PHOENIX — It’s graduation time, and while many families are gathering to celebrate a milestone achievement, scammers are ready to take advantage of thousands of people who are entering the job market.
In 2023, employment scams were the second riskiest type of scam according to the Better Business Bureau. The scams are happening more because more people want to work from home making the younger generation a prime target.
Javin and her partner Kyle, have big plans for their new business, they recently opened the Happy Daze Tattoo shop in Phoenix.
‘I want to be able to share our art with everybody,” Javin explained.
They say business is good now, but at first it was rough.
“When you open a business there’s a million costs that you aren’t expecting, and you get hit with,” said Javin.
Javin decided to apply for a second job, working remote, to help make ends meet. She said she applied for dozens of jobs, through various job sites.
One company did reply she said, “They were asking me for an interview,” said Javin.
But she didn’t respond to the email right away, because something was off. “In the moment, I was pretty excited, I wanted to click on the link, I wanted to call her back, because I needed the money,” said Javin.
She said the red flags in the email was enough to make her think twice about responding. “There were a lot of grammar errors, and a link that didn’t really tell me where it was going,” Javin said.
Javin said the email contained two different names, making it unclear who to respond to. She never applied to the company in question instead she looked up the company and immediately saw a scam report listed on the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker.
The Better Business Bureau says during this time of year, employment scams skyrocket, as thousands of recent college graduates apply for jobs. However, don’t be fooled, job scams can target anyone seeking employment.
“Unfortunately, we encourage people to read thoroughly a lot of times they send them these offers, there’s grammatical errors things are coming from a domain that’s not associated with the business they’re applying for,” explains Jasmine Hill of the Better Business Bureau. “People are seeking work, whether they’re recent graduates, new mothers, or people who just want to work from home. “
When looking for a job, watch out for an employer who hires you without an interview.
Never send gift cards, bitcoin, or any form of payment for a job.
If you’re not sure about the company reaching out with a job offer, do your research.
“Do your diligent research, search that phone number, search that address, search that person,” says Hill.
If nothing comes back, that’s a key indicator it's probably not a legitimate job or business.
As for Javin, she didn’t lose any money and hope others will look out for red flags in their job search, too.
Have you been a victim of a scam? Report it to the FTC by clicking here.