Several staffing firms overseas and in the US reported scammers are sending emails and contacting job seekers via other methods claiming to represent the firms. Those contacts provide fake job offers. 

Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., which ranks among the largest staffing firms in the world, reported last week that scammers were using its name in solicitations on WhatsApp. 

“We have recently been alerted to scam recruitment offers being made in the name of Recruit Holdings via WhatsApp, promising substantial daily wages paid through online banking,” the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. “Recruit Group and its parent company, Recruit Holdings, are not affiliated with these counterfeit job offers or the sender of these messages. We urge you to exercise caution if you receive any outsourcing offers purportedly from our company.” 

Staffing firm Persol Holdings Co. Ltd. warned of suspicious emails claiming to be from the company last week as well.   

Beacon Hill Staffing Group, a Boston-based company that ranks as the 27th-largest staffing firm in the US, issued a warning that scammers are impersonating Beacon Hill employees. The scammers are offering fake job opportunities with the aim of stealing personal information from job seekers. 

Separately, the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection earlier this year reported job scams have been a growing problem in recent years. Citing data from the Federal Trade Commission, the number of reported scams for business and job opportunities quadrupled between 2018 and 2022. 

Beacon Hill is recommending that job seekers be aware of these red flags: 

Pressure to act quickly. Scammers often employ aggressive tactics, insisting on immediate action and becoming increasingly rude when questioned.  

Requests for money or financial information. Legitimate recruiters at Beacon Hill will never ask for upfront payment or financial details through communication apps or text messages, the company said. Financial information will only be requested through secure forms during the onboarding process.  

Requests for personal information. Beacon Hill said its recruiters will never ask for protected information, especially through insecure platforms.  

Contact through unaffiliated email addresses. Genuine Beacon Hill recruiters will always contact job candidates from an email address with the domain “beaconhillstaffing.com” or “beaconhillsg.com.” It cautioned job seekers to beware of scammers using similar addresses or completely different domains.  

Contact through unsolicited text messages. While recruiters may occasionally text job seekers, this will only occur after a relationship has been established, according to Beacon Hill. If a job candidate receives a suspicious text message, the company recommends contacting their recruiter through their verified Beacon Hill email address or email scamalert@beaconhillstaffing.com for assistance.  

Sounds too good to be true. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always verify information directly from the company’s official website. 

Beacon Hill recommends to candidates that if they have been contacted by the scammer to cease all communication and reach out to the company at scamalert@beaconhillstaffing.com.