Welcome to the digital jungle, where opportunities and scammers grow side by side. With the growing reliance on the internet for almost every business process, scam risk has increased tenfold. Some studies suggest that businesses and individuals worldwide lose over $1 trillion to online scams annually.
In this article, we navigate the tricky terrain of tech recruitment fraud. As DevEngine continues to scale up, attracting clients from across the US and Canada and technical talent from across LATAM, some less-than-savoury characters have also turned their attention our way. And thanks to the AI boom, you should expect an Oscar-worthy performance in the sophistication of scams.
However, this should not be a cause for alarm. Their plot is always the same and easy to identify with a little due diligence: they’re always after your precious data and hard-earned cash.
As long as you keep this in mind and follow some simple DevEngine-specific guidelines, you will be safe in your search for the perfect job opportunity. Above all, always trust your gut feeling—if it ‘quacks’ like a scammer, it probably is.
Top 10 Job Scams To Look Out For
Have you just seen an online job post, purportedly from DevEngine, that seemed too good to be true? Well, it most probably is. Below are some common recruitment scams you should look out for:
- Fake job posts: Scammers sometimes create fake social media profiles or websites to publish non-existent job opportunities. Usually, these listings promise unreasonably high salaries and perks, and ask candidates to pay some kind of fees during the application process.
- Unsolicited job offers: Another trick scammers may use is emailing or calling to inform you that you’ve been successfully shortlisted to interview for a job that you did not apply for in the first place. They may then ask you to pay a fee or direct you to a phony site that mines your sensitive credentials as you enter them.
- Credit assessment: In this scam, the fake recruiter tells you that they must verify your credit history to determine your eligibility for the position you applied for. They may then ask you to pay for the credit report or refer you to a specific credit audit service that will charge you additional costs. While some employers might be keen on candidates’ credit histories (which is very rare for data and software engineering roles), the standard practice is that they should cover the assessment costs, or at least allow you to use a service of your liking.
- Imposters: Scammers can monitor the job postings on our hiring pages and approach potential candidates with the pretext of recruiting for us. We do not rely on third-party recruiters or agencies. As we’ll outline later, we have a clear, defined line of communication for recruits.
- Offering informational material to enhance your candidacy: We do not sell career guidebooks or offer recruitment tips for a fee. If anyone approaches you to pay for essential tips to improve your employability, rest assured that they’re not acting on behalf of DevEngine — and if they say they are, then they’re scammers.
- Equipment purchases: This is one of the oldest recruitment scams in remote or international hiring. It’s funny how several people still fall for it. Typically, the “recruiter” will publish a job listing and guide applicants through standard hiring processes to build trust. Once you’ve “gotten the job,” they’ll ask you to submit a payment for company-personalized work equipment, like computers and so on. After paying, they’ll immediately cut off all communications.
- Money laundering schemes: Another common scam is cybercriminals using unsuspecting candidates to launder illicit funds. This can occur in several ways. First, they may promise to buy your work equipment, send you excess funds, and then tell you they erred and that you should rewire the funds to a different account. Alternatively, they may ask you to have funds deposited into your account to verify your ability to receive payments from them, then later ask you to rewire a portion of the amount.
- Shipping fees: This fraud is pretty similar to the equipment purchases scam. The only difference is that, in this case, the “recruiting agency” may offer the equipment for free and instead ask you to cover the shipping fees. In most cases, they’ll insist on using a specific shipping company, which is probably part of the scheme to defraud you.
- Career advancement grants: DevEngine is not a government agency, nor do we work with any government bodies to facilitate career advancement grants for LatAm professionals. If any “DevEngine employee” approaches you with such an offer, they are fraudsters.
- Unreasonably high-paying data entry jobs: To begin, our company focuses on recruiting software and data engineers. It’s very unlikely that we’ll post data entry jobs. Secondly, no one will pay you thousands just to retype a PDF or enter data. If the deal is too good, think twice.
Common Signs of Recruitment Frauds
We could go on and on about the common types of recruitment frauds, but the truth is that if you don’t know how to spot them, you can easily fall prey. Most scammers go to great lengths to make their schemes persuasive and believable. However, there are always a few telltale signs that give them away. Below are a few examples:
- Urgency: Look out for the unnecessary use of terms like “APPLY NOW,” “URGENTLY RECRUITING,” “DON’T MISS,” and any other wordings that seem to have been intentionally used to spark a sense of urgency. In most cases, scammers use such phrases to instill a fear of missing out in their target victims.
- Fake Websites: Sometimes, scammers go the extra mile by creating fake recruitment websites that look almost legitimate. For the record, we only have one Find Work page for those seeking remote work. In case you’re in doubt, always remember that our website’s domain ends with .ca, not .com.
- Email Spoofing: Similar to fake websites, email spoofing involves sending emails from a fake sender address. For instance, while our official email address is info@devengine.ca, you might receive a fake job offer from the address “info@q-devengine.ca.” Unless you’re extra keen, you might not notice the extra “q” in the fake address, leaving you exposed.
- Spelling Errors: Go back to the basics. Recruitment processes are usually well-planned and meticulously executed. As a result, legitimate job postings often pass through several hands before approval, reducing the likelihood of spelling or grammatical errors. If a job listing is full of these errors, it was likely prepared haphazardly, which can be a sign of recruitment fraud. Also, look out for overuse of exclamation marks and capitalization.
- Lacklustre Screening: If it’s sometimes challenging to find a job in your locality, imagine how much more challenging it should be when competing on a global scale for remote work opportunities. One reason organizations opt for international hiring is to access high-quality talent they cannot find locally. Therefore, expect a rigorous screening process. If you submitted your papers and were told you were good to go, abort the application — those are scammers.
- Overcompensation: While we strive to ensure our candidates receive the best rates, any job that promises to pay double the current market rate is most likely a scam.
DevEngine Recruitment Fraud Prevention Guidelines
As a remote hiring company working with hundreds of software and data engineers across LatAm, we understand that we are a hot target for recruitment scammers. As a result, we came up with the following guidelines to help you avoid falling prey to fraudsters:
- Designated points of contact: We have narrowed the list of people at DevEngine responsible for initial candidate outreach. If you are new to DevEngine and anyone other than Anton Poseshchennyy, Maria Pithod, Frank Ahijado, Ricardo Pulgar, or Alex Gontcharov contacts you, it’s a scam. Once you join the DevEngine network, you will begin communicating with more of our team members throughout the process.
- Research the recruiter to protect yourself from recruitment fraud. It is crucial to thoroughly research the recruiter associated with the job. Verify their legitimacy by reviewing their LinkedIn profile, social media presence, and other relevant sources. Do pictures match across profiles? Are there recommendations on LinkedIn? Does the profile look real? If you see any discrepancies – walk away.
- No sensitive information upfront: Requesting money from applicants simply has no place in the DevEngine recruitment process – it’s just that simple. No training costs, background check fees, or equipment expenses, if you are asked to transfer money – walk away. We will not ask you upfront for your date of birth, banking info, credit card, Payoneer account, copies of your identity documents, any logins, etc. We recommend that you don’t volunteer any info other than your resume, email address, and general location information early in the job hunt process.
- Be aware of fraudulent use of company information: recruitment scams often rely on it. To look credible and trustworthy, fraudsters will often create fake job postings or impersonate legitimate companies. They cunningly use authentic logos, names, and other detailed corporate specifics that may initially deceive you into believing the role is real. Always double-check that emails come from the DevEngine domain, which is devengine.ca (and not .com). Fraudsters often create a domain account that closely resembles the legitimate one.
- No WhatsApp – We seldom use this app at DevEngine, and never as the initial source of contact. If you get approached for a job-related opportunity via WhatsApp out of the blue, and the recruiter claims to be from DevEngine, rest assured that it’s a scam and report it accordingly. Here’s a real screenshot of a fraudulent recruitment message on WhatsApp.
This example screams scam. The name, the platform, the approach, the language – all wrong.
- No single way of communication: Scammers tend to prefer texts and online chats because they allow them to maintain anonymity and make it harder for you to trace their identity. By limiting communication to these platforms, scammers can avoid being easily identified. If you get pinged by a “recruiter” who exclusively communicates through texts or online chats and is too cool or busy to jump on a video call, it’s a sure sign of fraud.
- Secure Connections: The DevEngine company website and all recruitment activities are conducted via secure connections (look for “https” in the URL). This helps prevent scammers from accessing your personal information through unsecured channels.
- No client interview – no job offer! Most scams and personal information collections happen at the job offer stage, when you become excited about the possibility of landing a challenging, well-paying job. Just remember, no real job offers ever happen before you interview with the actual client. If you haven’t been grilled by a client over a technical interview, and most likely 2 or 3 of them, the job offer is a fake. DevEngine will never extend an offer without first completing our internal pre-screening process and client-facing interviews.
Stay alert and keep those scam radars up. With these tips, you’re set to navigate the tech job market safely. Here at DevEngine, we look forward to exploring new career opportunities with you. If you have any further questions or suspect you are dealing with scammers, please inform us immediately.
