Times are hard everywhere and people are always looking for a better deal, better pay, easier work, and so forth. But many Malaysians are being scammed with Fake Job offers online. While some have managed to be rescued, others like the recent missing person case vanish completely.
Here are some signs or tips on how to spot a fake job offer online:
The work is easy, but the pay is high
Sourced from Cyber Crime Alert Royal Malaysia Police
"No experience needed!" sounds like a dream come true for most job seekers, as employers usually want years of experience for tiny amounts of pay. However, if you find this line in an online job offer and the pay is super high (like RM9000 per month or RM200 per day/hour), this is the first sign of a fake job offer online.
Those who were duped often found themselves having to do things they didn't want to, like scamming other people or worse, selling their bodies. As most Malaysians who buy expensive phones will know, internal organs like kidneys sell for a lot. It could be what those fake employers are going to do to you in the end.
The job is overseas, but they'll pay for all your travel and accommodation
Most Malaysians have never travelled outside of Malaysia, so if a job offer states "Overseas job, all expenses paid!" these local job seekers will jump at the chance to travel overseas. Unfortunately, most of the time, this is to bring you outside of the country where you don't know your rights and can get pressured to believe that authorities in those overseas countries will not protect you, especially if the fake employers have your passport and other travel documents.
There could be authentic jobs that offer these benefits but also require things like experience, unique skills and proven work, so if you don't have these, be careful about that fishy job offer! Travel and accommodation overseas can get very expensive and are often marked down as debt you'll have to pay off while being forced to do work you don't want to do in someone else's country.
You have to pay money first
It doesn't matter if it's an RM100 or RM1000 processing fee. Any job offer that asks you to pay money first is almost always a fake job. This is because they probably aren't going to offer you anything else except for empty promises, or they need more processing fees so you can get that RM200 per hour job.
The hope that you might get that RM200 per hour job and just working hard for a month often spurs people to pay more until they either run out of money or become sick of it. At this point, any demands to get access to that easy, high-paying job will disappear just as easily as the fake job employers, so don't get scammed.
They want ALL your personal information before the interview
Most of the information that you put inside a resume or CV is already fairly private, such as your telephone number. But if the employer needs your bank account number or credit card before any sort of interview, this is a major sign of a fake job offer.
Chances are, these "employers" are looking to either steal your identity and make fake loans or are looking to hack into your bank account and steal all your money. We can safely say that no real employer would actually ask for this level of private information before any job confirmation. Even once you've been confirmed, the only numbers you'll be asked for will be your bank account, KWSP and SOCSO.
You got accepted too easily
So, let's say that the easy, no-experience-needed, super-high-paying job actually has an interview stage. You do the interview, but the questions and tests seem just too easy... Then that is another sign that this could be a fake job offer. High pay usually matches with a lot of experience and skill, and if you didn't have any of that to show that but still passed, then this is a warning sign you should be aware of.
Most high-paying jobs will require you to go through several layers of interviews, regardless of your qualifications or talent at interviews. This is because most real employers want to know they'll get their money's worth when paying that super-high salary. If they don't care, then those are probably "fake" employers.
All in all, these are just a few signs and tips on How to spot a Fake Job Offer Online. In addition, we'd recommend that you look for jobs at branded and dedicated job portals, as these are curated or screened beforehand. Most flashy but fake job offers can be found on social media, or the scammers will contact you directly, saying they got your number or email from somewhere.
If you'd like to know more about other online scams and how to protect yourself, PDRM or Polis Diraja Malaysia have compiled a comprehensive e-book on their site. If you have the telephone or bank account number of the suspected job offer, you can also check to see if it was reported to the Commercial Crime Investigation Department's site.
PDRM have compiled a booklet on known scams
You can check if the "fake" job offer has been reported before at the site above
We hope that this will help protect you online and reduce online scams. If this article manages to stop just one more person from getting scammed by fake job offers, it will have been worth it. Do let us know what you think about this in the comments below and share it with others who might be considering a "fake" job offer too. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com.
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