craigslist SCAM ALERT

craigslist SCAM ALERT

SCAM ALERT - affiliate scammers are posting bogus ads promising (nonexistent!) employment, paid research trials, or other compensation, but then notifying repliers that they'll need to jump through a hoop first, directing them to:
  • background checking services
  • credit checking or reporting sites
  • sites where you are instructed to enter your resume or other personal information
  • sites where you are asked to sign up for a "free" trial offer
  • sites offering training or education
  • sites offering a "system" for making money
  • survey or focus group sites
  • sites designed to deliver malware or misuse your identifying information

all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions or otherwise profiting at the expense of persons seeking employment.


Lots of variations on this scam, but each generally involves dangling (nonexistent!) compensation, and then directing you to a website where you are asked to sign up for something, use your credit card, or input personal information such as your email address.

FUN FACT: If you are able to determine a scammer's "affiliate ID" and report it to their affiliate marketing program, this will often result in termination of the scammer, and confiscation of the scammer's ill-gotten gains by the affiliate program.