Employment or job scams are usually a form of advance fee fraud where unscrupulous persons posing as recruiters or employers offer attractive employment opportunities that require the jobseeker to pay money in advance.

Scammers try to steal the names of legitimate businesses and organizations to trick job seekers into divulging personal information and cheat them out of money. Jobseekers can protect themselves by following a few rules of thumb:

• Verify with the company: Check out the business’s website to ensure the opening is posted there. Call the business to verify the job opening if you are still skeptical.
• Search for the job online: If a job looks suspicious, search for it on Google. If the same job posting comes up in many other cities, it may be a scam.
• Look for errors: Scam job postings often contain grammatical errors, misspellings, and an overabundance of exclamation marks. Keep private information private: Avoid job listings that ask you to share personal information or send money.
• Scammers often ask for money to run a credit check, set up direct deposit, pay for training or purchase equipment for work-from-home jobs. Don’t give them any money!

For more information, visit https://business.ct.gov.