Job Scam Alert – Companies in Johannesburg that are job scams

The introduction of online jobs and online job alerts has brought a positive impact into our lives as we now have access to a large pool of vacancies around your area and possibly around the world. As positive as it is there are disadvantages of this like fake jobs adverts and alerts made by scammers mostly to get money from you and sometimes to make you work for free without payments. Anyone who has ventured into online job search has probably ran into this jobs scams.

Common Job scams in South Africa

Here is the following common click bait tricks used by scammers to get you hooked;

1.Instantly offering a high salary

Jobs that grab your attention by offering a high salary, usually two times more of the average salary market rate should raise alarms. A job offering a very high salary with less than usual hours also seems unrealistic and possibly a scam.

2. Offering you the job without an interview

Companies go through the process of interviewing their potential employee to ensure that you are the right fit for their company. Beware of companies offering you a role without any interview.

3. Reaching out through WhatsApp or Telegram

Being offered a job you have not applied for by a company you have not heard of also should alert you that you might be falling into a scam. As much as companies may review resumes on recruitment agencies and pick you, they would use a formal way to do it and usually with a company address/email instead of social media  messages.

4. Free equipment to work with

Genuine companies don’t typically give away laptops and phones to new employees, especially for remote positions. You may fall for this by giving them all the information they needed from you out of excitement.

How to spot Job scams in South Africa

1. Emails from a free account or a personal account

Companies usually use their business email address to contact you. You can either be contacted by HR or one of the staff but still using a company address.  Be very careful of job recruiters that email you from a Gmail or Hotmail account instead of using a company email.

An email from a scammer may seem professional but if you look well into it there may be poor grammar, punctuation mistakes and a lot of unnecessary information that is not usually needed on the first stage.

2. Recruiters asking for a payment  or unnecessary information

A genuine job will never ask you for a small fee to process your application. All job applications are free and anyone asking you for money in exchange for a job is mostly a scammer.

True recruiters usually ask for contact details, your most recent resume, references and salary expectations, not asking you for bank details or card details right before you have even started your job.

Never give out any social security number or credit card information before you have successfully secured your new position.

3. When recruiters are not being transparent

Recruiters should be able to give you full details about the job in question, they should also be able to answer any questions you ask. If they become dodgy and vague about everything then this should be a red flag and you abort the mission immediately. 

4. The job offer sounds too good to be true

Does a very high salary with short working hours and no experience sound too good to be true? If what you are offered sounds too good to be true then it is exactly that! They make the job offer enticing enough for you to easily give out the information they want. 

What you should do when you have fallen victim to a job scam

The minute you realise that you are talking to a scammer, first thing you should do is;

• Stop contact immediately! Hang up the phone, block the scammer if it’s through messages or emails
• Notify your bank or credit card issuer immediately to report the scam and request a new account number and/or debit or credit card. 
• Change your account passwords
• Log out any other devices your account may be logged in and block the unknown ones
• Report the scam to the right authorities

List of companies that are scams in South Africa

If you are invited for interviews in the following places in Johannesburg, please do not go

1. ILPA House CNR Commissioner & Von Weiligh Str
2. Klamson Towers, 151 Commissioner Str
3. Manchester House, CNR Von Wielligh & Pritchard Str
4. The Great Experience, Curthberths of Chambers Building, CNR Prichard & Eloff Str
5. Century (Insurance) Building, CNR Kruis & Albertina Sisulu Str
6. Motaung Recruitment, Dr Neil Agget Building, 90 President & Kruis Str
7. North State Building, 99 Albertina Sisulu Str
8. Factor House, CNR Kruis & Albert Str
9. BMT Training pty Ltd, Royal Place, CNR Eloff & Kerk Str
10. Mr Price Building, CNR Albertina Sisulu & Von Brandis Str11. Ottawa Mall, CNR President & Small Str
11. Kariba House, CNR DeVilliers & Commissioner Str
12. ABC Kay Motsepe Building, CNR Fox & Von Brandis Str
13. Mothomo House, Fox Str
14. Meisschkes Building, CNR Harrison & Albertina Sisulu Str
15. De Souza Direct, Power Place Building, 261 Oak Avenue, Randburg
16. Hillside road, Parktown near BP garage
17. 1fourall Recruitment Agency, Address Unknown
18. Vusa House, Gandhi Square, Jhb
19. DK Marketing Solutions (pty) Ltd, Mr Price Building, CNR Albertina Sisulu Rd & Von Brandis Str
20. ICA Marketing, Aspern house, 2de korte Str, Braamfontein
21. Markade Building, 84 CNR President & Kruis Str

Conclusion

Do not open any link without checking the security as this may contain a virus that crushes your device and extract the information the scammers need. Always check how secure the website is, look at the web address bar. If the URL begins with HTTP://, then it isn’t secure; only HTTPS:// sites are secure. Lastly job hunting and securing a job can be stressful, if things seem too easy and just a walk through, it may possibly be a scam.

I will be adding to this list constantly. Kindly bookmark it and keep it in mind when attending interview