One rule catches almost all of them: in real work, money moves toward you. If it moves away first — or through you — stop.

Four signs

  • You pay to start. A starter kit, a background check, required software, a “refundable” deposit. Employers pay their own hiring costs. A job that bills you is selling you something.
  • Training costs money. Paid certification as a condition of an offer is a sales funnel wearing a job posting’s clothes. Being trained is what the first week is for.
  • You are asked to move money. Deposit this check and send part of it on. Buy gift cards and send the codes. Receive a payment and forward it. The check clears, then it bounces days later, the bank takes it back — and the money you forwarded was yours.
  • Card or SSN before hire. A real employer needs your Social Security number for payroll after an offer, on a W-4 or W-9, through a payroll system. Nobody needs your debit card number, your online banking login or a photo of your card in order to hire you.

Two quick checks

An interview held only inside a chat app, with no phone call and no video, is worth slowing down for. So is a company whose name you cannot find at a real website. Search the company name together with the word “scam” before you answer, and look at whether the email address is on the company’s own domain or a free one.

Nothing lost this way is insured, and it is rarely recovered. Walking away from a fake job costs you nothing at all.