Woman loses nearly $5,000 over fake AI-driven $30-an-hour job offer

In this bloated economy, everyone needs a job to survive. In today’s digital age, job seekers have become increasingly vulnerable to fraudulent job offers, especially when faced with desperate circumstances. With the rise of remote setups, people are now looking for work-from-home jobs, and when someone is getting a lucrative salary in that kind of situation, being desperate about the offer is quite human. But nowadays job or job scams are taking place in the name of vacancies where they promise to help the job seekers by giving them the offer letter. But as the process progresses, they ask for bank account information for payroll deposits, and that’s where the stealing begins. Here’s how a woman from Jacksonville, Florida got scammed and was about to lose some dollars.

Jessica Brown, a woman from Jacksonville, Florida, desperately needed a job because she was experiencing major financial problems. Recently her husband had a stroke and she has a daughter to take care of. Therefore, the scammers took advantage of her vulnerability. It all started with an email she received from a company called Synterax. At first, she didn’t see any red flags as it is a reputable company active in the technology and IT industry. On the other hand, the job offer was also lucrative, offering her $30 an hour and the flexibility of working from home. Additionally, the offer stated that Brown would receive a lump sum of $5,000 to cover her office supply needs.

The scammers made the job offer quite attractive so that Brown could not refuse it. She shared the email with WJAX which said: “We have reviewed your resume for the Junior Recruiter at Synterex. We believe you would be a great fit for this opportunity. If you can work for the company for a period of 12-16 years work, weeks, the materials automatically become yours.” She was quite convinced and later went to deposit a check for $5,000 in the bank, but the executives immediately refused to accept that check. Brown went on to say, “The bank immediately found out this was a scam.” She wanted to take her case to the public, saying, “There are so many scams going on. The public needs to be aware of workplace scams at home.”

After being made aware of the scam, Synterex released a sympathetic statement saying: “Unfortunately, like many other companies, Synterex was targeted by a scammer who digitally impersonated us. Our thoughts go out to every applicant that time spends applying for a job only to discover that the process is not realistic. We understand how involved the talent acquisition process can be.” The Federal Trade Commission then stepped up to warn job seekers and asked them to remain vigilant, especially if a company is paying them higher for less work. These are the biggest red flags. Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, informed users about the AI-powered job postings, saying, “It takes no time and costs very little for the scammers to develop perfect templates for photos, letters and online profiles, so it looks very legit.”