Molly writes that her brother has been looking for employment for a long time, and finally received a tentative job offer for a job in a warehouse. It’s underemployment, but it’s employment, right? The problem is that the agency doing the hiring seems kind of shady to Molly. They want to verify that her brother is a U.S. citizen by having him use a “free” credit score service, and e-mailing them the score. Molly’s right: it’s a scam.

My brother has been in the unemployed ranks for over a year, and he finally got a bite! The job recruiting company has made him a tentative offer for a warehouse job (with his Berkeley degree, but that’s another story!), but the email they sent to him requires him to go to a credit monitoring site and “sign up” with them. This looks like one of those scammy “Free Credit Report.com” sites. The link they sent sends you to a site called “Triple Scores Direct.com”. They CLAIM this is to verify his citizenship (the job is located in San Diego, CA). Can a credit report even DO that? They aren’t at all requesting his Social Security card or anything else (until he shows up for the job).

I know that many employers will pull your credit report, but is this a normal practice to request that HE do it? Is this a scam?

Yes, it is a scam. A person can have an American credit history without being a citizen, and plenty of citizens are eligible to work but have no credit history. This is a variation of a scam that we’ve written about before. There is no job; the point is to direct you to sign up for the site’s “free” services that aren’t free at all.

This is an obvious scam, but it’s new enough to many people that we frequently get questions about it. The “we just need your credit report” ruse works for apartment listings, too. It’s common enough that employment pages on Craigslist in some cities now warn job seekers specifically about affiliate scams lurking behind nonexistent jobs.

Molly clarified that her brother has not interviewed for this job in person, and the “job offer” came by e-mail. Here’s the message he received:

“Hello,

Hiring Staff is a staffing and recruitment company with thousands of satisfied clients across the nation. We offer successful candidates the opportunity to work for our clients in full-time or temporary positions. The email you replied to is a tentative offer of employment for the available position with [a real company] at [real company’s address]

As you know, this position pays a generous hourly wage of $12.50-$16.85 base on experience, with great health benefits, and also provides potential to earn significant overtime income if you choose to take advantage of that, when the opportunity arises. We are hiring rapidly at this time, and are fully prepared to make you employment offer, provided that you comply with the rest of the recruitment terms.

This is a full-time position. You will picking, packing, receiving, and restocking products. Finishing carton by sealing, prepare pallets and tagging the pallets. Loading the pallets and other duties which will be explained and taught during training.

To accept these terms and move on to the next stage of the recruitment process, you must provide us with a current copy of your credit report/score to go in your employment file. The distribution center has been having trouble hiring illegal citizens, and this prevents from that happening. [Real Company] has request us to pre-screen
all possible candidates for their credit report.

Your credit report/score will not matter, as it’s rather an easy means of verifying your identity and valid citizenship in the US. Below will be a link to obtain your credit score for $1, and once done so, we will be noticed and process you for orientation and provide the address and further instructions. We are hiring 5 workers, but please act
promptly, or the job might be taken. You will need to bring 2 forms of identification with you to the orientation, usually ID and Social Security

Your free score can be obtained here: http://jobverify.net/

We appreciate your interest in joining the team, and hope you decide to come aboard!"

PREVIOUSLY:
Don't Fall For The Job Hunting Credit Report Scam
Scammers Advertise Fake Apartments, Want Your Real Credit Information

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