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Protect yourself from job scams

Updated

Job scams are an increasingly common type of fraud scheme online. Scammers intent on stealing your money or personal information to create fake profiles posing as recruiters or impersonating legitimate people or companies in attempts to lure in victims. Job scams are often initiated via Contact Form messages.

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Preventing Spam

Blocking visitors from submitting your contact form is not possible due to its open text fields. Additionally, the contact form is submitted and sent from Adobe Portfolio/Behance (noreply-behance@behance.com), so blocking this email will not work. However, you can take proactive measures:

  • Creating a filter on your email client so you can filter out those messages by name, email, and content. For Gmail users, here's a guide on setting up filters. 
  • Consider removing the contact form and encourage visitors to contact you directly via email, reducing the risk of spam messages. 

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Best practices to protect yourself from job scams: 

  • Never provide payment as part of the application process. Legitimate companies should not require fees, transfers, gift cards, checks or the wiring of funds as a condition of the application process. 
  • Be wary of job postings or messages that include misspellings and grammatical errors. 
  • Verify information from the potential employer to confirm their identity. Examples include company email address, phone number, or social media handles. Check this against the information on the company’s official website or using a search engine. 
  • If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Fraudulent jobs will often promise outsized rewards for little work to entice victims, such as signing bonuses and advances.  
  • If you’ve been a victim of a scam, report it to your local law enforcement. 

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Example of a common job scam message: 

Be wary of messages resembling the following:

Good Afternoon ___________, 
 
I am George Taylor and I work as a Human Resources Recruiter at Company XYZ. I saw your profile here and I was impressed by your experience. 
 
Here at Company XYZ, we are always looking to grow our teams with talented people and achieve great things together. 
 
I’d love to tell you a little more about the opening position and learn a few things about you, as well. 
Are you available? If so, I’d be happy to coordinate via Google Hangouts and Telegram. 
 
Work Hours Or Shift: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am - 5: 30 pm 
Salary: $25 - 40 /Hr 
 
I hope you have a great day. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
George Taylor 

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