Have You Been Scammed on Craigslist?
Craigslist has made a name for itself as a huge classified ads sites with different sets of ads for most American large cities or geographic areas. It seems like people can find almost anything for sale or hire there, and in fact the huge site has come under recent fire for adult ads that were thin covers for illegal activities. But beware, because even very legitimate sounding job opportunities can lead to trouble.
Craigslist Writing Scams
We first noticed this article about Craigslist freelance writing scams. Apparently, writers would find a legitimate request for writers. The ads would ask for writing samples. In the best cases, the authors would send in requested articles for approval, and then they would never hear from the advertiser again. Later, these writers reported finding their work published online under different author names. In fact, their work was stolen.
This is the best case? Well, it is because other job seekers had even worse experiences.
The Email Submit Scam
They may have gotten back an email that was actually sent from an auto-responder. It would direct them to another website where they needed to enter an email address to gain entrance. This other website was actually a disguised email submit offer (like those survey sites where you are supposed to get a free gift card for taking a survey. They never heard back from the original job offer poster, but they did get a lot of SPAM in their inbox. And the advertisers who ran the email submit offers got a lot of very angry business who had been tricked into taking the surveys.
A variation on this would request that the job seeker fill out a short application. But this application was actually a marketing survey that had nothing to do with applying for a job.
The Training Course Scam
Some job offers looked like very legitimate businesses or even federal offices. The US Postal service was cited in one example. Then the interested person called a posted 800 number they were told they had to pay over $100 for a book so they could pass the civil service exam. The people running the offer had nothing to do with the USPS, but were in the business of selling training books.
The Identity Theft Scam
This is probably the worst case, and it would certainly be a lot more trouble than getting some SPAM or having articles stolent. The job poster would get back to the job seeker, but they would ask for a lot of personal information. This information was used to steal identities or resell.
How To Be Safe From Craigslist Job Scams
This is probably good advice on Craigslist or any job board.
- Does the pay look to good to be true? Remember what you mother told you about free lunches and all that.
- Real job opportunities will post requirements. They also do not ask you to pay anything for a job. Be very wary of any job offer with no (or very few) requirements and some requirement to buy something.
- Be wary of an instant email response that asks you to fill out some sort of survey, even if they call it an application.
- Do the job details seem sort of vague. Real job postings are usually very specific.
There are real jobs on Craigslist, and we hear that many people have found real opportunities there. But just be careful out there. If you need to find a job, you do not need more problems!
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It is terrible that greedy marketers prey on jobless people this way.