Scammers target vulnerable jobseekers with high-paying remote work, FBI warns

BALTIMORE -- The FBI is warning about scams preying on vulnerable jobseekers, enticing them to do remote work for high salaries, but instead stealing their money.

The FBI says job scams have become more common since 2020 while costing people thousands of dollars.

"They appear to be these legitimate companies and offer these opportunities to work from home with very mundane tasks," said FBI Special Agent David Paniwozik. "These are very sophisticated scams."

How it works

According to the Federal Trade Commission, a scammer posing as your new employer will send you a fraudulent check, tell you to deposit it, and then have you wire a portion of the funds to a third party to cover some made-up expense. 

But when the check bounces, the bank holds you responsible for the money that was sent.

"The scammers have these whole scripts written out where they walk you through what they appear to be doing and how they're making money, but the platform is fake," Paniwozik said.

Paniwozik says scammers may also have you pay a fee to perform a task for some kind of commission.

"No legitimate company will ever ask you for upfront money for you to come to work with them," he said.

Paniwozik says scammers will also use domain spoofing to impersonate real companies to solicit your personal information.

"An o may be switched to a 0 and you may just miss it," he said.

Be aware

Paniwozik says to pay attention to email addresses and website urls, don't respond to unsolicited job offers, and never send money to an alleged employer.

Victim testimony

A local woman wrote to WJZ saying she fell victim to the scam after uploading her resume to job search website careerbuilder.com.

She said she almost lost her bank account after the company that hired her instructed her to deposit checks for the computer equipment she would need.

"They prey on people who are basically desperate for employment," she wrote.