Hiring Scams {{A Thread}}

The world has changed drastically in the past few months. Economies across the world have shut down and as a response, millions of people have been let go from their jobs. This is why job scams are exponentially more insidious.

These scammers know that you're likely unemployed and are desperately trying to change the tide of the fortune you've been handed. They really want to take advantage of your desperation and steal sensitive information from you- like your SSN and debit card number.

Here are some tips that I hope will help other freelancers spot hiring scams during this awful time.

Tip #1: They aren't using a company email address. If they're using hotmail, Gmail, BellSouth, etc (unless they work for those companies), they are likely lying to you about their identity.

WHY IS IT WEIRD: If someone from, let's say, Macmillan, reaches out to you and their email is something to the effect of, I dunno, [email protected], they're absolutely lying to you about their identity.

Tip #2: The person who will want to chat with you will likely be posing as a high-up individual like a manager or a director from the company they are claiming to work for.

WHY IS IT WEIRD? This is unusual because typically a recruiter should be the person reaching out to you for an initial interview.

Tip #3: They will want to interview you by using the chat rooms provided on the Google Hangouts, Skype, Teams, or any other telecom software.

WHY IS IT WEIRD? It's weird because they should want to see who they're hiring and should not be opposed to video chatting with you. If they insist that they only conduct "chat-2-chat" interviews with job candidates, that's a huge red flag.

Tip #4: They have terrible grammar, use awkward line spacing, and misspell their own name when they message you.

WHY IS IT WEIRD? This is especially strange because it's bad marketing. When you're interviewing someone for a position,

(esp. if you supposedly work for one of the biggest publishing firms in the world) you should want to put your best foot forward. Having poor grammar and weird bot-like line spacing when talking to a potential job candidate is NOT going to do that.

Additionally, if someone misspells their own name in a professional capacity, please PLEASE red flag that.

Tip #5: If you proposed your services for the position initially via a service like @Upwork and this big scammy pretender tells you something to the effect of the initial gray message below, they are trying to make sure that you don't back out before they steal your information.

WHY IS IT WEIRD? I'm operating under the "Lady Doth Protest Too Much Methinks" principal. Simply, they're trying to ensure that you aren't swayed by any attempt Upwork makes to flag you about the illicit activity of your client.

Tip #6: They ask you for direct deposit information and your SSN.

WHY IS IT WEIRD? You never give this information to another person unless you do so in person and go through a legitimate hiring process which is not at all what we've discussed in this thread.

TL;DR if you are contacted by anyone on Upwork who claims to work for Macmillan Publishing, they are absolutely trying to scam you. Macmillan only posts their open positions on their inhouse career portal. Be careful, everyone. Please share to raise awareness!

xx

Haley