Joe Epstein couldn’t help but get excited when he opened an e-mail from a staffing firm promising to help him land a job, said Steve Giegerich in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A “very nice, very positive” woman promised that her company would polish his résumé, hone his interview skills, and give him a heads-up on job listings—for a fee of $4,000. Epstein correctly recognized it as a scam—one of several new ones targeting job seekers.
Even an apparent job lead may actually be a “hard sell” by career services firms or an identity “phishing” scheme, said Sarah E. Needleman in The Wall Street Journal. “If you’re launching an online job hunt for the first time in a while, take caution.” Most legitimate job-search sites screen postings, but bad listings do still slip through the cracks. So be wary of listings that are vague about the hiring company or position. “The ads to most watch out for are those pretending to offer a job but are really trying to get you to give up personal information, such as a bank account or Social Security number.” Even if you think the ad is the real deal, don’t hand over your personal information or your credit card. Legitimate jobs don’t come with a price tag.
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