Is this job offer legit?
April 19, 2023 4:13 PM Subscribe
Is this job offer legit? I have been looking for a PT side gig and applied to an ad on Indeed. Today I got an email from someone on Upwork offering me what seems to be the same job and “please set up your account.” Is this how it works now? Or am I being scammed?
Don't provide anyone your social security number, bank details, or pay for a single thing until you have a fully executed contract.
posted by phunniemee at 4:24 PM on April 19, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 4:24 PM on April 19, 2023 [8 favorites]
No way to tell if it's really Upwork without looking at the email itself. And in my experience, Indeed doesn't vet their jobs close enough and there are a TON of fake jobs on Indeed, esp. the "remote" ones.
posted by kschang at 5:24 PM on April 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by kschang at 5:24 PM on April 19, 2023 [5 favorites]
I seem to remember a similar query on AskMefi a few months ago. The upshot was that it *was* a scam.
Think about this: Would someone offer you a job, out of the blue, without any kind of conversation? And ask you to "set up your account" without any discussion of the job itself, its requirements, its pay, its benefits, etc?
Does this company have any legitimate contact? A phone number? A location?
Some of the scams I've heard about are of two kinds: The first where they "send you money" to buy supplies, "accidentally" send you too much and ask you to refund the difference. Later you find out the wire to you is withdrawn and you're out the refund. The "advance scam".
The other is where you are suddenly offered a wonderful job, and all you have to do is to supply your email address, bank account details to deposit your salary, and perhaps a social security number to file employment taxes. Once they have your info, you find out your bank account has been debited rather than credited. The "phishing" scam.
I was once offered a high powered job out of the blue on linkedin. I was immediately suspicious because the "executive recruiter" (a very attractive stock photo model), offered me a 7 figure job without any previous contact, had no legitimate company themselves, and simply offered me the job because of my "exceptional qualifications": Don't get me wrong, I *am* exceptionally qualified in my field, but this recruiter would not answer the most basic questions: "I appreciate the offer, what specifically is it about my qualifications that makes your client consider me for this position?", "so how large is this agency? What industries are their clients in, consumer goods, technology, services?" etc etc
Look: I don't want to rain on your parade. Maybe this *is* legitimate. Maybe something about your background is perfect for this job. But surely, if they are serious about hiring you for a job which seems to require specific knowledge and skills, they should be able to talk with you for a few minutes first.
TLDR: DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY PERSONAL DETAILS (NAME, ADDRESS, BANK DETAILS, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESSES, ETC) BEFORE YOU ARE SURE YOU ARE DEALING WITH A REAL OFFER FROM A REAL COMPANY!
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 7:39 PM on April 19, 2023 [9 favorites]
Think about this: Would someone offer you a job, out of the blue, without any kind of conversation? And ask you to "set up your account" without any discussion of the job itself, its requirements, its pay, its benefits, etc?
Does this company have any legitimate contact? A phone number? A location?
Some of the scams I've heard about are of two kinds: The first where they "send you money" to buy supplies, "accidentally" send you too much and ask you to refund the difference. Later you find out the wire to you is withdrawn and you're out the refund. The "advance scam".
The other is where you are suddenly offered a wonderful job, and all you have to do is to supply your email address, bank account details to deposit your salary, and perhaps a social security number to file employment taxes. Once they have your info, you find out your bank account has been debited rather than credited. The "phishing" scam.
I was once offered a high powered job out of the blue on linkedin. I was immediately suspicious because the "executive recruiter" (a very attractive stock photo model), offered me a 7 figure job without any previous contact, had no legitimate company themselves, and simply offered me the job because of my "exceptional qualifications": Don't get me wrong, I *am* exceptionally qualified in my field, but this recruiter would not answer the most basic questions: "I appreciate the offer, what specifically is it about my qualifications that makes your client consider me for this position?", "so how large is this agency? What industries are their clients in, consumer goods, technology, services?" etc etc
Look: I don't want to rain on your parade. Maybe this *is* legitimate. Maybe something about your background is perfect for this job. But surely, if they are serious about hiring you for a job which seems to require specific knowledge and skills, they should be able to talk with you for a few minutes first.
TLDR: DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY PERSONAL DETAILS (NAME, ADDRESS, BANK DETAILS, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESSES, ETC) BEFORE YOU ARE SURE YOU ARE DEALING WITH A REAL OFFER FROM A REAL COMPANY!
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 7:39 PM on April 19, 2023 [9 favorites]
It is inherently fishy when a job offer comes without any kind of interview process. Proceed with caution if at all.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:41 PM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:41 PM on April 19, 2023 [4 favorites]
This reads like an extremely common post over on Reddit's r/Scams, especially if they are offering you a job without even interviewing you. This is the reddest of red flags.
The gist of it is that you send them all kinds of personal information, including banking details. They send you a check so that you can buy equipment from a specific online store, but the check is written for more than the amount you need, so they ask you to deposit the check and send the difference back, usually in some kind of gift card.
The check is fake and eventually bounces, so the bank pulls all that money out of your account. You're also out the money you sent back to the scammers, and they have all your personal info.
I recommend that everyone spend a few hours scrolling through r/Scams. There are a lot of people out there looking to take advantage of others in this weird job market.
posted by ralan at 4:54 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
The gist of it is that you send them all kinds of personal information, including banking details. They send you a check so that you can buy equipment from a specific online store, but the check is written for more than the amount you need, so they ask you to deposit the check and send the difference back, usually in some kind of gift card.
The check is fake and eventually bounces, so the bank pulls all that money out of your account. You're also out the money you sent back to the scammers, and they have all your personal info.
I recommend that everyone spend a few hours scrolling through r/Scams. There are a lot of people out there looking to take advantage of others in this weird job market.
posted by ralan at 4:54 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Is this an international company (or in another country than you)? The only reason to ask you to reapply through Upwork that would make any sense to me is if it’s a small company and that’s the only way they know how to make payments. But it still feels fishy to me. Upwork takes a big cut off of both the client and the employee, so it’s unlikely they would use it to hire someone they already found over Indeed - the biggest (and possibly the only) value that Upwork provides is in making connections.
If you do decide to proceed, signing up for Upwork itself isn’t a huge deal, and the job can’t scam you just by having you apply through the Upwork platform. And if they do hire you through Upwork system, you’ll get paid (you just need to know to check their reviews to make sure they’ve been a good client for a long time and that they’ll take a cut of whatever you get paid). But I wouldn’t bother if you don’t plan to use the platform for anything else.
My gut feeling is still to avoid it, though.
posted by Mchelly at 6:24 AM on April 20, 2023
If you do decide to proceed, signing up for Upwork itself isn’t a huge deal, and the job can’t scam you just by having you apply through the Upwork platform. And if they do hire you through Upwork system, you’ll get paid (you just need to know to check their reviews to make sure they’ve been a good client for a long time and that they’ll take a cut of whatever you get paid). But I wouldn’t bother if you don’t plan to use the platform for anything else.
My gut feeling is still to avoid it, though.
posted by Mchelly at 6:24 AM on April 20, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
To me, this doesn't necessarily sound like a scam, but getting paid through Upwork does mean that Upwork gets a cut of your money, so you might want to avoid the gig for that reason.
posted by epj at 4:21 PM on April 19, 2023