A recent Georgia State University graduate thought she was getting a dream job offer. Instead, she was robbed by someone targeting online job applications.
Jennifer Chernenko, who graduated with a degree in Business Administration in May, shared her experience in a TikTok video that went viral.
“Please be careful,” she says in the video. “Take this as my warning.”
“It wasn’t like someone randomly had contacted me,” she told Atlanta News First. “It was through an application process, and it started out with ‘Hey, we received your application. We want to move forward with you.'” Chernenko explained. She then went through the application process — over the phone.
Chernenko was told the phone interview was all part of the “new normal” after COVID.
“I was just curious why we weren’t meeting face-to-face, and they said, ‘Well, we’re an international company, and during COVID,’ they specifically said during COVID, ‘we thought it would be easier to do interviews through an app.'”
Days later, she received what she thought was a job offer letter – complete with benefits and PTO, ANF explained.
The letter asked Chernenko for her bank information to set up direct deposit for her paychecks. She gave her banking information.
But when she checked her bank account later, she found it was emptied.
“It hit me. Like, no way I was scammed,” she said. “I just told all my friends l got my big break. I was planning a dinner to say, ‘Dad, mom, you came to America. I got my first big-girl job. Let me treat you for once.'”
“I never want anyone to feel how I felt in this moment, especially college grads,” she told Atlanta News First.
The company she applied to, Bold Business, was real. However, the person she was talking to had no affiliation with the company.
“Jobs scams are becoming very popular, unfortunately,” said Simone Williams with the Better Business Bureau in Atlanta.
She said always go directly to the company website to make sure it’s real. Don’t click any links in a letter. Search online for the company directly.
“You want to make sure the email they are sending from is affiliated with the company,” she says.
Williams also said leave your number off the application because scammers are smooth talkers.
“Email is fine. If you get on the phone, they are able to talk with you, and they talk very good game.”
As for Chernenko, her bank is investigating the fraud.
“Triple-check everything,” she advises in her video. “And follow your gut.”
Watch the video below.
