By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
For the Los Alamos Daily Post

A good job is hard to find, so what if one falls into your lap? Be careful of any “job offers” via text message, these are scams known as smishing, phishing via text message.

What is smishing? Smishing (SMS phishing) uses deceptive text messages to trick victims into sharing personal information or clicking malicious links, while phishing uses fraudulent emails and fake websites to achieve the same things.

It’s still a phishing scam, just via text message.

In this case, I received the below text messages last week:

One claims to be a job offer from Hotwire, a well-known travel company, and the other claims to be from Target. In both cases, the texts come from random email messages from domains that don’t match the alleged companies making the job offer, the first sign that something is amiss here.

Additionally, why would a big company like this send out text messages offering a job? Super scammy.

Smishing job offer scam texts. Courtesy photo

These jobs both sound way too good to be true, with high pay and great benefits for remote work. Once again, if something seems too good to be true, that’s because it is! These, and any other texted job offers, are total scams.

How to protect yourself from job offer text scams:

• Be Wary of Unsolicited Offers: Don’t respond to unexpected texts offering jobs. Just delete them, you can block the number or email if you want, just keep in mind they can change it up and send you a similar text from a different number.
• Research the Company: If you really find yourself wondering if it’s for real (it isn’t) do some research on the company and the job opportunity to see if it seems legit. You can always contact the company via their actual website or phone number, never reply to the text or use information for the company from the text.
• Don’t Provide Personal Information: Never share sensitive information like your Social Security number, bank account details, or financial information over text in response to an unsolicited job offer text like this.
• Don’t Pay Fees: Legitimate employers will never ask you to pay a fee to secure a job offer, this is a sure sign of a scam.
• Trust Your Instincts: If something feels off or too good to be true, it is.
• Report Scams: If you encounter a job scam or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Watch out for scams like this, and don’t fall for a fake job offer!