You want a job. You might need the money. You need the money NOW - not in the middle of June. You are likely to fall victim to a cognitive bias! You have a sense of urgency, which breaks down your logical reasoning and allows this bias to take over your decision-making.

But, what if that is not your situation? Maybe you can wait until June. Let's tap into another heuristic. You notice that the training that is required is not held until June 17, but the job starts on May 27. Oh no! I will miss out on this job because I have not taken the training! Cognitive biases come to the rescue and urge your brain to jump on the offer. Pay for the class so you can get this job!

It is an impressive effort. But, it is still a scam.

No company should require a job applicant to spend any money during the recruiting phase. That cost must be the burden of the employer. It is the cost of doing business. Any company that wants you to pay them (or another company that is really them as well) is not offering you a job. They are charging you a fee for being gullible.

Here are typical fake fees:

• Background check (the 'real' company here is the background check company that is making money by posting fake jobs)
• Pre-employment testing (the 'real' company is selling training, but sometimes the 'test' is actual work that you are doing for them AND sending them money to do it, which means you are a double victim)
• Training (that is what this company is selling for 390 PHP, not too much to scare people away, but enough to make the scam worth the effort)
• Placement fees (a staffing company should only be hiring for roles that they have available - and their clients should be paying the staffing company for finding you, so NEVER pay a staffing company - even if they only charge you a percentage of your paycheck after they find you a job)
• Resume formatting (resume formatting companies run a lot of fake job ads that state that the company only accepts resumes that are formatted a certain way - so... contact this company to get your resume formatted, then, if you fall for that they will also upsell you on interview coaching, job search tips, etc. because you are clearly gullible)
• Equipment (there probably is no job, but once you purchase the supplies you cannot return them or get a refund - especially if the company offers to reimburse you for purchasing specific equipment from a very specific third party then you are buying from the third party and the reimbursement check is fake, which may cause you LOTS of problems with your bank)
• Interview platform fee (this can be two scams: the fee should have been paid by the company, but the company should be using a free platform like Google Meet and/or the platform will collect your name, email, phone number, credit card or bank payment information, address associated with that bank/card, etc. so that the scammers can drain your bank account or charge tons of purchases on your card)

A few warning signs you should look for:

• Most jobs are with a company so the email should come from that specific company's email address (e.g. recruiting@jollibee.com), not from a Gmail or other free account. It is important to recognize that some people are using their personal email because they are hiring an independent contractor to help them create something or start a business. In that case, you are not working for a company - at least not one that exists yet.
• The recruiter is not using correct spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation for the language that they are recruiting in. Sometimes a recruiter might be working in their second language, but most companies realize that a recruiter is the company's first impression on a candidate and they want that to be a flawless first impression! (In the message you received, they say "You will be receiving the manual within 24-48hours right after the payment is received by the accounting." So many red flags in this sentence!
• Asking for your government ID, bank account information, etc. prior to you accepting a job offer is a big red flag! That is not a real job, that is a scammer that will be selling your information on the dark web. You should not provide any of that information until after they have extended an offer that you have accepted.
• You get offered a job without an interview or you get offered the job after only a cursory conversation, especially if the salary is much higher than that type of job typically pays. That recruiter then requests your government ID number, bank information for direct deposit, etc. and sells it all on the dark web.

We need to help each other identify and call out the scammers. They are getting better and better at making thing look legitimate to take advantage of people who are eager or in trouble.

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