TAMPA, Fla. — New year. New job. New scam?
Well, according to Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Special Services Inc., that's sort of true.
"There's always a huge amount of typos. Right? They hardly ever reference their webpage because they don't have one," said Talcove.
He says people creating fake job postings isn't new.
But, at a time when so many will be applying for jobs, he said scammers are switching their tactics and going as far as setting up virtual interviews to trick you.
"They show up on zoom. They don't have it as a live video. And they ask you a couple of questions. The next thing you know you get an email saying you've been selected for this wonderful job," said Talcove.
In that follow-up email, he says crooks will ask you for things like a copy of your license, social security number, banking information, and more. They'll claim it's part of the onboarding process.
"They then use that data that they gave you to go steal benefits from state governments like Florida," said Talcove.
Talcove says you should never provide personal information to a hiring manager you've never seen or met.
And he adds only payroll or human resources would need that information.
If you need help figuring out if a job you applied for is legit, a quick phone call can iron things out.
"What I always tell consumers is when they get that job offer what you want to do is you want to call up the main number of company and then get transferred to the individual. That will immediately tell you if it's a fraud," said Talcove.
Talcove also says another major red flag is if the job and the pay just seem too good to be true.
If you've come across one of these phony job postings and want to report it, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
