Government Job Assistance Scams

Quite often on job sites and in classified advertising, there are ads stating they can get you U.S. Government jobs. For a fee these ads claim they can guarantee a position.

In most instances, people are directed to a toll free number, where someone tries to sell them study materials for a fee. These fraudulent services have also been known to lie about the availability of specific jobs in an area to reel in a customer (victim).

Many of these services will not give you any better chance of obtaining the job than if you applied for it yourself.

If you have been the victim of one of these scams call the Federal Trade Commission: 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) or visit their website at www.ftc.gov and file a complaint. You can also complain to your state attorney general, or the Better Business Bureau.

Free information on government jobs can be found at www.usajobs.opm.gov. The bottom line is that information on civil service employment is in the public domain and no one should be charging for it.

Here is a link to an earlier post on identity theft occurring on job sites:

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2005/07/internet-resume-posting-and-fraud.html

To view the Federal Trade Commission's Alert on this activity, click here.

Opt Out From Becoming a Victim

For years, big businesses and specifically marketing gurus have been selling your personal information. Not only does this provide opportunities for criminals to steal your identity, but the offers (themselves) can be pretty darned annoying. There is now a service sponsored by the major credit bureaus in the United States, which gives you the opportunity to stop them from selling your information.

Just go to www.optoutprescreen.com and tell them to stop selling your information. You can also call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT.

It's a small step and won't stop all the junk mail from coming to your address, but it will help simplify your life and minimize your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft.

Another great resource in the era of Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds is the Federal Trade Commission's "Do Not Call List." They now accept cell phone numbers, also: http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/