The following has been adapted from guidance provided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA):

The public should be aware of job-search scams in which people who respond to ads or online job postings receive checks that appear to be from legitimate companies. The type of job can vary—models, mystery shoppers, data entry personnel or some other type of independent worker. But one element is always the same: In each of these scams, you are sent an authentic-looking check.

In many instances, these fake checks will feature the name of a real company—although often not the company that purportedly hired you, which should be your first red flag. They also might use real account and routing numbers. In the most common version of this scam, the sender instructs you to deposit the check into your bank account and then almost immediately transfers a portion of the money to someone else. That's your second red flag. Days later, your bank informs you that the check was counterfeit and that you are liable for the amount withdrawn, usually several thousand dollars. You've been scammed—and there is usually no way to recover the money you sent to a third party.

Unexpected Check Scam

Simply put, you receive a check out of the blue, perhaps by registered mail or other delivery method that requires a signature. No instructions accompany the check—but once you deposit the check, you may further entangle yourself with the fraudster. For example, you might be liable for the amount of the counterfeit check, your endorsement might give your account information to fraudsters, or you could receive follow-up attempts to “phish*” for personal financial information—or some combination of the above.

Mystery Shopping Scam

Fraudsters lure victims by posting ads for mystery shoppers in job classifieds, such as on the popular website Craigslist. When victims respond to the ads, they are led to believe that they have been hired as mystery shoppers to evaluate the services of money transfer companies, such as MoneyGram. Victims are then sent checks that appear to be from legitimate companies and instructed to deposit the checks in their bank accounts, then withdraw most of the money and wire it to someone else—often a purported fellow mystery shopper. Victims are told to keep several hundred dollars of the money as payment. When the checks are later discovered to be phony, the banks reverse the deposit and the victims are left liable for the money withdrawn, usually several thousand dollars.

Modeling Scam

Typically this scam starts with a victim responding to an online posting—or the victim may have posted information online, such as with a modeling clearing house. Either way, the victim eventually gets "hired" by the fraudsters to model and receives an email with instructions. Similar to the mystery shopping scam, the victim then receives a legitimate looking check and is told to cash the check, wire some portion of the proceeds to a third party—such as a "supervising crew"—and keep the remainder as payment.

Scam Prevention Tips.pdf