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Spam Job Emails

Spam and Scam Job Emails

Do you receive job offers or requests for job interviews (out of the blue) from companies you don't know? It's no surprise if you do. The scum that push pyramid schemes (aks, "multi-level marketing") have caught the spam craze and are now soliciting new victims by harvesting email addresses (usually from jobs websites, like Monster.com, Dice.com, HotJobs, etc.).

Basically, there are several types of scams:

1. No job / No company of any type - just a scammer looking to steal your identity or con you out of money
2. No job, but a real company looking for "associates" to be "self-employed" or "work from home" selling their products or services, like pre-paid legal services or insurance.
3. No job / MLM - just a pure pyramid scheme

1. How does the no job / no company scam work?

This is really just a variation of the Nigerian funds transfer or 419 scam - There is no company, no jobs, just a solitary scammer trying to con you into telling him your personal information so he can steal your identity and order credit cards in your name, or to trick you into sending him money. For a sample email, click here.

2. No job, but a real company misleading you about what they are looking for

1. Typically, a few months after you post your resume on a jobs website, you start receiving emails from companies that you have never heard of, like these from Liberty National Recruiting
2. If you respond, you typically schedule an appointment for a job interview.
3. When you show up, you find out that it is a group presentation and there are many other "candidates" there. In reality, you are showing up for a multi-level marketing presentation, to suck you in to selling their product or services.

Is it a scam? Well, it is definitely misleading and misrepresentation. It is also probably spam - unsolicited business email. They may be trying to argue that the have established a business relationship with you because you have a resume posted on Monster; but that seems a stretch. Write us with your experiences and copies of the emails you receive, to tell us about it! We'll investigate them and publish the results!

3. MLM and pyramid schemes

In this variation, one of the pyramid scheme companies or MLM's (multi-level marketing) sends you an email to "invite" you to be "interviewed" for consideration as an "associate" or branch manager, or any of a variety of titles and names that represent you paying them to sell their grossly overpriced products. It's a great way to annoy your relatives and piss off your friends and neighbors. Keep pushing the products on people you know to try to make back your fees, and encourage others to sign up as associates and "representatives" or "distributors". Pretty soon you'll have no friends. Oh, and no money...

While there seems to be no perfect solution to spamming, our advice is to:

• complain to your internet service provider (ISP) and to the spammer's ISP - and remember to include the junk mail's entire header
• File a complaint with the jobs website - for Monster.com, go to this page: http://my.monster.com/contactus.aspx and click on LiveChat
• don't respond - that simply confirms your address to the spammer
• Check here for a list of companies that use spam to promote their products - never purchase anything from these companies. Send us a copy of spam and we will add the company to the list.
• if the spammer is a US address, email your spam to the spam recycling centre at spamrecycle@ChooseYourMail.com (they will forward the message to state and federal authorities
• don't offer your email address to any websites that don't have a privacy policy
• set up a private email address for friends and associates and use a free web-based email address (like Yahoo or Hotmail) for any interactions you have with other websites and companies
• try to filter your email - a link at the scam busters site will show you exactly how to do this. Or your ISP might provide a filtering service or be able to tell you how to set one up yourself.

Annoying Recruiting Schemes

Not all jobs and recruiting emails are scams or illegal. Some are merely annoying, Complain to Monster.com (if they are coming through Monster) by forwarding a copy to siteabuse@monster.com

Spam - What it is and what to do about it!

This page has information about the Federal Trade Commission's recent law enforcement actions against deceptive commercial email and spammers' responsibilities under the CAN-SPAM law. In the "For Consumers" section, you'll find tips on how to reduce the amount of spam email in your in-box.

• Keep Your Email Address Unlisted: There Is No "National Do Not Email Registry"
• How Not to Get Hooked by a 'Phishing' Scam
• National Do Not Email Registry: A Report to Congress
• The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers

Limiting Spam

• Ready to Pop Your Top Over Pop Up Spam? Here's How to Make it Stop [PDF version]
  Here's How to Make it Stop Informs home computer users about how to stop Microsoft Windows Messenger pop up spam.
• You've Got Spam: How to "Can" Unwanted Emails [PDF version]
  Provides tips to help reduce the amount of spam you receive.
• Putting a Lid on Deceptive Spam [PDF version]
  Consumer Features Article

Spam Scams

• Who's Spamming Who? Could it Be You? [PDF version]
  Informs home computer users that their computers may be used - without their knowledge - to send spam.
• Keep Your Email Address Unlisted: There Is No "National Do Not Email Registry" [PDF version]
  Explains that that there is no "National Do Not Email Registry" and consumers should not share their personal information with anyone who claims to represent one.
• What's In Your In-box? [PDF version]
  Gives tips for limiting the amount of unsolicited commercial email you receive and provides guidance on reporting that spam.

Protecting Your Personal Information

• Email Address Harvesting: How Spammers Reap What You Sow [PDF version]
  Explains ways computer users can minimize the amount of spam they receive.

Other credible sources of information:

• Internet Education Foundation Spam Tips
• Federal Trade Commission - "Break the Chain" Homepage
• organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - Work on Spam
• Alaska Attorney General
• Alaska State Troopers
• Alberta Government Services
• British Columbia Securities Commission
• British Columbia Solicitor General
• Canada's Competition Bureau
• Canada's Electronic Commerce Branch - English or French
• Idaho Attorney General
• Montana Department of Administration
• Norwegian Post and Telecommunication Authority
• Oregon Department of Justice
• United Kingdom's Department of Trade and Industry
• Washington Attorney General
• Washington State Department of Financial Institutions
• Wyoming Attorney General
  

For More Information

• The Can-SPAM Act - How to use it!
• Court cases of spammers who have been caught
• List of known spammers!

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a FTC Fraud Reporting or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.