People are getting creative with trying to get your data and information. Some even pretend to "hire you for a job". There certainly can be legitimate offers coming in by creative and new ways; however, some of those “job offers” could be ways to scam you.
Today, I received a text out of the blue and thought I would present it here as an example. Now, as I stated this may be a legitimate offer—but I would be leery to reply and accept employment from anyone using this method. For me, there needs to be more there –there. Let’s review the text.
First, it was just a text from a number that I didn’t know –and asking with an assumption that I would reply with a “Yes” … (being an affirmative response).
Instead, I chose to ask who it was that I was speaking to. As you read along the conversation, I’ll present my thoughts. First, Elizabeth said they used a recruitment agency to review my resume and now – I am shortlisted for a job. Note that the job wasn’t actually offered-- yet the wanted me to reply with “Proceed” (being another “affirmative” response) to do something not yet clarified. My thoughts were—well if you initiated and started the process without my affirmative response, you can continue the process without my input.
So instead of blatantly saying that I thought they were scammers, which I actually thought, I indicated that their approach was unusual and indicated that they should use the information on my resume to contact me. I have not heard back from them yet.
I’m making this post to hopefully bring awareness to how clever scammers can be. It is a shame that there are people out there who have nothing better to do, but they are there. Although I don’t recall giving anyone my account information and such, there have been reports in the past where banks and other financial institutions have had hacks to their systems. One-word affirmative actions could be setting you by giving someone permission to do something nefarious.
Out of caution, probably the best thing I could have done was report the text as spam or phishing. But since I had been sending out my resume/vita I communicated while avoiding saying ‘yes’ or affirming anything. I look forward to the day when white hat hackers can create something that will turn the tables on those seeking to do harm to others. In the meantime, y’all be safe.
