For the past several weeks the Financial Planning Association of Nevada has been receiving inquiries from consumers from all over the country about job postings on Craigslist.org for a bogus administrative job at a financial firm.
"These scammers are preying on the desperation of the applicants," a press release from the association says.
The e-mail from the scammers gives the fpanv.org as the Web address of the company offering the job.
The job seekers reply to the Craigslist ad and get a response that if they want an interview, they need to apply for a credit check using a link in the e-mail.
The scammers also state that their credit check site is approved by the Better Business Bureau, GoDaddy.com, and other reputable sources.
Victims provide personal and financial information to the Web site listed as a credit check company. Once they've sent their financial information, when they try to follow-up, they find that the job does not exist.
Further, the original ads on Craigslist.org have been pulled.
"The FPA-NV has no such job posting," the press release states. "We now have a bold banner on our site warning of this scam. Some applicants have the good sense to check our Web site before they fill out the bogus credit report."
Craigslist.org itself reminds everyone never to give out financial information (bank account number, Social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.).
People applying for jobs should not give any personal financial information until after they've had a face-to-face interview at the company's location.
Victims should report the original Craigslist.org ad and the credit check site to ic3.gov and abuse@craigslist.org.