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Spam and Scam Job Emails
Do you receive job offers or requests for job
interviews (out of the blue) from
companies you don't know? It's no surprise if you do.
The scum that push pyramid schemes (aks, "multi-level
marketing") have caught the spam craze and are now
soliciting new victims by harvesting email addresses
(usually from jobs websites, like Monster.com, Dice.com,
HotJobs, etc.).
Basically, there are several types of scams:
- No job / No company of any type - just a scammer looking to steal your
identity or con you out of money
- No job, but a real company looking for "associates" to be
"self-employed" or "work from home" selling their products or services, like
pre-paid legal services or insurance.
- No job / MLM - just a pure pyramid scheme
1. How does the no job / no company scam work?
This is really just a variation of the
Nigerian funds transfer or 419
scam - There is no company, no jobs, just a solitary scammer trying to
con you into telling him your personal information so he can steal your
identity and order credit cards in your name, or to trick you into sending
him money. For a sample email, click here.
2. No job, but a real company misleading you about what they are looking for
- Typically, a few months after you post your resume on a jobs website, you
start receiving emails from companies that you have never heard of, like these from
Liberty National Recruiting
- If you respond, you typically schedule an appointment for a job
interview.
- When you show up, you find out that it is a group presentation and there
are many other "candidates" there. In reality, you are showing up for
a multi-level marketing presentation, to suck you in to selling their
product or services.
Is it a scam? Well, it is definitely misleading and misrepresentation.
It is also probably spam - unsolicited business email. They may be trying
to argue that the have established a business relationship with you because you
have a resume posted on Monster; but that seems a stretch.
Write
us with your experiences and copies of the emails you receive, to tell us
about it! We'll investigate them and publish the results!
3. MLM and pyramid schemes
In this variation, one of the pyramid scheme companies or MLM's
(multi-level marketing) sends you an email to "invite" you to be
"interviewed" for consideration as an "associate" or branch manager, or any
of a variety of titles and names that represent you paying them
to sell their grossly overpriced products. It's a great way to annoy your
relatives and piss off your friends and neighbors. Keep pushing the
products on people you know to try to make back your fees, and encourage
others to sign up as associates and "representatives" or "distributors".
Pretty soon you'll have no friends. Oh, and no money...
While there seems to be no perfect solution to
spamming, our advice is to:
- complain to your internet service provider (ISP)
and to the spammer's ISP - and remember to include
the junk mail's entire header
- File a complaint with the jobs website - for
Monster.com, go to this page:
http://my.monster.com/contactus.aspx and click
on LiveChat
- don't respond - that simply confirms your address
to the spammer
-
Check here for a list of companies that use spam to
promote their products - never purchase anything
from these companies. Send us a copy of spam
and we will add the company to the list.
- if the spammer is a US address, email your spam
to the spam recycling centre at
spamrecycle@ChooseYourMail.com (they will
forward the message to state and federal authorities
- don't offer your email address to any websites
that don't have a privacy policy
- set up a private email address for friends and
associates and use a free web-based email address
(like
Yahoo or Hotmail) for any interactions you
have with other websites and companies
- try to filter your email - a link at the
scam busters site will show you exactly how to do
this. Or your ISP might provide a filtering service
or be able to tell you how to set one up yourself.
Annoying Recruiting Schemes
Not all jobs and recruiting emails are scams or illegal. Some are
merely annoying, Complain to Monster.com (if they are coming through
Monster) by forwarding a copy to
siteabuse@monster.com
Spam - What it is and what to do about it!
This page has information about the Federal Trade Commission's
recent law enforcement actions against deceptive commercial email and spammers'
responsibilities under the CAN-SPAM law. In the "For Consumers" section, you'll
find tips on how to reduce the amount of spam email in your in-box.
 
Limiting Spam
Spam Scams
Protecting Your Personal Information
Other credible sources of information:
For More Information
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent,
deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide
information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a
complaint or to get
free
information on consumer issues, visit
www.ftc.gov or call
toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters
Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into
Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil
and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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