Fretting About Not Having a Job, I Ended up Talking to the FTC.

Do you wonder how all those scammers out there make their money? Do you think you're a savvy interneter, who will never fall for a scam...again? Let me tell you how stupid I was last week.

As you know, I've been applying to job after job after job. One day I sent out 9 applications/resumes, etc. So imagine my delight when I actually received an email from a real estate office (to which I had actually applied)! I got an email from Betty Young. Sweet Betty. She wanted to hire me to run errands and help in the office. I could even have a company credit card. She needed to know my credit score at this point in the process. Not any personal information at ALL, just a credit score number. She had a site for a free report that I could click on and everything...

I know my credit score. I am meticulous about my finances because I cant' afford to be defrauded. However, I hadn't gotten a report in 8 months, and figured this would be a decent time. I filled out the form, got my credit score (not bad at all!), and started to email her back. Suddenly, I thought, I wonder if this is for real. I googled Betty Young and her company, Logan Title, Inc. Yay! A real company, a real lady, picture and all! Wait. Why is she in Illinois? I thought this was a local job. So I call Betty. Poor Betty. She has already gotten 2 calls today, one from Florida, one from New York. Some scammer has used her name and title to get people to put in ALL their information and get a credit report from some dummy site. They even copied her email, off by one letter. I'm told to call the Federal Trade Commission and report it. So I call Eduardo at the FTC, who takes my statement and tells me to call the local police and call him back with a confirmation number.

I learned that my local police HATE this kind of call. There's nothing they can do about it, and they are exponentially irritated if the dispatcher doesn't tell them why they're coming out. So he shows up, ready to deal with a domestic dispute or who knows what (they really don't like that), and here I am, some dumb blonde who just gave out her social security number, though she's NEVER fallen for a scam before. So of course, he treats me like an idiot. "You applied for a job on Craigslist, what did you think was going to happen?" Somehow I was charming enough that after about 10 minutes he lost his attitude and, even though I had already typed everything up as an incident report, typed my whole story (no offense, officer, but I typed faster). He tells me since I'm so Internet savvy, I should start my own business (clearly I fell for this scam because I was so desperate for a job....which was true). Noting my own lack of self confidence, I asked him what I should do. He says I should type up documents for local businesses. I told him all those jobs were scams. :) He says to go get my own companies. I asked him if the local police were hiring. You with all your solutions! In the end, he was very nice, and empathy came out. It's tough out there...you want to jump on every opportunity to work, and scammers know that.

In the end, Officer Empath and I did a bit more research on the site. I never mailed my credit score to the fake email, so likely the scam was not completed. The credit report web site appeared to be actually real, so likely my information is safe. I still have my doubts, though...what kind of real business website ends in .net? The officer thinks, more likely there is a company that gets paid for referring people to the credit site (there was a 3rd site that flashed real quick before the site loaded). I followed the FTC's suggestions, though. I called Experian and put an alert on my social, I put a hold on my cards for 30 days, and spent 3 hours on the phone, trying to cover my mistake. If only I had called Betty FIRST, that would have saved me so much time and strife!

Learn from me, people. By Law, companies cannot ask to run a credit check unless they have actually offered you the position, and you have to sign a waiver. Any sort of credit check or credit application should be done in PERSON, or done through a secure website owned by the company to which you are applying.

Here's the email; it looked so real.

Thanks for your interest in our office position. Just to restate the job duties for clarity, you will be answering the phone, scheduling meetings, and running company errands in a company car. When running errands you will be provided with a company credit card to make supply purchases, etc.

We have had some bad experiences with prior employees taking advantage of having access to a company credit card in the past, so before we can schedule an interview, we need you to get a credit check. We prefer you use http://www.freecreditscore360.net to obtain this information. When you submit your information they will send you your credit score. When you email me your credit score, we can schedule an interview. Please do not email me your credit report, as this may have private information in it. Just send me your credit score. If you have a low credit score, that will not prevent you from having an interview with us, as we just need to make sure you are an honest individual.

Please send me your schedule with availability. I am looking forward to your response, thanks.

Bonnie YoungOperations ManagerLogan County Title CompanyBonnie@logancountytitleinc.com
www.logancountytitleinc.com

So I chalk this up to experience, but I learn more and more everyday that experience does not put food on the table (not that I am low on food...I am very blessed with food....I repeat: Do not send food).