The Niagara Regional Police are reporting complaints of on-line scams through job search websites.
To initiate the scam, 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.
The "employer" explains that they are out of the country / area and need 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 NRP is reminding citizens to be cautious about such scams and exercise due diligence to confirm the "employer" and job offer is legitimate.