Picture this: you’ve been searching online for a fresh new job opportunity when – eureka! A dream job flashes on the screen. Barely containing your excitement, your fingers scurry across your keyboard to enter your details and click ‘apply’ when, deep in your gut, you get the feeling this offer might be too good to be true (and, sadly, odds are it probably is).

A very crummy fact about today’s world is that scams are quite literally everywhere (there was even a man who falsely sold the Eiffel Tower – twice) and more often than not, scam-artists’ favourite victims are vulnerable folks, including ordinary people who are simply seeking work. A good rule of thumb is that, when in doubt, listen to your gut. But when it’s difficult to decipher what a phony employment offer might even look like, what the hell can your gut say? To help you out, here’s a handful of red flags to watch out for.

NONDESCRIPT, VAGUE AND FACELESS Whenever you apply for any sort of job in any kind of industry, there are usually specific details and duties listed that reveal what the employer is looking for (which is pretty much a given – a software engineer won’t want to accidentally find themselves working hands-on at a dairy farm due to a nondescript job offer). If you end up trying to guess whatever it is that an advertised job actually entails, chances are that it’s a scam. Some buzzwords that are often in a scammer’s repertoire include (but are not limited to): “flexible working hours”, “minimum effort required” and an over-abundance of emojis – which is cute when texting Mum, but not so much when it’s coming from an employer. A legit job offer will always lay out a detailed overview of the work involved and the amount of experience required.

UNSOLICITED MESSAGES OK, we don’t want you super-lovely readers to take this the wrong way, but there is quite literally no employer who is that desperate for a potential employee that they start pestering you online 24/7. A normal job process usually involves sending through your resume and CV via a job-searching service or the employer’s direct website, with a handful of emailed responses. What isn’t normal is an ‘employer’ sending DMs to your personal social media pages as well as emails upon emails upon emails begging you to join their ‘robust team’. If an employer seems a little too keen, chances are that it’s under a false pretence. Another word to the wise: all authentic hiring manager emails will be sent under their work and company domain, and not from a personal account ending in ‘Gmail’, ‘Hotmail’, ‘Yahoo’ and so forth.

DIPPING INTO YOUR WALLET One of the more insidious sides of scam artists is that their main purpose is to drain as much money as they possible can from their victims. This is pretty awful in any situation, but there’s something especially evil about targeting regular folks who are looking for a job. No job opportunity should ever require you to send anything other than work-related documents (such as a resume, CV, TFN details or any other non-personal items), and even if they gloss over their scheme with things described as training supplies, office equipment, software and other bogus bits, the facts don’t lie: money shouldn’t leave your bank account because of a job opportunity.

NO CRED? NO WAY Sometimes, a scam can be super-obvious – think websites that haven’t been updated in 10 years, typos galore and ChatGPT-generated messages. Over the years, though, scams have become smarter. Fraudsters do their best to come across as an authentic business by building fake websites and constructing shiny emails. If something feels sus, check out their LinkedIn profiles, social media channels and Glassdoor reviews, and look further for information relating to current or previous employees who worked at said ‘company’. You don’t need to be a true internet sleuth to figure out the truth – just check Reddit, someone probably posted about it two years ago.

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