Word of Advice

22 June 2009

Job scams 

Looking for a way to make some extra money during the economic downturn? Found a fantastic money-making activity? Check out the job or business carefully. It might not be the great opportunity that it sounds like. It could actually be a scam.

Scammers can make a bad deal sound good. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs expects scammers will take advantage of rising unemployment to target people who are looking for a job or extra money.

While you are job hunting you need to watch out for scams. If you get involved in a scam you might be breaking the law. Even more likely, you will lose a lot of money that you can’t afford to lose.

Watch out for the following job scams:

Getting paid for someone else to use your bank account to transfer money

No matter what story your contact spins about this deal, if it involves you letting them transfer money in and out of your account it will be a scam. The result will either be – the scammer uses your account to launder money involving you in the criminal underworld. Or the scammer will simply empty your account of all your money and disappear.

Paying a big joining fee to sell products that no one will buy

A selling scheme that makes its money from joining up new members rather than selling the product is a pyramid scam and is illegal. If you join up more people to the scheme you become a scammer yourself. But more likely you will lose your joining fee when the pyramid falls over, leaving you with less than you started with.

Buying materials off your ‘employer’ to make products at home and send back

These deals can seem more realistic. You are actually producing something that you think your ‘employer’ wants. But when you send the products in the scammer won’t pay. They might pretend that it is because the products are not well made. You lose your time and effort as well as all the money spent on the materials.

Buying a guaranteed employment plan

This sounds tempting. What if you could pay some money and get a guaranteed job at the end of it? But the scammer isn’t in any position to guarantee you a job. Recruitment companies do not usually charge a fee to the job applicant, and if they do then it should be paid after they have found you a job.

If the offer sounds similar to the scams described then it is probably a scam, even if it is not exactly the same.

Checking out a job opportunity:

• Find out more information about the company offering the job. If they don’t have a physical address then be suspicious.
• Find out more about the work involved. Check that the product or service you are going to be making or selling is actually needed or wanted. Get this information from a potential customer rather than asking the person who is offering you the job.
• Do the maths and work out how much work you have to do, or how many products you have to sell, to make a reasonable amount of money.
• Watch out for big promises and little effort.

Be suspicious if this deal promises to solve all your money troubles. If you are told there is very little effort to get the money then the deal is almost definitely a scam.

Anything that is too easy probably has a catch. And no amount of wishful thinking will turn a scam into the real thing.

Find out more about scams and how to avoid them and report them at SCAMwatch.