The Hamburg Township Police Department is warning residents of a circulating scam involving a job search website.

According to a recent Facebook post, the department has received three reports of a scam being perpetrated on the job search website “Indeed.com”. The suspect posts a job ad on the website which appears to be from a local company. The company names are legitimate businesses, one involving a Brighton business and two involving Dexter businesses.

When the Indeed.com user sends their resume, they receive a response indicating that the original job has been filled but the business happens to have another similar job as a personal assistant. The scammer then indicates that the person who needs an assistant is hosting a seminar and needs supplies so they will be sending a check to the applicant to purchase the supplies. A check, which appears to be from the legitimate company, arrives and the suspect instructs the “new employee” to deposit it immediately using an electronic banking app.

The applicant is then told to provide proof to the company that the check was deposited by texting them a screenshot of the deposit transaction record. The suspect uses the checking account information as well as the information contained in the applicant’s resume/job application to access their checking account and remove all of the money. The suspect uses legitimate companies to help authenticate their story but Hamburg Police remind residents that companies will rarely send money to someone who hasn’t even worked for them yet.

If in doubt about the legitimacy of a job ad, residents are encouraged to either attempt to contact the business allegedly placing the ad using an independent source for the business contact information, or contact local police.