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This originally appeared on Freeshipping.org.
Too many online job ads these days are turning "help wanted" into "help!"
With millions of unemployed Americans searching job Web sites each day, online scam artists have invented new and improved hoaxes designed to steal applicants identities, money and hope.
Consumer watchdog groups report roughly one-fourth of recruiting advertisements on such giant job sites as Monster.com, Jobing.com and CareerBuilder.com are fraudulent. Scammers are particularly prevalent on CraigsList, where job postings are free to employers.
In an effort to protect job hunters, the Federal Trade Commission launched a major crackdown in February on scammers who make life even more difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Americans already wrestling with the economic downturn.
Since last spring, the FTC has brought charges against 11 companies allegedly behind various job and money-making scams, including one that victimized more than 100,000 people. The commission also worked with Monster.com and Microsoft to educate consumers about online job fraud.
Here are indicators to help job hunters identify these soul-sucking scams.
* Generic titles
Vague job titles like administrative assistant, customer representative and marketing specialist are particularly popular. The listings often don't include a job description and require you to e-mail for more information.
* E-mail only
Understandably, employers are hesitant to provide phone numbers in ads because they'll be inundated with calls. It pays to be suspicious of ads, particularly CraigsList ads, that only provide a blind e-mail address.
* Work at home
Jobs indicating "telecommuting allowed" or "work from home" usually require an up-front investment and rarely offer an actual job.
* .Gov or not .Gov?
Watch out for bogus government job sites that are little more than Google Adsense ads, require you pay a membership to see the full job listing, or include affiliate links that take you nowhere. These Web sites make money every time you click on the affiliate link or sign up for a subscription. USAJobs (http://jobview.usajobs.gov/) is the only official site for U.S. government jobs. State government jobs will be listed on your state's official Web site.
* Online training
A very clever person came up with this scam. Applicants are required to complete training via a Web-conferencing service. The "employer" receives a commission for every applicant that signs up. The service makes money by requiring you pay for time spent on the phone. They then delay the call by putting you on hold, so you're forced to pay and pay and pay.
* Hunting for heads
Ads for this scam offer great jobs that don't really exist. Instead, the ad hooks you up with a headhunter who offers a low-paying job that doesn't suit your experience or credentials.
* Postal jobs
These ads appear to advertise jobs with the U.S. Post Office but actually have no affiliation. In reality, they're just trying to sell you test and course materials that you can get for free from the government.
* Bad speling and gramer
Why would you want to work for an employer that can't spell and hasn't grasped the basic rules of grammar? These ads are so fraught with errors it looks like a word jumble.
* Multiple listings
Run away if a Google search for a posted job title, such as "Executive Assistance CraigsList," and it turns up with identical ads in multiple cities. CraigsList is free so it costs scammers nothing to post the same bogus ad in multiple cities.
* Hyped copy
You can tell an ad is bogus if it lists a too-good-to-be-true salary, indicates no experience is necessary for a high-level job, and contains a multitude of exclamation points and bold copy.
* Pay first, get nada
Many of these scams require you pay upfront fees, supposedly for materials, certifications or memberships, employment placement fees or bogus sales leads. Once you pay, you either get nothing or receive shoddy and useless supplies. If you pay the fees by credit card, scammers can use your account information to make unauthorized charges.
