Red Flags for Job Listing Websites

Important Red Flags for Job Listing Websites

1. The Job is with a US company but is written by someone for whom English is obviously not a native tongue.  This means it's automatically time to investigate further.  Humans should review all Job Postings.
2. The contact email is a Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com or Gmail.com or other free email account.
3. The Phone number given with the credit card does not agree with the address given when a reverse address lookup is performed or the credit card billing email does not produce a verifiable match when authorization is attempted.
4. The name on the credit card does not agree with a reverse lookup for the address.
5. WhoIs domain name lookup at DNSStuff.com on the domain name yields either a non-US business, a non-US address or a hosting company with a non-US address.  Also do a whois lookup on the name server address.
6. The Company hides their WhoIs contact information using a domain proxy service.  My rule of thumb is to refuse to do business online with a company whose physical address cannot be verified.
7. The Company uses a PO Box for resumes or only a PO Box for snail mail contacts.

8. The Company posts only a toll-free number or cell phone number with no land line.

9. The Company is not a Better Business Bureau member or member of any chamber of commerce or trade association that can be verified.

10. The Company does not own the most logical .com that matches their company name.  Many fraudulent listings use the .net, .biz or other TLD for a known company; they may also add a dash or an "inc" or make other changes to a well-known company website domain name - then they steal their logo and content and put it on their own website.  It is not possible for most companies to buy up every possible trick name a thief might deam up.

11. You cannot find the company in the Yellow Pages by exact the company name and address.

12. No website is listed at all.

13. The salary offer or earnings potential claimed in the ad is disproportionately high in relation to requirements for education or experience level.

14. You call the toll-free number provided and get an answering machine.

Why should you pay attention to these warning signs?

Of course, not one of these flags taken alone will tell you with certainty that the job listing is fraudulent; some, like using toll-free numbers or PO Boxes, are even common practice.  However, job listing and job search websites need to be vigilant in double-checking any company trying to post a job on their website if any of the flags listed above are tripped.

When a resume thief steals a credit card to use to place a fake job on as many job sites as possible, they do not want to be located by the authorities later.  Here’s what they do: They get a free email account that, thanks to helpful accomplices like Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com (MSN) and Gmail.com (Google), is not traceable to them.  A very good rule of thumb for both job seekers and job listing sites is to refuse to do business or place listings with a company not using a paid email account or one associated with their company website. 

Toll free numbers are almost as hard to trace as free email accounts.  If an employer cannot give you a verifiable landline telephone number, you should approach the relationship with great caution.

Post Office Boxes or Postal Mail Boxes (PMB), which are purchased from mailing services companies, can be opened and shut down almost instantly, providing a useful cover for a fraudulent business.  Although many companies will use PO Boxes for all of their mail, often because of the large volume of mail received, the company website should still list a verifiable physical address.

If you do not receive satisfaction running checks on the company phone numbers, addresses or email information, and you have not been able to find corroborating information from local chambers of commerce or Better Business Bureau or similar organizations, I recommend that you reject the listing. 

When you reject the listing, do NOT notify the person who placed the ad.   Simply try to notify the card holder that their credit card was probably stolen and then wait to see if the company trying to place the ad tries to contact you.  At JobOpenings.net, we have found that not one single thief has ever called to see why we did not place their employment advertisement.  They already know the reason.

Job Listing sites which ignore these warnings (job seekers be careful, because we have found that many job listing sites ignore them) will find that job seekers will soon learn not to trust the information they find on these large well-known job sites.