The global recession and continually growing unemployment rate spells disaster for most of us. Unfortunately it is also opens up opportunities for identity thieves and scammers. Like vultures, these people like to prey on the desperate and the needy.

In the past, most Job scams were unsophisticated and transparent that only the gullible would fall prey to. Most savvy job seekers would easily spot these scams that offer ridiculous salaries for little or no effort at all. A little company background check usually reveals these types of scams.

But recently scammers have been pulling out all the stops, and are developing trickier and more sophisticated ways to bait helpless individuals into their web of deceit.

Some of the trickiest new job scams to look out for are:

Payment Forwarding Scam

Scenario: You are contacted via phone or professional email by a US payment processing firm representing a foreign client. They probably got you information from an email or a resume you posted online.

Your so called “job” is to forward payments from US customers to the fake company’s overseas client, this will be from purchases made on eBay or on the clients own website. You will be required to send them the payment thru pay-pal, western union, wire transfers or thru sending checks by mail. A percentage of the payments transferred will be your commission or cut for your efforts.

This might sound like a great gig, but after a few weeks, expect a phone call or a visit from the police because US customers have not been receiving the items they purchased.

By using you to forward payments, the scammers can then supply their victims with a US address to gain their trust. If you are caught participating in this sort of scam, it is possible for you to be prosecuted or sued and you might end up in jail.

Background Check Scam

Scenario: Recently you applied for a job, posted you resume online or perhaps replied to a wanted ad online, you are then called up by the company’s human resource or recruitment department.

You are told that you might be what they’re looking for; you just need to submit to a routine employment background check for you to proceed to the second interview.

They then ask for your social security number and permission to run a background check, which most companies can legitimately and will routinely do. After a few days you call up the company and they say that they have never heard of you or that the person you spoke with doesn’t work there at all.

Always be wary of phone calls asking you for your social security number or other personal information. Do a little background checking yourself whether it be online or by calling the company’s numbers to make sure they exist or not.

Travel Discount Scam

Scenario: You are called by a scammer pretending to be a large or familiar company’s human resource representative. You are told that they found your resume online or from a headhunter and they require you to come in for an interview immediately. This company’s is usually on a different state or overseas.

They will then inform you that unfortunately they will not shoulder your travel expenses but will tell you that you can avail of their discounted corporate airfare if you purchase you ticket via the company’s travel department.

You are then asked for your credit card information or to wire in a payment. Then they ask for your number so they can call you back with your ticket and flight information. But you never get that call back.

You phone the company but they say they never heard of you or of the name of the person who you spoke with.

Before giving out information, it is good to do some investigating and background checking yourself to see if the company is legit. You could also ask to give them a call back before giving the person your information so you can make other phone calls to make sure that the person is indeed representing the company.