If you are looking for work and using the Internet to search for jobs, Niagara Police are warning you not to fall for a scam.
Niagara Regional Police have received several similar complaints regarding on-line scams through job search websites.
Police say victims who posted ads or responded to job offers through employment websites, were contacted by a scammer posing as a prospective employer.
The targets of the scam have been victims who are looking to work from home and provide administrative services.
The "employer" engages the victim by either phone or email, and information is exchanged to initiate the job offer process and that's when the suspect says he or she is out of the country / area and needs to hire someone locally to assist with payment of suppliers, book travel, pay invoices, etc.
The victim is asked to use their own bank account to receive cheques and then e-transfer or wire money elsewhere.
Often the scam also involves receiving and sending packages.
At some point after transferring money, the victim is notified by their bank that the cheques were fraudulent.
When the victim tries to contact the "employer" they cannot be reached or their contact information is shut down.
As a result of the scam, the victim suffers financial loss and has compromised their personal identification information.
The Niagara Regional Police are reminding citizens to be cautious about such scams and exercise due diligence to confirm the "employer" and job offer is legitimate.