HARRISBURG, Pa. — You see them nearly everywhere these days: Now hiring signs.
The latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows there are 10.9 million open jobs in the country.
Throw in the so-called "great resignation" and it's definitely an employees market.
FOX43 finds out what scammers are doing to scoop you on your dream job.
Work-from-home jobs are some of the most-searched openings on the job market right now.
They're also the ones most likely to be scams, according to job search engine Indeed.com.
Even the FBI is warning people about these sorts of scams.
Dr. Terrill Frantz from Harrisburg University says remote work is an easy scam to post.
"When you're dealing with somebody like this just online and they give you a phone number to call their HR department, trust but verify," he says.
Most of the time, the fake job post will either be someone pretending to be from a real company, or something so close to the name of a real company that you wouldn't tell the difference.
"The job posing sites do not go that extra mile like a bank would to verify," Frantz says.
To be fair, these job sites are inundated with postings too -- since there are so many open positions.
A spokesperson for Indeed says they remove millions of job listings each month that don't meet its guidelines.
Here are the big red flags:
1. Application fees. 99% of the time, this means the job is bogus. Technically a job could charge you for a background check, but even that is rare. Frantz said, "Sometimes the scammers will ask you for a $50 application fee and other ways of trying to entice you to send them money, which is always the goal of a scammer."
2. Asking for your social security or bank account numbers on the initial application. This information may be needed later on as you move through the hiring process for payroll, but definitely not before even the first round of interviews.
3. No matter where you see a listing, check to see if it's on numerous websites, especially the company itself. If it's not, that means the job is filled or it's fake.
"A legitimate company really needs to protect their brand and their reputation in this mix of scams," says Frantz.
Employers need to do some work, too.
They should assign someone to check job websites every so often to make sure people are not posting fake jobs under their brand.
"That's really something that employers need to do too because they are victims, as well as consumers in this type of scam," says Frantz.
Here are the top jobs scammers use to trick you, according to indeed:
- Assistants
- Receptionists
- Delivery drivers
- Warehouse workers
If you're looking for jobs in any of those fields, be extra alert.
If you have a story you want Jackie De Tore to look into, FOX43 wants to find out. Send her a message on Facebook or send an email to FOX43FindsOut@FOX43.com.