Health & Fitness
Job Scam Empties Pockets Of Job Seekers, BBB Warns
The BBB is warning job seekers about a scam that asks applicants to use a prepaid money card to pay for criminal background checks, then cuts off communications.
Job scams are among the most insidious of frauds – stealing money from people who are out of work. Several St. Louis area job seekers recently lost money to Bio Advocate Pro, a cleaning company that asked them to pay for background checks.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) looked into the scam after receiving inquiries from victims in Florissant, Alton and Spanish Lake as well as a man in Overland who avoided the scam. All of the victims had been looking for jobs online when the scammers called the job seekers about work cleaning up biohazards – jobs that allegedly paid $17 an hour.
Except there were no jobs. And the scammers conned prospective workers to obtain prepaid money cards worth $89 to pay for criminal background checks. Once the applicants gave the scammers the identification codes for the cards, the scammers stripped the money from the cards and stopped communicating with the job seekers. A request to wire money or use a prepaid cash card is a common sign of a scam.
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One job seeker said he went to a location for what he thought would be a drug test, but the laboratory didn’t have him on its schedule nor did it have any information on Bio Advocate Pro.
The BBB checked the address listed by Bio Advocate Pro in East St. Louis, but there is no such business at that address. The company’s website links to another company in Indiana, which said it had never heard of Bio Advocate Pro. More details of the scam are in today’s BBB press release.
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The BBB advises job seekers to check companies out before responding to a prospective employer. BBB Business Reviews on more than 4 million companies are available on the BBB website.
More tips:
- Beware of unfamiliar companies contacting you through online job boards. Some of these so-called businesses may be set up to scam you.
- Be cautious about paying any fees upfront for pre-employment background or drug tests. Most legitimate employers will pay for any tests they require of applicants.
- If at all possible, visit the company’s office to determine that they are located where they say they are. Scammers may use a fake address or even hijack a legitimate company’s address.
- Get references and contact them.
- Check for a BBB Business Review at www.bbb.org or by calling 314-645-3300.
For more BBB news, go to the BBB website or follow the BBB on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.