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A woman north of Toronto says she was intrigued by the attractive advertisement on the job search site Indeed.
The job posting was for an executive assistant and it said the pay would be up to $32 an hour.
As someone who hadn’t held a regular job for a few years, the woman, who we’ll call “Nancy” as she didn’t want to identified, applied to the posting.
She said the money offered was good. But Nancy said she found it odd that the man hiring, who claimed he was in Vancouver, showed no interest in a telephone or face-to-face interview. Several emails went back and forth.
She said the man behind the job asked her if she wanted to receive payment by cheque or direct deposit. Nancy said she got suspicious. One day in mid-June, a cheque arrived by courier for almost $3,000. Nancy said she’s not sure if it’s bona fide. She said part of the arrangement involved buying office equipment for the work-related purposes.
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Nancy said she called the man who was apparently doing the hiring, a Vancouver photographer named James Friesen. She said when she reached Friesen, he told her he had not posted an ad.
Friesen told Global News a dozen or so other applicants have been calling him. He said others who found ads on Indeed with his name on the posting.
Global News contacted Indeed for comment on this story but our call was not returned.
WATCH: What are some warnings a job offer may be a scam? Tony Tighe reports. (May 11)
Job search applicants are advised that they shouldn’t assume they’re hired without a conventional interview: over the phone, via video link, or by telephone.
Other employment scams involve job seekers being sent money and then being told to send money to other recipients. When the victims are advised by banks that their cheques have bounced, they realize they’ve been scammed.
As for Friesen, he said the scam has been an annoyance.
“It’s definitely wasted a lot of my time explaining I’m not hiring,” he said.
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