Verifying the company, role and fees
The Labour Department reminds job seekers that legitimate companies generally do not ask employees to bear any costs. If an employer makes unreasonable demands, you should refuse outright, and must not carry out illegal work on the employer’s behalf.
When job hunting, do not readily believe recruitment advertisements that claim “no experience or academic qualifications required” yet offer “high pay and good benefits”. You should pay attention to whether the salary offered for the vacancy and the required conditions match reality and market levels.
Beware of unreasonable fees and personal data requests
Some fraudsters pose as recruiters and charge job seekers unreasonable fees under various pretexts and guises, such as registration fees, data processing fees, administrative fees and work permit fees.
Some fraudsters also pose as recruiters to extract important personal data from job seekers, such as identity card, bank account and credit card details. During the online job search process, if you need to provide personal data, please consider whether the employer’s request is reasonable, and whether there is a risk of excessive collection of personal data.
Identifying suspicious recruitment tactics
If job seekers find that the work involves multi-level commission (i.e. so-called pyramid selling) and the goods sold are more expensive than those on the market; or they are asked to pay a large membership fee; and are persuaded to recruit members (including relatives, friends and classmates) to become their downline staff, thereby earning profits rather than focusing on product sales, they should decline the job.
If, during job hunting, you are told that you do not meet the entry requirements for the vacancy and need to enrol in a training course or other programme at your own expense to improve your skills before being hired, you should stay alert, as this is likely to be a fake recruitment scheme aimed at defrauding you of money.
Interview safety and personal security
Fraudsters may cheat job seekers out of their belongings or extract personal data during the interview, and then steal the job seeker’s bank savings or use the fraudulently obtained information for unlawful activities. Alternatively, they may claim to be recruiting for online part-time work and promise job seekers that they can earn service fees or commissions by purchasing online game top-up cards on their behalf. Once the job seeker provides the top-up card serial numbers and passwords, the fraudster sells the credit and disappears, leaving the job seeker to suffer financial loss.
When going to an interview, always bear your personal safety in mind. Avoid attending interviews alone at abnormally remote locations, and pay attention to whether the interview process is overly perfunctory.