Consumer watch: Red flags for those in job market

Red flags while job hunting Unemployed and feeling desperate? This is no time to drop your guard and inadvertently expose your personal data to identity thieves posing as potential employers.

Plenty of con artists are lurking around seeking personal information that they can steal -- or, in a case that the Virginia Attorney General's Office is pursuing against Virginia Employment Services Inc. of Norfolk, guaranteeing people a job in exchange for an upfront fee, typically $365, and then failing to find them employment.

The Office of Consumer Affairs in Richmond said it received 87 consumer complaints about that company and its now-shuttered related units, Virginia Personnel Inc. and New Beginnings Inc.

Follow these tips from some experts on how to avoid becoming a victim while job hunting:

Don't believe it if a company says you're guaranteed a job. "It's a red flag to charge an upfront fee with a guarantee," attorney general spokesman David Clementson said. "Nobody can guarantee that somebody else is going to give you a job."

Read the job ads carefully. Be sure they're advertising positions, not just selling employment information, warned Tina Holt, supervisor of the Office of Consumer Affairs' counseling, intake and referral unit.

Keep your personal information to yourself. On your résumé, do not include your Social Security number, bank account information, phone number or address, advised Lyn Oakes, chief marketing officer of TrustedID, a California identity-theft solutions company.

Don't tell your driver's license number or date of birth, either, advised the Tennessee data security firm Kroll Fraud Solutions. Give just your e-mail address, Oakes urged. "Only share information that will allow them to contact you to have a follow-on conversation." Many people posing as companies looking for job-seekers to fill positions are not legitimate, she explained. They're fronting, hoping to gain access to personal data that they can steal and use fraudulently.

Share personal data once you've accepted a job offer, experts say.

Think before posting personal information on a social Web site. If you wouldn't tell it to a stranger on the street, don't put it online for the world to see, said Jeremy Miller, Kroll director of operations.

Check out the company before doing business with it. Contact the Better Business Bureau or local chamber of commerce, Oakes said. Go online and see if it has a legitimate Web site. (It should have an "About Us" section, a physical address, phone number and contact person.)

Don't give up your bank account number. A con artist will pretend to want to know that your directdeposit link works properly, because your paychecks supposedly will be deposited there. Don't fall for it, Oakes said. "Never, ever agree to have funds or paychecks deposited into any of your accounts." That's how crooks drain people's bank accounts.

Don't fall for cleverly disguised work-at-home scams. Some tip-offs: an e-mail message from someone offering you a job without a background check, face-to-face interview or verification of your references. You could wind up in a counterfeit check scam -- and plenty of legal trouble, warns the National White Collar Crime Center in Henrico County.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or . Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RTDIrisTaylor.