With unemployment in South Africa on the rise, it is no surprise that Job scams have grown so popular, as scammers use different procedures to entice desperate young people victims, seeking for jobs, internships or learner-ships.

Here a few common tips to help you realise when you are being scammed by scam artist before they take your money or harm you:

NEVER PAY FOR A STUDENT JOB

If you are told that you have to pay an administration fee; or that you have to pay an assessment fee for an assessment to be conducted before you can be interviewed, know that you are being scammed.

NEVER GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS

Unless you are employed and submitting the details for payroll ON A PROPER PAYROLL FORM, avoid giving out your banking details over the phone, by email, social networks or in person to a so-called recruitment officer.

NEVER REPLY TO FREE EMAIL ACCOUNTS

Free email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and many others are often used by fraudsters to defraud unsuspecting people of their hard earned money. Any serious company should have an email address pointing at their own website. The point is, stay away from free or unknown email addresses.

AVOID SOCIAL NETWORK JOB-HUNTING

Social networks are a good place to share jobs and other opportunities, but be careful what you respond to. If your friend shares a job with you on Facebook for instance, make sure it has a link to a reputable jobs website or company website you can trust. Usually, jobs that are shared without a link to the original advert have a very high chance of being scams. And jobs that are shared with information on how to apply also have a tendency of being scams.

AVOID SMSING YOUR DETAILS TO ORDINARY NUMBERS

Serious recruiters buy SMS systems called SHORT CODES these are 5-digit numbers (for example 35666), any advert that asks you to send your details to an unverified normal 10-digit cell phone number MAY be a scam. Identify