The pandemic has created desperate times and a climate ripe for job scams in Canada. Here are some signs that job is BS.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created desperate times and this means a lot of people are on the hunt for jobs and in need of an income – making us all more vulnerable to job scams that we might be otherwise. And scammers are taking full advantage of the opportunity to prey on your desperation and steal whatever money you might have.
Canadians getting scammed
CBC News reported this month that a woman named Ashley fell for a scam by a fake Vancouver-based technology company called Gux-IT. The company contacted Ashley and invited her to apply for a full-time “general assistant” position, saying she would work remotely from her Toronto home. Ashley looked at the company website and it apparently looked convincing enough for her to take the job. On her first day of work, was told she would receive an e-transfer of $2,000 from the company and to go deposit it into a cryptocurrency ATM located in a convenience store on Gerrard Street in Toronto to start a “work wallet.”
Of course, this was a scam, because there are literally no legitimate jobs for which your first task is to receive money and make a deposit into an ATM at a convenience store, cryptocurrency or otherwise. The website was fake, the company was fake, even the HR manager with whom Ashly was communicating, Nancy Garapick, was using a name stolen from a Canadian Olympic swimmer.
It’s unclear whether Ashley lost any actual money. Fortunately, she checked with her bank beforehand, so it’s unclear why the cheque would have gone through or why she would go ahead with such clearly suspicious instructions.
The CBC also recently reported that a Toronto man almost fell for a job scam that would have cost him $4,000 has his bank not flagged a suspicious transaction. Tony Monize thought he was taking a job with Sobeys. After starting, he received a cheque for $4,385 “to cover the cost of home office equipment,” and was asked to e-transfer $4,000 to a third party from his own account. Fortunately, his bank spotted the scam and called him the next day. The job was not posted by Sobey’s, of course, and did not exist.
Monize didn’t lose any money but many people aren’t so lucky
Job scams have been skyrocketing
In June 2019, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre received close to 2,000 reports about job scams, nearly 250 more than the 1,757 reports they received in the entirety of 2019.
A few factors are obviously at play: More than three million Canadians lost their jobs in March and April of 2020 in what Statistics Canada said is the fastest decline in employment in Canada’s history. People need work and may be more willing to believe something they might not otherwise; the increased availability in work-from-home positions makes scams, which are usually fake WFH jobs, harder to spot; and the pandemic is creating a new world in which it’s acceptable to be hired without actually meeting someone in person.
The climate is “ripe for fraud,” Jeff Thomson, a senior RCMP intelligence officer with the Anti-Fraud Centre, told the CBC.
And these scams are fairly sophisticated. They involve convincing websites, local area codes and company email addresses. The fake companies use bogus but convincing cheques, bearing convincing logos.
Signs of a job scam
That being said, there are still obvious signs that a job is a scam. The biggest of these is being asked to receive funds or cash a cheque and then transfer or deposit some or all of money. I will say it again: there are literally no legitimate jobs for which your first task is to receive money and make a deposit into an ATM at a convenience store. This also applies to cashing cheques and making e-transfers or wiring money to pay for something, like the new computer they’re supposedly sending you. If your new employer asks you to move or send money, the job is not real. Don’t do it.
Other obvious signs the job is a scam include:
- You never actually applied for the job — they contacted you. (not always. Monize applied for the job on LinkedIn. Still…).
- You’re offered the job immediately, without filling out an application or going through an interview.
- You’re asked to pay for your own background check.
- You’re asked for your credit card number, passport, or other information you wouldn’t usually supply.
- Ridiculously high pay.
- The email you’re corresponding with is web-based, like Gmail, rather than a company email (though not always a sign something is not legit and more job scams are not using legit-looking emails).
- Vague job description.
- Unprofessional written communication with bad grammar and typos.
- The company website doesn’t have much content or information.
- All the employee photos on the company website are obviously stock photos.
- The job seems to be too good to be true.
- The email you’re corresponding with is web-based, like Gmail, rather than a company email (though not always a sign something is not legit and more job scams are not using legit-looking emails).
- Vague job description.
- Unprofessional written communication with bad grammar and typos.
- The company website doesn’t have much content or information.
- All the employee photos on the company website are obviously stock photos.