The job is too good to be true (for example, you didn't contact them but they contacted you out of the blue!, the pay is super good, or you got the job really easily with minimal effort)
Vague job requirements or very generic job description (scammers frequently copy and paste generic job postings for their own use)
Unprofessional emails (lots of typos, weird formatting, grammar mistakes, strange sentence structure-- this might mean the job was written by a non-native English speaker, which is unlikely to be the final job posting or email a real company would send to a candidate)
Online interviews with Google Hangouts, Yahoo Messenger, or Skype (this alone doesn't immediately mean a scam, but with any other red flag ABSOLUTELY is a sign of a scam)
Emails don’t include contact info or are sent from a personal email account (beware of any email sent from a @yahoo.com, @gmail.com, or @hotmail.com account!)
Search results don’t add up -- THIS ONE IS HUGELY IMPORTANT! Google the name of the company. Check to make sure the information matches. Companies with no online results are suspicious a lot of the time!
They ask for confidential information (be wary of giving out your SSN, and NEVER EVER give out your bank account information!)
They say they will send you money or valuables, or they want to use your personal bank account to transfer funds (this means it is likely a fake check scam that will cause you to lose possibly thousands of dollars, or it is a reshipping scam which could land you in serious legal trouble!)
They want you to pay for something (some companies ask you to pay for a background check, but you should never have to pay for training or products!)
Something seems weird about it. TRUST YOUR GUT!
The only thing I'll add is that sometimes scammers use a real company's name but they are committing fraud and aren't a part of that company. Never hesitate to reach out to the real company to ask for help if you're suspicious!
Remember, I am here to help you figure it out, so if you have something that you'd like me to check out please forward it to askemily@jobcase.com so that I can do some of this research for you!
Hello! This is a fantastic question. For me the first step is just ruling out that they are likely a scam. Here are the top ten signs that a job is LIKELY a scam (taken from here: https://www.thebalance.com/top-job-scam-warning-signs-2062181):
The only thing I'll add is that sometimes scammers use a real company's name but they are committing fraud and aren't a part of that company. Never hesitate to reach out to the real company to ask for help if you're suspicious!
Remember, I am here to help you figure it out, so if you have something that you'd like me to check out please forward it to askemily@jobcase.com so that I can do some of this research for you!