How to Verify Suspicious Employer Messages

These are ways to recognize signs of fraud.

As you communicate on more and more platforms with prospective employers, it is important to recognize signs of suspicious activity when jobs are advertised and offered without first meeting the employer face-to-face.

Communication is sent from a generic email domain.

When evaluating the legitimacy of recruiting efforts, consider the following points:

• Communication is sent from a generic email domain.
• Most legitimate recruiting efforts will come from an email directly associated with the company, not a Gmail or Yahoo account.
• Review the email address to ensure the company's name is spelled and presented correctly.
• Fraudsters sometimes create look-alike email domains to fool job seekers.

Research the employer online.

Investigate these details about a company:

• Company website
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Social media presence

The employer limits your communication.

Communicate through official avenues to determine if a job offer is "too good to be true." These avenues include:

• Face-to-face meetings
• Phone or video calls
• Emails from an official company domain 

The employer wants your personal information.

If the employer asks you for copies of important personal identity information, it's likely the employer is fraudulent.

Personal information includes:

• Driver's licenses
• Credit reports
• Banking information
• Social security information

Never send personal identification information over the web to potential employers, especially before communicating with them in person or over the phone and going through the getting started process.

The employer is a poor communicator.

Recruiters typically should have a fluent knowledge of the language you are communicating in, so frequent grammar mistakes, misspellings, or use of uncommon words should be a red flag.