Employment Scams and the Need for Job Seekers to Run Background Checks

There is an age old axiom that when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.   Such is the case with unscrupulous companies that prey on the unemployed.   These unsavory entities, and the people who run them,  promise relief for the working people who have been laid off and out of a job.

When you are taking money from desperate people who have little funds, having seen their scant resources depleted from being out of work, you have to be some kind of low life.   To even think that it is a good idea to be a scavenger, after the scant dollars of the unemployed is truly disgusted.  But there are many people out there who see our economic downturn and the misfortune of others as their opportunities to scam the unsuspecting.

Such is the case in one scam reported by the Los Angeles Times.   The scam artists  send a letter, supposedly from Career Builder.   They offer a part time job as a “trading assistant.”  Sounds easy.    The con artists have a front business and  send you what appear to be legitimate checks  from supposed customers  that you deposit for them into your banking account.   The victim is supposed to keep ten percent of the check and then remit a check to the company for the balance.

Sounds easy enough.  Here is the catch.   You send them the money while waiting for their check to clear.   Later your find out their check didn’t clear, so you are out the money you sent to them.  Give the example in the Times article you receive a check supposedly from one of their customers for $1,500.  You keep $150.00 and send the scammers the balance of $1,350.00.  You then discover that the check they sent you bounces for insufficient funds.   You are out the $1,350.00.

Clearly, Career Builder or any reputable company would never represent or contribute to anything like this.   To use Career Builder’s name in the solicitation letter is fraudulent.   But people are desperate.   Some workers have gone a long time between paychecks.  The economic downturn has caused people to take action that otherwise they would never think as logical or prudent.  They want to believe there is some relief.

Rather than be taken off for thousands of dollars, it is better to spend a few bucks up front and run the necessary background checks in the company or its supposed principles.   If in running the kind of background checks that check corporate records, civil and criminal litigation and other background searches that should prove revealing, you find suspicious information, then don’t move forward.   Don’t be tempted.   There really are no get rich quick schemes out there.  Especially in a bad economy.

Just recently a client has been promised the world by a group who for a mere mid-six figure investment would return a large percentage on their money every month.   In a bad economy and when you business is doing bad, it may appear to be a good idea.   It is grasping at straws.   Doing due diligence and business research will often yield information that shows the group spurious at best, and often non-existent.  That is it is all a front, false names,a fly by night company, and bank accounts that dissolve without notice.

Don’t be taken.  Times are tough, granted.  Money is hard to come by.   But don’t lose what you have on some sleazy operation.

Check them out before you do business.

Kansas to Raise MVR Background Checks

Once again we would like to give you notice that another state has raised the price for its MVRs or Motor Vehicle Driving Records.   The Kansas DMV or Department of Motor Vehicles it announced that it would be raising its price for the MVR abstracts a whopping dime.  Ten cents.

As of February 2nd, 2010, the price for MVR driving abstracts will increase from $6.50 per background search to $6.60.  This is certainly good news for trucking and transportation companies who need to pull MVRs on their drivers to meet Department of Transportation or DOT compliance standards.    It is also good for the employers us pull motor vehicle records searches as another background check to supplement their overall preemployment screening program.   The MVR not only helps review drivers for insurance considerations but can reveal behavior patterns, including behavior patterns as evidenced by DUIs.

The MVR  background check is essential for some employers and prudent for others.   While the states suffer budgetary constraints from the economic downturn, we can expect the cost of MVRs to increase.   Some states have raised prices more than others.   I have noted the price changes in previous articles, including  A Reminder About State MVRPrice Increases.

Nevertheless, considering the potential consequences,  this background check still remains a bargain.

Obama’s Speech and Background Checks for Infrastructure Workers

President Obama announced at the State of the Union speech that America would be moving forward in advancing alternate energy, upgrading the railroads to high speed lines and renewing our exports so that we would double exports in the next five years.     He spoke about jobs and putting American workers back to work.   Whether you like our President or not, this at least is all good stuff.

We need to upgrade the infrastructure and innovate with regard to technology and alternate fuel sources. We need to seriously upgrade public eduction and make our students competitive for the world in the mid to late 21st Century.   We need to rival other countries with our education, technology, and our economic adventures.

If all goes well, we will be hiring workers.  Some of these worker will be hired through the private sector and some through government programs.    We want to employ the best and the most capable.  In this tough economy it will take intelligence and innovation to reverse the deleterious economic  effects of the last number of years.   To  hire workers, we need to verify that they are qualified. We need to make sure they do not have serious criminal records history, that their really did complete their education and were employed where they said.    This means conducting background checks.   We need to run criminal records searches, education verification, employment verification.   We need to be sure we are not taking what appears a good idea and populating it with the wrong types of workers.

Given the embarrassments and mishaps realized by various states and public service agencies in teh past years,  background checking has to be innovative and responsive.   We need accurate background checking programs that will verify that we are in fact hiring the more talented, those in possession of the necessary job skill sets, who haven’t lied about their education or past employment.  With respect to background checks and preemployment screening, it is incumbent upon us not to take the lead from the state governments and various municipal agencies who have allowed known felons and sexual offenders, employees with fictitious degrees and past employment histories to find employment.    There is absolutely no excuse for delays in turnaround times.

Reports must be returned in a timely manner.  and they must be thoroughly reviewed before we have more employees on the government payrolls with serious criminal records and other discrepancies.   If this is to be a bold new era, then we have to be sure we protect ourselves and optimize our opportunities.

Check them out before you hire.

Background Checks for Utah Schools

Utah is joining the growing list of state run agencies and school boards mandating background checks for its teachers and volunteers.   According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the State House passed the bill unanimously.  The bill will now go to the State Senate.

It is good to see another school board giving careful consideration to the changing times.   There was once a time when local board of education workers and volunteers were local people.    They were seldom secrets and if they had committed any criminal acts or were listed as sexual offenders, people knew about it.   But those times have changed.  People move around, seeking job opportunities in a slower economy.   With respect to convicted criminals and sexual offenders they will often move around to avoid detection or to try to make a fresh start.

Too often convicted criminals and sex offenders slip through the cracks.   Even when background checks are conducted, sometimes they return so slowly that the hiring bodies forget to review them or give them only a cursory glance.  This is especially dangerous, and more so where children our concerned.  Sadly, the sex offender or criminal isn’t discovered until he commits some misdeed and a more focused investigation turns up prior criminal records.

Last year the Utah Board of Education discovered some of their hires had criminal backgrounds.  Mandating background checks should go a long way in preventing any further embarrassing situations.   We are glad to see they are rectifying the problem and creating new protocol by mandating these background checks.