New Jersey Woman Targeted By Scam Artist On Popular Job Site ZipRecruiter

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey woman says she fell victim to a classic money scam while using a popular job recruitment website.

Kathleen Boylan thought she found a great job through ZipRecruiter.com, but little did she know someone had used the site to swindle her.

"There's just such a shame of like, 'I'm supposed to be helping my family', and I was just the easiest pawn," she tells CBS2.

The job was for an administrative position, and the offer came in the form of an email. The man who hired Boylan claimed his name was Steven, and said he worked for a company called Williams Engineering in Canada. Despite having filled out no paperwork, and never having spoken to "Steven" on the phone, Boylan was floored.

A perk came in the mail in the form of a cashier's check worth $3,500, which Boylan says came with specific instructions to deposit the check through an ATM, mobile, or branch, and send back a copy of the deposit slip.

So that's just what Boylan did. She deposited the check into her Wells Fargo account at a branch in Bloomfield and sent "Steven" proof of the transaction. He then said he had a business expense account he needed her to take care of, not with a company account but with several reloadable cash cards.

Boylan bought the cards on her account, scratched off the code, and sent the redemption numbers to "Steven." She thought the cards would be covered by the cashier's check, until the check came back as fraudulent.

"There were so many red flags," Boylan says, looking back.

She never heard from "Steven" again, and when she tried to call him the line went dead. Boylan says the realization she'd been duped was almost too much to bear.

"I don't know that I want to live in a world where people go around doing things like this," she said. Nevertheless, she says she hopes her story stops someone else from falling for the same scam.

CBS2 reached out to ZipRecruiter, which said the user named "Steven" is permanently banned from using their service. Wells Fargo says customers are responsible for the full amount of the check they deposit if it bounces. Both companies stress to be wary of anyone asking you to transfer funds or cash a check on their behalf.