Welcome to the digital jungle, where opportunities and scammers grow side by side. And with the increased reliance on the internet for almost every business process, scam risks have increased tenfold. Some studies suggest that businesses and individuals globally lose over $1 trillion to online scams annually.
In this article, we navigate the tricky terrain of tech recruitment fraud. As DevEngine continues to upscale, attracting clients from across the US and Canada and technical talent from across LATAM, some less-than-savory characters have also turned their attention our way. And thanks to the AI boom, you should expect an Oscar-worthy performance in their scam sophistication.
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, then probably it’s a scammer.
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: Sometimes, scammers can 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 application.
- 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 at candidates’ credit histories (which is very rare for data and software engineering roles), the standard practice is 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 very clear and definite line of communication for recruits.
- Offering informational material to enhance your candidacy: We do not sell career guide books or offer recruitment tips at 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 take applicants through standard hiring processes to gain their 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 of all communications.
- Money laundering schemes: The other common scam is cybercriminals using unsuspecting candidates to launder dirty money. This can occur in several ways. First, they may promise to buy you work equipment, send you excess money, and then tell you that they erred and you should rewire the funds to a different account. Alternatively, they can ask you to receive funds into your account to verify your ability to receive payments from them, then later ask you to rewire a portion of the received 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, neither 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 highly paying data entry jobs: For a start, our company explicitly focuses on recruiting software and data engineers. It’s very unlikely that we’ll post data entry jobs. Secondly, nobody will pay you thousands just for retyping a PDF document or making data entries. 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 tell-tale signs that sell them out. 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 ignite the fear of missing out on their target victims.
- Fake Websites: Sometimes, scammers can go the extra mile and create fake recruitment websites that look almost legit. 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 targeting victims with fake email addresses. 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 go through several hands before approval for posting — eliminating the chances of spelling or grammatical mistakes. If a job listing is full of these errors, the chances are it was prepared haphazardly, which can be a sign of a recruitment fraud. Also look out for the overuse of exclamation marks and capital letters.
- Lackluster Screening: If it’s sometimes challenging to find a job in your locality, imagine how more challenging it should be when competing on a global scale for remote work opportunities. One of the reasons organizations opt for international hiring is to find high-quality talent that they cannot find locally. Therefore, expect the screening process to be rigorous. If you simply submitted your papers and then you were told you’re good to go, abort the application — those are scammers.
- Overcompensation: While we often try as much as possible to ensure our candidates get 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 down the number of people here at DevEngine who are in charge of the initial candidate outreach. If you are new to DevEngine and anybody other than Andres Pithod Saez, Anton Poseshchennyy, or Maria Jose reach out to you – it’s a scam. Once you become part of DevEngine network, you will start communicating with more of our team members through the process.
- Research the recruiter to protect yourself from recruitment fraud. It is crucial to thoroughly research the recruiter associated with a job activity. Verify their legitimacy by checking their LinkedIn profile, social media presence, etc. 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 the fraudulent use of company information: deceptive use of company information is a common trick in recruitment scams. 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 DevEngine domain which is devengine.ca Fraudsters will often create a domain account that resembles the legitimate one as closely as possible.
- No WhatsApp – We seldom use this app at DevEngine, and never as the first 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. Remember, if it’s on WhatsApp and it’s about a job at DevEngine, it’s as fake as a virtual reality unicorn.
- 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: DevEngine company website and all recruitment activities are conducted through 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 putting you through 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 are very much looking forward to exploring new career opportunities with you. If you have any other queries or suspect you might be dealing with scammers, do not hesitate to inform us immediately!