “too good to be true”, it probably is. Don’t give out your personal information without checking out the source.  Make sure the company web site on which you are completing an application belongs to them before providing personal information, especially your social security number.

John Ulzheimer is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.  Follow him on Twitter here.

Categorised in: Credit Monitoring, Credit Report, Identity Theft

This post was written by John Ulzheimer