1. When an offer appears to be too good to be true

Everyone looks forward to getting the best things, but notwithstanding if you don't have what it takes (skills, experience, certification, etc.) to attract a 6 figure job and you get an offer that states that then you should question the credibility of that job offer.

Some multi-national companies indeed offer great compensation packages, but those kinds of offers come with series and different stages of interviews. Most scam jobs don't require you to pass through different interview stages.

For example:
Work for only 2-3 hours per day and earn up to N500, 000 per month.

Here the competitive salary is the bait to get you to click on the job advert and finally apply for the job. From this job advert, you do not know what you are going to be doing, what the job/company is all about. The only thing they tell you is how much you will make.

When you come across these kinds of job adverts, make sure you do thorough research. If you cant do research based on some reasons, simply run to save yourself from future problems.


2. When you did not apply for the job but got contacted

The job search process is quite simple. You see an advert for a job that you are interested in, you apply for the job, the employer finds you quite interesting – then you will be invited for an interview, after the interview you get to know whether or not you got the job.

Above is the normal process to landing a job, but sometimes you just get an interview invite without applying for a job that you cannot remember applying for. When you get these kinds of a job offer, there is a high possibility that the job is fake.

We know that some companies like to reach – out to their job candidates directly without advertising their positions. Even in this case, the candidate is been scheduled for an interview even before an offer is made.

If you have a company or employer reach out to you via social media or on any platform, do well to reach the company before responding to their message. Notwithstanding, you can tell a real job from a scam in this case.


For example:
You have been invited for a job briefing/chat at street 123 . Contact xyz on 081xxxxxxxxx with Ref no. 0000.
If you get this kind of sudden invite, then you have to be careful, because it is most likely to be a scam.


3. You are being offered a job right away
If you have been searching for a job, I am sure you know that getting a job does not come easy. The competition, the selection process, the interview, etc. you can miss landing your dream job at any stage of the process.

When you get contacted that you have been offered a job without passing through any of the stages, then that offer is most likely a scam job.

You may get a message like this:

You have been employed as a manager for ABC Global company, you can come and pick up your employment letter at 123 street…

This job poster wants to attract you with the position and an immediate offer. No legitimate company will hire you without meeting with you first to determine if you can do the job or not. Beware of these kinds of jobs.


4. No specific job requirement or description
Some fraudsters and scammers go the extra mile to make their job advert appear legitimate, but you still notice some gaps if you look closely.

These scammers will write a job requirement or description for the job, but the funny thing is the job description will be written in such a way that almost anyone can fit in smoothly.


For example:
You must be young (no age limit)
Must be able to communicate in any language (anyone can communicate at least in one language)
Must have access to the internet (almost everyone has internet access, plus you wouldn't have gotten their email if you did not have access to the internet).

This kind of job description is like no description at all, because the job poster did not mention anything like: Years of experience, education, skills, etc. things needed to perform the role. If it is a real job, the requirement will be more specific than general.


5. Getting an unprofessional email from a company
When a legitimate company sends you an email, you can tell from the content of the email and even form the email address. Most legitimate companies have their company domain email e.g. Peter@ABCCompany.com.

Most scam companies do not want to go through the stress of creating a company domain email, they rather use the general one (maybe Gmail or Yahoomail).

Asides from the email address, while some do, many fraudulent employers don't take time to compose their emails, so you will find loads of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors in their emails. A legitimate company will hardly send an email that is full of errors when they have staff members assigned to carry out the task.

If you get an email with these kinds of errors, then it is most likely a scam email.

For example:
The human resources have seen your CV and you have been invited for an interview by the CEO of the company. His name is Mr OJO, and this is his telephone number 081xxxxxx.

For this example, you can notice the following mistakes:
"human resources" (this should be Human Resources)
"You have been invited for an interview by the CEO of the company" (the right punctuation mark is missing in this sentence).
"The human resources have seen" (this should be in the past tense, the human resources has seen).


6. If you cannot find any useful information about the company online.
Most legitimate companies have websites, social media handles, and different platforms where people can reach them or get useful information about what they do.

When you search for a company online and you don't find any useful information that will give you an idea about what they do, then it may be a scam company. Some fraud companies create their website, but notwithstanding, if the information you find on their platform is scanty or does not add up then it may likely be a scam.

If you cannot seem to find the LinkedIn profile or any information about the recruiter or anyone working in that company, then it may be a scam job.


7. Getting interviewed via a messaging service
We know that we live in a digital world and things are changing fast, but there are still some boundaries. While remote interviews have become commonplace (phone and video interviews), recruiters still have to follow some basic guidelines.

If a company is asking you for an interview via a messaging/chat service, then that organization is being unprofessional. No professional organization will ask to interview you via a chat service.

So when you are asked to be interviewed via chat, then you need to do your research and look out for scam alerts.


8. If you get offered a job immediately
If you apply for a job and you are offered the job immediately, then there is a high probability that the job is a scam. Job offers don't usually come easy.
No matter how perfect your CV looks, every employer would still like to talk to you to find out if you have what you say you have on your CV.

For example:
After 30 minutes of applying for the job, you get a message like this;
"You have been employed as a manager for ABC company, come and pick up your employment letter at XYZ street."

If you get this kind of message repeatedly, then there is something fishy about the job. A legitimate company will not beg you and pester you to come to pick up your employment letter.




9. If you are asked to give out your personal information
This one of the most obvious warning signs. When an employer contacts you and asks you for personal information such as your account number, your ATM pin, or other personal information, then you should be careful.

We know that a legitimate employer can ask you to provide some personal details, but that should be when you have been given an offer or during your training period. Asking for personal information at the beginning stages of the recruitment process should be one of the fraud signs you should look out for.


For example:
"We would like you to send your account details as a candidate so that we can send you some money for the cost that you may have incurred during the interview, when you get this money deduct 5000 and then send the balance to this account number…"




10. They want you to pay for something
Some fraud companies will offer you a job, but they might come up with a condition for you to become a member of that company. It is either they ask you to pay for software or a working gadget.

These kinds of employers offer you (desperate job seeker) a job on a platter, then they introduce a condition they believe you would be able to afford because they know you would love to keep that job at any cost.

The truth is legitimate companies do not ask you for money or anything. Whatever software or gadget that you would need to perform your task would be given to you. So you have to beware if an employer is asking you for something.

For example, you might get a message like this:

"Congratulations, your interview went well and you are now a staff of ABC company. To help you work well we got you a brand new laptop, but as a part of the company culture, you would have to pay 5000 for the headset you need to function as customer support personnel. You can send the money to XYZ…"