JOB SCAMS – Stealing Your Future

At some point in our lives, we all have to look for a job. Scammers try to take advantage of that fact. In fact, job scammers are taking advantage of job searchers more frequently according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) which observed an 118% increase in the scam in 2023.  

Job scammers can be difficult to detect. They advertise their scam jobs in the same places as honest employers in online ads, job sites, social media, in newspapers, and sometimes on TV and radio. Scammers may also reach out directly through a text message.

Of course, like most scammers, all they are after is your money and identity instead of a good worker.

Some fake jobs that scammers offer often include:

·         Work-from-home scams- While many of us like to work at home, scammers use the lure of working at home to take advantage of the victim. Reshipping scams and reselling merchandise scams are popular with scammers. Some of these scams could be tied to other crimes such as credit card fraud or even shoplifting. Also, at home jobs that asks the “employee” to move money around could make the “employee” into a money mule, an accomplice to a money laundering scheme. A key red flag is if the “employer” sends you a check to reimburse you for equipment. Instead of making the check out for an agreed amount, they overpay you and ask you to send back the difference. If this happens, stop communicating with this scammer. The check will bounce, and you will be on the hook with your bank for the whole amount.

·         Nanny, caregiver virtual assistant scams- To gain credibility, the scammer may claim to be a member of your community or from an organization that you know. A variation of the work at home check scheme is to send you a check. You are told to keep some of the money for your services then send the rest to someone else. This check will also bounce, putting you on the hook with your bank. If you hear any talk of a check being sent to you, and you sending part of it back or to someone else, walk away.

·         Job placement service scams- Honest job search services charge the hiring company for their services. They do not charge job candidates. If a job placement service approaches you and wants to charge you for helping you find employment, walk away.

·         Government and postal jobs scams- Some scammers will post ads offering to help in finding a government job for a fee. Finding job listings for the federal government or the postal service is free. All you have to do is to go to https://www.usajobs.gov/ or https://about.usps.com/careers/welcome.htm to find jobs that are being advertised. Do not pay someone to find a job for you!

Tips to avoid a job scam,

·         Research online- Do a search online of the company that wants to hire you with the words “scam,” “review,” or “complaint.”

·         Talk to someone you trust- Talk to a family member or friend to get their opinion of  the offer.

·         Do not pay for a promise of a job- Employers do not charge prospective employees. Scammers charge prospective employees!

·         Stay away from fake check scams- If a “potential employer” sends you a check and asks for part of it back, or sent to someone else, or put into gift cards, walk away from the job. The check will bounce, and the bank will want you to pay the full amount of the check. Honest employers will not send a check and ask for part of it back.

If you do pay a job scammer, contact the company that you used to send the money- debit/credit card, mobile payment app, wire transfer, gift card, reload card, or cryptocurrency- report the fraud, ask to have the transaction reversed if possible.

Also, report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ and to the Washington State Attorney General at https://www.atg.wa.gov/.

 

 

 

 

 

Identity Theft Resource Center:

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ITRC-2023-Trends-in-Identity-Report.pdf

 

CNET:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/scammers-are-creating-tons-of-fake-job-listings-thanks-to-ai/?s=09

 

NPR Marketplace:

https://www.marketplace.org/2024/07/11/have-you-been-texted-a-suspiciously-good-job-offer/

 

News 5 Cleveland:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#examples

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/07/looking-job-spot-scams

 

AARP:

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/work-at-home.html?intcmp=AE-FWN-LIB4-POS20

 

Washington State Attorney General’s Office:

https://www.atg.wa.gov/job-scams

 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE– Domestic Violence Coordinators

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has Domestic Violence Coordinators who reach out to domestic violence victims to offer their help.  Learn how Sheriff's Office Domestic Violence Coordinators help DV victims find safety.

 

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office: https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=43

SCAM ALERT– Sheriff’s Office Reports Warrant and Jury Duty Scams

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has issued an alert on its Facebook page about warrant and jury duty scams against Snohomish County citizens. The alert notes that the Sheriff’s Office receives reports of these scams on a weekly basis.

The scammers try to intimidate potential victim into paying money to have a warrant lifted or from being arrested due to missing jury duty, often through a phone call. An apparent trend is to demand that you pay by Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

As with many scams the scammers pretend to be someone they are not. In this case, they may pretend to be from the Sheriff’s Office or from the county court. Last year both the Sheriff’s Office and the Snohomish County Superior Court issued separate scam alerts for scammers pretending to be from their organizations.

The scammers immediately present you with a problem, you have a fine levied against you or at worst the cops are coming to arrest you.

The scammers pressure you to act quickly, without thinking or consulting with friends or family. They want you emotional so that you will not think logically or analytically. They also want to isolate you so that they have control.

And to get out of your “problem” you pay. The scammers want you to pay in a way that cannot be traced or reversed. Using a crypto currency has been popular lately with scammers. Like with gift cards, wire or money transfers, crypto currencies are extremely difficult to reverse.   

Understand that local police, courts, or other governmental entities will not call you to demand an immediate payment for a fine or to get out of an arrest warrant. Police are not in the habit of notifying people who have warrants against them.

The Sheriff’s Office says that people report giving money to these scams. While it seems that the warrant and jury duty scams are well publicized, people are still victimized by scammers.

If you receive a scam call like this, hang up!

Also, report the scam to the Sheriff’s Office and to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.

And please, pass this information to your friends, family, and coworkers. The more people who know about scams, the better we all can defend against scams.

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=959726349514130&set=a.226070289546410

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/09/did-you-get-call-or-email-saying-you-missed-jury-duty-and-need-pay-its-scam?utm_campaign=did_you_get_a_call_or_ema&utm_content=1726496692&ut

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/03/did-someone-send-you-bitcoin-atm-its-scam?utm_campaign=did_someone_send_you_to_a&utm_content=1715093861&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook,twitter

 

South Snohomish County Crime Watch:

https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2023/04/scam-update-scammers-pretend-to-be.html

https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2023/08/scam-update-jury-duty-scam-and-watch.html

 

 

SIM SWAPPING – Stealing Your Life

Criminals look for any way that they can gain access to your financial accounts to take your money. One method that they use is SIM Swapping.

A SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small circuit card that resides in your cell phone that identifies that phone as belonging to you. SIM cards can be removeable with the ability to be transferred between cell phones, or your phone can have an ESIM that is code embedded in your cell phone that identifies your phone as belonging to you.

If a criminal can swap SIMs to their phone, then they can impersonate you and break into your accounts.

A criminal who conducts a SIM swap also conducts two scams.

1.      They take personal information that they have gathered about you from purchased data from data breaches, gathered from a phishing campaign, or collecting sensitive information that you posted on social media to convince the phone carrier to give them a new SIM with your phone number.

2.      On successfully acquiring a SIM in your name, the criminal will try to break into one of your accounts. If the account has text based multifactor authentication (MFA) they can receive the code that your account sends out to help break into your account.

Indications that you have been a victim of SIM swapping include,

·         You cannot make or receives calls or texts.

·         An online account is locked because of suspected unauthorized access.

·         You receive alerts that someone is attempting to access an account, and you do not recognize the activity.

If you are victimized with a SIM swap, take action:

·         Contact your mobile carrier immediately.

·         Contact you bank and other financial services.

·         Disable MFA, change account(s) password(s), then enable MFA again.

·         Monitor financial accounts

·         Report to

o   The FBI IC3- https://www.ic3.gov/

o   FTC- https://www.identitytheft.gov/

You can take action to discourage SIM Swapping by

·         Set a Pin for your smartphone.

·         Use strong and unique passwords for all of your accounts.

·         DON’T POST EVERYTHING ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

·         Use non-SMS MFA. Instead use MFA with an authenticator app such as Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator.

 

 

Associated Press:

https://apnews.com/article/sim-swapping-protections-tech-tip-e05ac6b894312041a5c1e4333a28df2a

 

FBI:

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/lasvegas/news/press-releases/fbi-las-vegas-federal-fact-friday-sim-card-swapping

 

National Cybersecurity Alliance:

https://staysafeonline.org/resources/sim-card-swap-scams/

 

Federal Communications Commission:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud