CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A grandmother in Indian Land who was searching for employment thought she got hired by one of the most well-known car owner dealerships in the area, but it was a scam instead.
Dawn Norris says she’s raising her granddaughter so she wanted a job she could do from home. She searched on ZipRecruiter and found one with Hendrick Automotive Group.
“It was going to be completely remote, work from home,” she said.
The person behind the job posting sent her an offer letter on Hendrick letterhead that had a Better Business Bureau watermark.
Norris says she signed the letter and sent it back. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a scam.
“I’m very disappointed,” she told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke.
According to Stoogenke, the scammer did their homework, too. The impostor used the name of an actual Hendrick employee who handles recruiting. Norris and Stoogenke searched the employee’s name on Google to see what came up and discovered a “fraud alert” for it on LinkedIn.
Norris says the scammer asked for her financial information aggressively and told her a confusing story about needing to buy equipment in a potential attempt to get her bank account information.
Fortunately, she did not fall for the scam, but she is upset that someone would do this.
“I’m mad, but I’m more disappointed,” she said. “But yet I’m also relieved that I found what I found before it was too late, and so it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
Stoogenke notified ZipRecruiter, which sent Channel 9 this statement:
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. ZipRecruiter closely monitors job scams. We take job seeker protection very seriously and are engaged in a continuous effort to improve job seeker safety. As a part of that effort, we use proprietary detection software to review potential posters and deny access for those who fail to pass our screens.
“Still, no system is perfect, no matter how sophisticated or well-intentioned. That is why we also take steps to educate job seekers about how to spot suspicious activity and encourage prompt reporting of all such activity to our dedicated Trust and Safety Team, which is available seven days a week to investigate and remove suspicious posts.
“Online fraud and internet scams are on the rise across the economy. But ZipRecruiter has steadily reduced the number of job seekers exposed to suspicious postings through improvements in detection and prevention.”
Hendrick Automotive Group is also aware of the impostors and was quick to help when Action 9 offered to get the word out. A representative with the company said anyone interested in applying for a job should go to HendrickCars.com and click on the “Careers” tab.
Stoogenke warns that this can happen with any company, especially large organizations that frequently have openings.
He says to be suspicious of these things when applying for a job:
- If the interviewer does not want to talk to you in person, by phone, or virtually (such as on Zoom).
- The interviewer asks for your Social Security Number, driver’s license, bank information, or other personal information early in the process.
- If any of the communications have spelling mistakes or the typing changes shape or size.
- The recruiter asks for money to buy equipment, such as a computer or software. Sometimes a scammer will say that you’ll be reimbursed for the expenses on your first paycheck, but it’s just a trick to get money.
In addition, Stoogenke says to always check to make sure the application link is from the company’s official website and that the email came from someone with the company, which you can see by hovering your mouse over the recruiter’s email address.
(WATCH: More than 25 people report recent unemployment fraud to Action 9)
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