Craigslist Job Scam – Fake Job Offers

This morning I received an email from a long time friend of mine who wanted me to check out an email she received from a job she applied for on Craigslist. Yes folks, it’s Craigslist again. She knew I had had trouble last year with a scam company posting false jobs to collect personal information for resell to spammers. Well more misguided souls are doing the same thing but with a twist.

When you go to Craigslist job board now, the first thing you will notice is that they have posted a warning about scammers advertising fake jobs for affiliate money. I guess it’s gotten really bad over there. But I’m not surprised. All it takes is one fool making money doing something evil before a host of copycats follow in their footsteps hoping to do the same.

When I looked at the email she forwarded to me, I knew immediately it was a scam.

Thank you for your interest in the position at our firm.

A little more information about us:

As a recently founded and rapidly growing marketing firm, we hope to foster fun yet efficient environment for our new employees. Unlike other companies, we believe an easygoing and friendly atmosphere is facilitative to quality an actually increasing productivity.

To be considered, candidates must possess strong communication/interpersonal skills and ability to interact with people at all levels of the firm and excellent organizational skills.

Candidates must be self starters and be able to undertake responsibilities with limited supervision. They must also be able to multi-take and have working knowledge of MS Office. Familiarity with other types of software is a plus.

Our policy is to grow and maintain long lasting mutually beneficial business relationship with our employees. In keeping with that standard, our firm offers a comprehensive benefits package that is second to none. In addition, we pay our employees higher than any competitor in the industry.

Compensation will be further discussed during the interview process, after reviewing candidate applications.

Please take a few moments to fill our or online application here: http://www.resumebuckets.com/app/

Thank you,
Recruitment Advisor
H R Staffing Department

First of all, my friend did not apply for a position with a marketing firm. She applied for a job with a hotel or at least she thought she was. Secondly, the language is very generic. It is obviously a form letter sent by an autoresponder service to everyone who responded to the fake job ad. Third, she had already sent them her resume. Why is she being directed to fill out an application online especially since the ad specifically asked for a resume?

*Tip: Don’t send anyone your resume through Craigslist until you verify the job is real. You don’t have to be obvious about it. Just send a polite note introducing yourself and asking if the job is still available. If you get a form letter like the one above, move on.

So I click the link in the email which took me to the classic generic website.

Red Flag #1 – The website looks like an 8 year old designed it. Now, there are a lot of reputable companies out there who have poorly designed websites so this in and of itself is not a clear indicator of a scam site. However, it only adds credibility to the rest of evidence.

Red Flag #2 – There is no job description. I’m submitting an application for a job but there is nothing that confirms I’m applying for the right job. Legitimate employers always post the job description because they want you to be clear about your responsibilities. Not having that here makes me think they are not serious about hiring any one.

Red Flag #3 – The domain name doesn’t match the name of the site. The site domain is ResumeBuckets.com but the name of the site is Market Circuit and the email address is attached to the marketcircuit.org domain. A research of both domain names shows that ResumeBuckets.com was registered in 09 November 2009 while MarketCircuit.org was registered on 25 December 2009. On top of that, both domains employ a privacy service that cloak their registration information.

*Tip: To find out who the registrant is for a domain go to Whois.net. Enter the web address in the domain lookup box. You will be presented with the information on record for that domain.

Red Flag #4 – There is no information about the owner of the site. There is no “About Us” page, no contact information (other than the email). There is just this overwhelming feeling of anonymity. A legitimate company offering a real job wouldn’t be so secretive.

Going to the front page of the site (ResumeBuckets.com), I found that the site is supposedly a resume hosting service where people can post their resumes in the hopes of being seen by big name employers. (Please note there is another site called ResumeBucket.com -without the S- that is not the same)

I don’t recommend that you submit yours to them. I guarantee none of those employers even know this website exists let alone are spending any time sifting through resumes uploaded there. Secondly, all of those employers listed have websites with a career sections where you can apply for a job directly.

*Tip: When responding to ads on job sites, if the name of the company is not listed (red flag) ask for it in the introduction email you send. If they provide it, go directly to the employer’s website and apply for the job.

I clicked on the Privacy Policy which pulled up disclaimer listing JBR Media Ventures, LLC as the owner of the site. A Google search took me to http://jbrmediaventures.com/ who appears to be the culprits behind this website. They bill themselves as a lead generation service which basically means they take all of the information you submit to them and forward it on to “businesses” who then fill your mailbox, email and voicemail with unwanted solicitations.

*Tip: To give themselves an air of legitimacy, scammers will frequently claim an association with well known companies. Ask yourself if these brand name businesses really would employ the services of a company who uses underhanded methods to collect customer information.

Anyway, to see just what was at the bottom of the rabbit hole, I started filling out the information. I was taken to a page that asked me about my work preferences. Many legit employers have the same types of questions on their internet job applications. This website posts them here as a way of making you feel like everything they are asking you on this form is part of the application process. But everything on the form is not legit.

In the section marked Credibility, the company states that they require you to submit a copy of your credit report. If you click the checkbox, you will be taken to FreeCreditReport.com. Herein lies the scam. This scammer is an affiliate of FreeCreditReport.com and earns $18-20 per person who signs up and orders their credit report through the site. I know they are an affiliate because I noticed that I was being redirected through a third website to FreeCreditReport.com. After a few tries, I managed to stop the site from loading. Viewing the page source I found their affiliate link. Sweet!

*Tip: If you can find the scammer’s affiliate link, you can report them to the affiliate manager and get them banned from the program for perpetuating fraud.

While some employers do require a credit check in order to be employed with them (mostly financial institutions like banks), they do it as a part of an all encompassing background check. An employer in the United States will NEVER ask you to send your credit report to them. EVER! There are laws that regulate background checks that must be adhered to or they risk getting sued for millions of dollars and slapped silly by the government. In addition to that, in an age where anything can be Photoshopped, do you really think an employer is going to trust any kind of report you send them?

Funnily enough, when I try to go the next screen without checking the box, the application got flagged as incomplete. I wasn’t going anywhere unless that box and the box below stating I had gotten my credit report was checked.

The next screen took me to a page that wanted to get my personality profile. I think I was laughing too hard because I didn’t get a screen cap of that page. But clicking the box that requested I go to their “partner” to have my personality tested took me to MindQuiz. I managed to get their affiliate id from there too. WhooHoo!

The most annoying thing about MindQuiz, however, is when you try to exit out, you are assaulted with popups and redirected to another affiliate site. If you weren’t sure before, by the time you reach this point you would realize the job posting was fake.

Finally, I managed to make it to the last page where they claimed I could win a $10,000 scholarship but when I clicked on the options presented, I got a big fat error message.

I edited it to display what they meant to say.

And finally scam comes to an end with a goodbye message from Brianne Harris.

Unfortunately, this is only one of many employment scams that have found their way onto Craigslist. There are legitimate jobs on there but you have shift through the scamilicious crap to find them. Here is what I recommend you do:

1. As I stated before, even if they request a resume don’t send one until you have verified that the job posting is real. Send a polite introductory email asking if the job is still available. If you get back a form letter like the one above, chances are good the job posting is fake.

2. If you get a real sounding reply, try to get more information about the job such as the company name and phone number. Your goal here is to verify that it is a real business. If they refuse to give you that information then move on because it’s a scam. While there are companies who want to maintain their confidentiality because they don’t want to deal with telephone calls and emails about their job posting, most do so by outsourcing their job placement activities to a recruiting firm. A legitimate recruiting firm would not be squeamish about supplying their contact information.

3. Which brings me to my next tip. If you are able to get the company name, apply for the job directly on their website or even in person at the business.

4. Never, ever, ever, ever give your social security number over the internet. Never, ever, ever, ever send your credit report to someone who claims to need it as a part of the hiring process. Legitimate companies will always have you sign a waiver giving them permission to pull the information themselves through their own investigative service. And they only do that if they are seriously considering you as an applicant.

5. Remove your physical address from your resume. Only include a telephone number and an email address. I recommend signing up for a throwaway account created specifically for internet job hunting such as Yahoo or Gmail.

6. There really is no recourse, outside of reporting them to their affiliate manager, if you were tricked into giving information to a scammer. My first suggestion is to keep an eye on your credit report. TrueCredit.com (not an affiliate link) will pull your credit report from all three bureaus and has a monitoring service that will notify you of any changes that may occur such as the opening of new accounts. I’ve used them before and I like them.

If you get phone calls from scammers trying to sell you something, tell them to take you off their list. By law they have to comply or face penalties imposed by the FCC. If you get one that is particularly pervasive, report them to the FCC through their website http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm.

7. Go with your gut. If something just doesn’t feel right then don’t submit any information. Get a second opinion or move on to another job opening. As they say, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Thank the editor. Buy me a coffee!

15 Responses to “Craigslist Job Scam – Fake Job Offers”

1. Uneasy says:

   January 7, 2010 at 12:50 am

   My question is, what do you do if you have fallen for such a scam. I had visited a website like that in the past, but stopped halfway through when I got the uneasy feeling. I am afraid it may be too late and my information is out there. Is there anyway to know/stop it if I haven’t heard anything of the “company”?
2. ArwenTaylor says:

   January 7, 2010 at 1:15 am

   You can try contacting the company to see if they received your information and/or what they are doing with it but I don’t think you’ll get anywhere. Your best bet is to safeguard your personal data as much as possible. If you gave them your phone number, most likely what will happen is you will start getting calls from telemarketers. Just tell them to put you on the Do Not Call list. They have to comply or face penalties. If you gave them your address via a resume, you may only receive junk mail and that might be the extent of the damage. But JUST IN CASE keep an eye on your mail. If you are expecting important documents, like bank statements, and they don’t show up then you’ll want to do some investigating to make sure no one has redirected your mail via a change of address or something.

   Other than that, just keep an eye on your credit report.

   I’m sorry you got sucked in by these scammers but at least now you know what to look for and it won’t happen again. Good luck
3. Jessica says:

   January 7, 2010 at 7:36 pm

   This scam is now on the Yahoo Hot Jobs site. My local newspaper contracts with Hot Jobs to post the ewmployment classifieds. I am an unemployed HR professional and got tired of the Craigslist scam frustrations. This job was posted on Hot Jobs and asked me to FAX, yes FAX, my resume to a LOCAL number. The message I received in response to the FAX is the same scam utilizing the same phony website. When I received the message and saw the “resume buckets” link I got very suspicious. Being an HR person I have been solicited by every legit resume database on the planet, but oddly enough I have never heard of “resume buckets”. So I googled them and found your scam alert. Thanks for confirming!
4. ArwenTaylor says:

   January 7, 2010 at 11:17 pm

   Hi Jessica,

   You are absolutely welcome. The more these scammers are caught and flagged hopefully the quicker they will move onto something else.

   I wonder if there is a way to trace the fax number or maybe report it to the FCC or FTC for perpetuating fraud.

   Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story.
5. Josh Stomel says:

   January 12, 2010 at 5:32 am

   Hi Arwen, just stumbled across this.

   If you notice in the job posting, the application link is; resumebucketS.com

   Our Company is ResumeBucket.com

   So, you are on point with whoever posted that was fraud; however, ResumeBucket.com is a site that we have been building over the last 2 years, that is successfully responsible for getting 1000’s of people jobs. Just wanted to point that out.

   ResumeBuckets.com * IS NOT US
   RESUMEBUCKET.COM is US!

   Thanks
6. ArwenTaylor says:

   January 12, 2010 at 11:34 am

   Hi Josh,

   Thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry the scammer decided to play off your domain name. I made a notation that your site and theirs are separate.

   I also updated the registration expiry information for the scam site as I think I accidentally looked up your record instead of theirs.

   Hopefully things work out for you and the scammer takes down their site soon.
7. Josh Stomel says:

   January 13, 2010 at 2:48 am

   Thank you Arwen! We are taking legal actions right now as well! Thanks so much for notating!

   Let me know if I can help you in any way

   Josh
8. Craigslist Job Scam-Internet Solutions Corporation | Arwen Taylor says:

   January 15, 2010 at 4:54 am

   [...] Click here to read about the newest Craigslist Job Scam and for tips on protecting [...]
9. Andy Gabriel says:

   January 19, 2010 at 3:29 pm

   When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? – Thanks
10. Keith says:

    January 27, 2010 at 11:26 am

    Hi Arwen, great post. I got caught back in June 2009 by a craigslist scam. It took me about 2 months to unsubscribe to all of the junk email offers that were being sent to me daily. I even received a few calls, good thing I used a pay as you go cellphone number, so it was easy for me to ditch it.

    I did report the affiliate to the affiliate manager.
11. Adelaida Versaw says:

    January 28, 2010 at 2:52 am

    I don’t know how much I really like Craigslist. You’ve got the typical scammers that attempts to rip people off for the whole community. Don’t get me wrong there are benefits to CLIst, but do the goods really outweigh the bad?
12. ArwenTaylor says:

    January 28, 2010 at 4:53 am

    Hi Keith,

    Thanks for visiting. Sorry you had to go through that but that’s awesome you were able to report them to their affiliate manager.

    Yeah, the only way to get the attention of these scammers is to hit them in their bank accounts. Hopefully, if we can get enough of them banned maybe the rest will take the hint and stop.

    Also, you have an awesome site
13. ArwenTaylor says:

    January 28, 2010 at 5:08 am

    Hi Adelaida,

    Thanks for visiting. I think Craigslist does still have value. You just have to be smarter about how you deal with the people you find on there. Personally, I’ve started looking for lesser known classified ad services that the scammers haven’t started to plague yet.
14. Carolyn says:

    February 26, 2010 at 8:17 pm

    Thank you! I was just on their website. I got off before I left too much information. First phone call within 10 min of leaving site. Thanks, again.
15. Help I Was Scammed By A Fake Job Advert on Craigslist. says:

    March 12, 2010 at 10:13 am

    [...] Taylor: http://www.arwentaylor.com/craigslist-scam-fake-jobs/ – A fantastic online blog giving huge detail and insight into the scammers and their fake [...]