10 Tips To Stay Out Of Work From Home Frauds
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives significantly, pushing us all in isolation, creating huge changes in work and personal life. Many people have lost their jobs in the economic recession that came with the pandemic and have been forced into a financial crisis.
New job opportunities have come up across different fields and sectors, providing work from home opportunities for people who are looking for employment.
Fraudulent companies and internet scammers are using this opportunity to con people by capitalizing on the desperation triggered by the pandemic and its consequences. There is a tremendous increase in the number of fake job postings and fake job offer. Bogus online jobs are offered to individuals who are required to provide sensitive information and cash for these jobs or are not paid for their work on finishing their assignments.
Here are a few insights and tips on how to stay away from Work from Home scams:
- Safe Job Search Platforms: Many online portals have come up during the pandemic period offering work from home job opportunities to people. While most of them are credible, there are also a significant number of fraudulent online portals that scam people into illegal jobs or renege from payment for said assignments. People often fall prey to this fake job offering and end up losing money as a part of signing into these online platforms to apply for new jobs.
- Understanding Danger Signs: Various danger signs can be used to differentiate between a legitimate job and a scam. Good knowledge and common sense can help you weed out the scams and identify credible job opportunities to apply. Most scam jobs try to reel in people by advertising huge salary packages that are not even relatively proportional to the amount of work expected to do. It is essential to think from the company’s perspective and analyze the nature of the job opportunities to identify good job openings.
- Proper Research and Groundwork: Groundwork and research are key protective measures that can save you from being scammed online. Try to learn more about the companies you are dealing with and the opening you are being offered in the company.
Online scammers open websites similar to famous companies to fool new applicants into a sense of false belief. There are millions of people all around the world who have fallen prey to such fake job postings. Gain all the information about the company and ensure its legitimacy before applying for the position.
Compare the salary package offered by the company to the packages offered for the same designation with other companies and get a proper idea regarding the nature of the job you apply for in the company too.
- Avoid Front-End Payments for Jobs: Online scammers usually make money by asking new applicants to invest in the company or pay a small amount of money for confirming their appointment in their companies.
These are some of the biggest warning signs that can set apart a legitimate company and scam online jobs as no job position would involve the front-end payment of huge sums of money before joining the company.
Research properly about the companies and do not give front-end payments for job opportunities as most of such online jobs are scams that are designed to loot people.
- Avoid Pyramid Schemes: Pyramid schemes have risen back to trend with the onset of the pandemic attracting desperate people into investing money for the companies. Pyramid schemes involve attracting more and more people to join the company by asking them to invest a standard amount of money with false promises of huge raises and perks. These companies are built on the contributions of recruits who are motivated to find new people and the aggressive marketing tactics pursued by such companies to attract new employees for investments. They usually bind employees to contracts and have huge termination fees preventing them from shifting companies for better job opportunities.
- Establish Proper Communication Channels with Companies: Communicate properly with the management of your company and confirm any doubts regarding the job opportunity. Any job opportunity that involves direct recruitment without a phone or video interview should ring danger bells as any company which is worth joining conducts a minimum telephonic interview at least before recruiting employees. Discuss working terms, salary packages and payment protocol clearly before signing on to new job opportunities and try to establish a good relationship with your contact person at the company to obtain essential information regarding your job position from them.
Read about: Fake Job Interviews
- Avoid Signing Binding Pre-Contracts: People often fall prey to lightly demanding low pay jobs and get stuck in them as they sign contracts before joining the companies. Do not sign contracts for extended periods and read through all the clauses of the contract to ensure there are no hidden loopholes in them that can handicap your freedom and work life.
- Discuss Payment Procedures: It is essential to discuss and negotiate salary packages and payment before committing yourself to new job opportunities. Online scams often scam people by making them work huge assignments and repetitive work like data entry and data organization with the promise of payment at the end of assignments. Such scammers renege from making payment for these assignments immediately after the assignment is submitted and ghost on their employees leaving them in the dark. Discuss your job terms and payment procedures before starting work and keep a good working relationship with your colleagues to be informed about advancements in work.
- Protect Sensitive Personal Information: Job portals collect the personal information of people searching for employment opportunities and this is taken advantage of by online scammers. Fraudulent sites collect sensitive information related to bank details and other personal information and try to manipulate people using this information making them vulnerable to identity thefts and credit card scams.
- Report Online Scams: Good research and common sense can protect you from online scams and fraudulent job opportunities. Report such illegitimate job listings as and when you find out about them helping others pursuing job opportunities. This will be of great assistance to millions of people trying to find credible job opportunities online. Social media communities on Facebook and WhatsApp can be of great help in providing valuable information to people searching for job opportunities as detailed reviews of people can be obtained from them.
The pandemic has disrupted the personal and work lives of people across the world, causing widespread unemployment and imbalance. There is a wide variety of work from home jobs that can be pursued to get financial stability from the extra source of revenue, and it is essential to figure out a legitimate job opportunity to further your career and work life. Follow these tips and find the right job to further your ambitions and work happily.
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