Scams Target the Unemployed

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Topics: Economy, Other
Download  RSS  Podcast  Short URL  Share

One of the positive things about being out of a job is that there are agencies and services that can help; on the other hand, some offering a helping hand are actually running a scam. And that brings us to this week's Upside/Downside - our weekly look at the region's economy. According to one recent report, “the economic downturn has hit the criminal underworld hard…and many are turning to job-scams as a second career.” Job hunters on the Internet are particularly vulnerable. ideastream®’s Ida Lieszkovszky has this case in point.

When Angela Bloodsoe of Atlanta, Georgia got a $4,000 check in the mail from a Cleveland based marketing firm offering her a job as a so-called mystery shopper, she felt relieved.

Bloodsoe: I never did it before but my sister and I frequent a lot of malls and department stores and restaurants it was something easy until I found permanent employment.

The check came with a list of instructions that laid out the proposition. This is how it works. Bloodsoe takes the check and cashes it, then uses the money to buy products from selected retailers like WalMart as part of a “sales evaluation.” But before that part of the job starts, she’s supposed to wire a portion of the money from the check to a specific address to test the wiring service. Turns out the check was bogus, and bounced a few days later – leaving Bloodsoe on the hook for money she had spent, and the portion she had wired back.

She called the company, Applied Marketing Logistics, several times.  Each time they promised to get back to her…but never did.  Now Bloodsoe a whole new set of things to worry about besides just looking for a legitimate job.

Bloodsoe: I would hate for my credit to be ruined because I deposited a bad check because I’m not a criminal.

We searched google and a database to find out more about Applied Marketing Logistics, but got no results, and phone calls to the number Bloodsoe used just a few weeks ago gets you…

Phone: “We’re sorry, this number is no longer connected. Please hang up the phone or try again later… “

Last year there were more than 20,000 employment fraud cases reported nationwide, ranking it 12th among the top consumer complaints, according to the Federal Trade Commission. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because most cases don’t ever get reported.

McConnell: We’ve seen an increase in jobs targeting the unemployed, jobs targeting people who have debt because they’re unemployed.

That’s Sue McConnell of the Bureau’s Cleveland Branch.  Mystery shopper positions and other similar work at home jobs are one of the most common scams, right up there with identity theft and fake debt collection.

And the scammers frequently utilize the Internet to find their prey. Bloodsoe had posted her resume in some local online forums. McConnell says that’s most likely the way the fake marketing company found Bloodsoe.
The popular employment website Monster.com has more then 36 million active résumés on their website now, a virtual gold mine for scammers.

Patrick Manzo is chief privacy officer for monster. He says there are some basic things people can do to protect their identities and avoid getting scammed. For starters, some things just don’t belong on a resume.

Manzo: Social security information, health information, those sorts of things are probably just not appropriate for an online forum whereas things like your name a way to reach you, where you work are probably already in the public domain.

The Better Business Bureau’s McConnell says job hunters need to keep their guard up for anything that sounds too good to be true.

McConnell: It is often common sense and after the fact consumers sometimes feel foolish and embarrassed that they didn’t catch on but when you are desperate for employment you might not be thinking as clearly as you normally would so you are very vulnerable and you can be too trusting.

If you do get scammed, McConnell says report it to the police, the Better Business Bureau, and don’t stop there.

McConnell: Even though its embarrassing tell your friends tell your family tell people you come in contact with what happened to you so they don’t become victims of the same type of fraud themselves.

For Angela Bloodsoe, her sister helped her realize the bounced check from Applied Marketing Logistics might be a sign of a scam. She says she’s wiser now, and more anxious.

Bloodsoe: Now I’m gonna have to check my back … and I have to question everything I do twice and its sad and I’m hurting and I have two kids to take care of and I feel..I can’t even explain how I feel.

Bloodsoe says she hasn’t even been able to tell her sons yet about what happened. 

When you consider not only employment scams but foreclosure scams, loan fraud and other ways criminals are taking advantage in this down economy, it does at least show that innovation in America is alive and well…just not always the kind most of us would prefer.