Job & internship scams: Why you're at risk & what you can do

So, you've been slogging away at your studies and now you're eager to step into the exciting world of work or dip your toes into a promising internship.

But wait a minute!

Did you know that there are some less-than-scrupulous individuals out there waiting to take advantage of your enthusiasm and naivety? That's right, dear student, we're talking about job and internship scams.

We’ll cover:

1. What are job & internship scams?
2. Why you're at (high) risk of job scams
3. How to protect yourself from job scams
4. What next? 

What are job & internship scams?

Job and internship scams – more broadly known as recruitment or employment scams – are deceptive practices by fraudsters to trick job seekers into parting with their money or personal information. 

Source: reddit

• Recruitment scams usually involve a scammer posing as a reputable company or recruitment agency, advertising fake jobs and bogus internships.
• You may encounter them as an ad on Youtube or a job posting on Facebook or Whatsapp – or even a recruiter reaching out to you on job platforms like Linkedin or Indeed. (Things are even worse on less reputable job boards, where anyone can sign up and post jobs.)
• If the scammer is after your personal information (e.g. a government-issued ID number), they may ask you to provide it under the pretext of performing a background check.
• If the scammer is after your money, they'll deceive you into providing credit card or bank account info or ask you to put down a payment for things like training, work equipment (like a laptop), or merchandise (for a fake e-commerce role).

Collectively, innocent people are losing millions of dollars to these scams around the world: Australians lost a total of $8.7 million AUD, Americans $68 million USD, Singaporeans $660.7 million SGD, the list goes on ... 

[S]tarting a new job was supposed to bring him some extra income. ... In the span of five days, Adam was scammed out of $28,000.
– ABC News

Why you're at (high) risk of job scams

Unfortunately, as a young adult, you're an especially easy target. Here are some facts & figures from around the world to give you an idea:

We know younger people are particularly vulnerable, with Australians aged between 25 and 44 reporting the biggest losses to job scams. – Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 

Figures from the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) - say that the most defrauded job-seekers were between the ages of 18 and 25, and those aged 23 are the most likely to fall victim to scams when job hunting online. – UK Police

SINGAPORE — Around 70 per cent of the victims of job scams reported between 2019 and 2021 were younger adults aged between 20 and 39. – Today Online

Nearly 4,000 of these [job campaign fraud] email threats are being sent every day – most ... to people in the United States ... In over 95% of cases, the attackers are aiming at email accounts linked to universities and colleges, targeting students. – ZDNet

Why are young people around the world being targeted for these scams? 

• You're more eager to get your foot in the door than experienced workers – and economic downturns (which hit you harder than older demographics) only add to the desperation, further clouding judgment.
• As a newcomer to the job market, you're less likely to raise an eyebrow when asked to do sketchy things like purchasing a laptop before you even start the job. 
• You graduate at the same time as your peers. This means you're all looking for jobs around the same time, making for a prime hunting ground for efficient scammers.

We know what you're thinking. "Getting my first job or internship is hard enough – and now I have to worry about scammers?" Well, luckily, there are many things you can do to protect yourself.

How to protect yourself from job scams

#1: Use a curated job board like Prosple

Employment scams are cropping up everywhere – even on well-known job platforms like Linkedin and Indeed. You can read about examples from the US and Canada to the UK and here in Australia too.

And the bad news is, scammers are getting more and more sophisticated. They're using AI tools to write proper English, they're setting up company websites and phone numbers (with real operators on the other end!), they're hacking into recruiters' Linkedin accounts to spread bogus jobs, and more.

So your first line of defence should be to stick with curated job boards like Prosple's. 

• We're a lot more cautious with who we allow on our job board: When anyone reaches out about posting jobs on our site, we perform a series of checks to verify the legitimacy of the employer, including checking whether the company is officially registered with the local government. 
• We also hand-pick a lot of job opportunities: Any job opportunities that aren't posted by employers are hand-picked by trained contractors and reviewed by our own staff using a weighted points system. We only post opportunities that pass a 90% quality benchmark.

📌 Keep in mind

• No job boards are completely foolproof, and ours is no exception. However, we really take this issue to heart. Our mission is to help students, so if our platform is used to harm students in any way, we feel personally responsible – like we scammed you ourselves!

• That's why we've set up quality assurance processes that are way harder to get past compared to basically every other job board out there. And when we did identify a job scam (fortunately, not in our primary markets, Australia and New Zealand), we proactively contacted students and reimbursed them for any losses.

#2 When in doubt, reach out to the company

No matter what job platform you're on, it pays to directly reach out to the company when you suspect something. Here's how:

• Search for the employer on Google and use the contact information on their official website.
• Ask about the specific job or internship you're interested in and verify the official channels for applying.
• If you received messages from a recruiter, confirm that the recruiter actually exists and actually contacted you.

📌 Keep in mind

• It might seem awkward to ask a company if a job posting of theirs is real, but global recruitment giant Adecco assures you that "Legitimate employers will appreciate your diligence in confirming the legitimacy of the job offer."
• And if you did find a fake job posting, the employer will definitely appreciate an early tip-off, as they'll want to take it down before it damages their credibility!

#3 Look out for red flags

Finally, there are a number of red flags you can look out for. Here are the biggest ones.

• Quick job offers: If you're offered a job without an interview or application process, it's likely a scam. Or if any part of the hiring process feels hasty (e.g. the interview was conducted over text message or you didn't talk to a real person during the whole process), that's a red flag.
• Requests for personal information or money: Legitimate companies will never ask for money or sensitive personal information (such as government-issued ID numbers) before you're officially hired. Be especially wary if they request payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
• "Too good to be true" opportunities: Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Work from home just typing on your laptop and make thousands of dollars a week? Yeah nah.

📌 Keep in mind

• Scammers love offering jobs at popular companies, so be wary of opportunities even if they seem to be coming from reputable employers. For example, in New Zealand, a fake recruitment agency scammed students in the name of Deloitte!
• Scams vary by region, so check the news or the websites of relevant government agencies (e.g. the ACCC website in Australia or the FTC website in the US) to stay up-to-date on what's happening in your neck of the woods.

What next? 

We hope you now feel equipped to spot recruitment scams – or avoid them altogether.

If you do come across a potential scam:

• Report it to the job board, providing as much evidence (e.g. screenshots) as possible.
• Report it to the appropriate authorities (e.g. Scamwatch in Australia, Netsafe in New Zealand).
• Warn others about it on social media.

Bad actors are always going to be around, so let's do our part to keep each other safe. 💪