Young People Are Being Warned to be Wary of Job Scams in 2023

That high paying, no effort job might be too good to be true. 

Australia’s consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is warning young people to be careful around job recruitment scams this year.

New figures from the ACCC’s Scamwatch unit have shown Australians lost nearly $9 million to recruitment scams in 2022.

But what is a job recruitment scam?

According to Scamwatch, job recruitment scams will convince targets that they can earn a guaranteed income, often pretending to be representing a high profile company or recruitment agency.

Before you can get this “high-paying job” however, they’ll ask for you to pay for something like a ‘starter kit’.

This year, the watchdog has warned young people could be at the highest risk of falling for job recruitment scams.

“Thousands of young Australians have finished school and graduated from university, with high-hopes about their future careers and the intention to look for work in the new year. Unfortunately, they are being targeted by scammers,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

If 2023 is a bit of a new year, new job, new me vibe, watch out.

“With many Australians looking to make the most of a highly competitive job market, we are urging jobseekers to be wary of opportunities that seem too good to be true," Delia said. 

The ACCC warns as a general rule, you should never pay or make an upfront investment to secure a job, and if someone asks you to, your alarms should be going off.

Typically, these kinds of scammers will contact you via email or encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, so be cautious if you’re contacted via those channels.

They also recommend strong protection of things like banking info, personal information, and passwords, and researching offers and job listings to ensure their legitimacy.

You can learn more about job and employment scams from Scamwatch here, and you can find out more about protecting yourself from scammers and where to get help.

If you want to learn more about cyber safety? Check out our Digital Street Smarts course to help you stay safe online and protect your digital reputation.