Almost Got Scammed
Be careful if you're looking for a job online. A couple of days ago I was offered a part-time position as an administrative assistant by a company claiming to be involved in internet auctioning on reknowned sites such as eBay, Amazon, and QXL among others. My responsibilities were apparently to enter data, make reports, and maintain a database for the company using Excel. The offer also stated briefly that I would be required to receive payments from buyers, but it was unclear how this would be done.
At the time, the offer of a $2200-$2700 monthly salary for a 10-15 hour-a-week job seemed too good to be true (I mean, that would more than cover my living expenses, while still enabling me to study full-time). The fact that I had no means of traceable contact with the company though, other than by e-mail with a dodgily-named correspondent ("Holly Hooper") with a dodgy-sounding e-mail address (holly.hooper@ponymail.com), seemed rather suspicious.
The company claimed to be based in Maryland, US, but did not provide a full address, city, zip code, or even a phone number. I tried to do a background check on them via the internet but came up with no results. They weren't even listed in the US Better Business Bureau. After contacting SEEK (Australia's number one job site/the site where the job ad was posted), my suspicions were confirmed - the company going by the name of Douglas & Berns Int. were just a bunch of scammers.
Given that providing personal information such as full name, address, and phone number is mandatory during online job applications, it would be preferable if such job ads could be screened out more promptly in future (especially in leading Australian job sites such as SEEK and CareerOne) so as to prevent applicants' personal details from falling into the wrong hands, be it for fraudulent or harassment purposes.
At the time, the offer of a $2200-$2700 monthly salary for a 10-15 hour-a-week job seemed too good to be true (I mean, that would more than cover my living expenses, while still enabling me to study full-time). The fact that I had no means of traceable contact with the company though, other than by e-mail with a dodgily-named correspondent ("Holly Hooper") with a dodgy-sounding e-mail address (holly.hooper@ponymail.com), seemed rather suspicious.
The company claimed to be based in Maryland, US, but did not provide a full address, city, zip code, or even a phone number. I tried to do a background check on them via the internet but came up with no results. They weren't even listed in the US Better Business Bureau. After contacting SEEK (Australia's number one job site/the site where the job ad was posted), my suspicions were confirmed - the company going by the name of Douglas & Berns Int. were just a bunch of scammers.
Given that providing personal information such as full name, address, and phone number is mandatory during online job applications, it would be preferable if such job ads could be screened out more promptly in future (especially in leading Australian job sites such as SEEK and CareerOne) so as to prevent applicants' personal details from falling into the wrong hands, be it for fraudulent or harassment purposes.
