Time and again, jobseekers are warned of the proliferation of bogus job offers that are sent via email. However, in spite of all the reminders and warnings, many people are still victimized by this type of scam.

The main reason is because email job offers contains everything that a jobseeker wants to see. To put it simply, it is too good to be true. The offer is so attractive that many jobseekers choose to turn a blind eye to all the warning signs and end up giving their hard earned money for a bogus job.

These are some of the usual elements present in an email job scam:

An email job scam is complete with a professional looking letter informing the recipients that they are shortlisted for a job opportunity that is waiting for them mostly in European countries such as United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.

The letter will also request the recipient to fill out an attached application form. They would also sometimes ask the applicant to provide documents such as resume and employment certificates.

When an applicant responds to this email, the next thing that the scammer will say via email is that the application has been reviewed and found to be eligible for employment.

The letter is complete with a detailed job contract with emphasis on the huge salary and the benefits. Strangely, though the scammer would ask you to call them for inquiries. Please note that legit hiring companies can afford to call their target employees.

It is not hard to think that the job offer might be legitimate because the letter includes the name of the hiring establishments, office address, a link to the official website and contact numbers – basically all of the things that they hoped would build credibility and confirm its legality. Sometimes, they also pretend to be connected with a valid company or government agency. They also do not ask for money right away.

One Way to Know It’s a Scam!

With all the devious tactics that they use, how do you know if an email job offer is legitimate or a scam. One easy way to do that is by checking the telephone number.

Exercise caution if the email you receive gives a telephone number that starts with 070 (using the country code 44). The reason is that 070 are called redirects. It means that any calls made using 070 can be redirected to any country in the world.

Scammers need the 070 redirects so their callers would not be able to detect their true location. For example, they can pretend to be in UK when the truth is they can be in Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Ghana, etc.

The 070 numbers is widely used in almost all type of internet scams such as fake lotteries, au pair scams, etc. Of course, the 070 redirects can also be used by legitimate companies but to be safe, it is best to be suspicious of any job offer that shows this telephone number.