New schemes for ripping off Russians when hiring have been revealed: “Pay your personal income tax, and we’ll give it back to you”

There are many ways of committing fraud, and they are so different. There is no sphere of life left where criminals of this kind do not operate in the most vile way. Recently, for example, the labor market has begun to resemble a "minefield": criminals posing as recruiters lure people with attractive vacancies, and then extract money from those who take the bait for various "work processes" or to help new "managers". We found out from experts how to protect yourself from scams in the labor market.

A new threat to gullible citizens looking for work is spreading in the information space: according to a report from a large financial and credit corporation, fraudsters are extracting money from Russians using job offers as a tool. Fraudsters post lucrative vacancies on the Internet, promptly “approve” the candidate and even sign a (fake) employment contract with the person. After this, for several days they pretend to be working, giving the “new employee” various simple tasks. “A few days later, the “manager” urgently asks for help - to transfer money to the specified details to buy medicine for parents or pay for them via a link, promising a refund when he returns from a business trip,” the press service of one of the banks described the fraudulent scheme.

What follows is a traditional picture for any scam for the deceived party: after the transfer, the scammers either demand more money or simply disappear and block all contacts. Experts unanimously warn that requests to transfer money or pay for any “services” before hiring are a clear sign of fraud.

Honored lawyer of the Russian Federation, retired police colonel Ivan Solovyov, in a conversation with a correspondent of MK, told about another scam in the sphere of employment. A person receives a very advantageous offer, as a rule, with the execution of a civil law contract, or with temporary employment. A good contract, excellent money, his profile, a very friendly employee of the "company". They discuss everything, everything suits the candidate, they send him this contract for approval, but as a "final touch" they say: "Everything is fine, but you must advance us your personal income tax (PIT), that is, we will need to transfer this amount under the contract. Of course, we will return it to you later when we pay the remuneration! But now we have such a condition of the contract."

— Since the amount of remuneration (income) specified in the contract is not small, the amount of personal income tax is also considerable, — Ivan Solovyov continues to explain, — and some people are so trusting and ignorant that they transfer this amount of personal income tax to scammers. And they take several tens of thousands of rubles from such people, and sometimes even up to 100,000 rubles. It is necessary to warn all citizens that tax legislation does not provide for advance payments of personal income tax at all, so this is pure deception and abuse of people's trust.

Regarding scams in the labor market in general, the expert added that this sphere is one of the "tasty morsels" for scammers, both Russian and those operating from the territory of other countries.

— It's all part of a hybrid war, so you need to double-check everything yourself, as far as employment is concerned, — warns the Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation. — Don't rush anywhere, read reviews, communicate only in person and not online, don't send your personal data to anyone. In my opinion, everyone should already know that you don't need to pay money to post a resume. And, of course, the company needs to be thoroughly checked for a license, reviews, that their official website is not operating in a backup, fake mode, but that it is really a website with history, that it has a lot of reviews, and so on.

If you are offered to undergo some kind of testing "necessary" for employment, but at the same time asked to pay for it, this may also be a sign of fraud. To summarize, as soon as the recruiting agency or the company where you are applying for a job asks you for some money for any purpose, you should stop communicating with them.

What other signs can help you understand that you are dealing with a fake and rather dangerous employer, rather than a real one?

— To protect yourself from fraudulent actions when searching for a job, you should pay special attention to the email address from which the letters were sent: it should match the official website of the employer company, — the press service of hh told MK. — Always keep your personal data confidential and do not distribute it unnecessarily. A critical assessment of employers' offers, the use of verified services with vacancies, and checking employers for registration in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) also contribute to a safe search. In addition, you can study the rating of employers in Russia from hh.ru — only reliable companies are included in it.

— Where do such scammers most often “live”?

— There are currently many fraud schemes on recruiting platforms. For example, Telegram bots, where attackers can contact potential victims as representatives of job search sites: during communication, they refer to the fact that the vacancy chosen by the applicant was posted by fraudulent employers, and then offer new options that are illegal or fake. The scheme also includes filling out a questionnaire through third-party bots, which leads to the loss of confidential data.

There are other options. The first is sending a selection of vacancies to the email address on behalf of a job search website. The vacancies are usually highly paid and have simple functionality, and the scammers ask for a commission or card details to transfer the salary. The second: the attackers ask to log in through their account to download the applications that will be needed for the job. The third is a letter warning about the need to change the password on the recruiting website.