“They called me back again for like a third interview, he’s like we loved your answers, we really want to have you on the team,” Tiana Arriaga tells Inside Edition.
In the midst of graduation season, job seekers have come forward on social media to share they have been recruited for jobs by scammers.
Lilly Cotto tells Inside Edition she was excited when she received an email from a recruiter looking for a personal assistant.
“There really was no interview process. It was just telling him about myself,” Cotto says. “I would constantly have to deposit checks, and it just wasn’t making sense.”
Tiana Arriaga, 24, deliberately sabotaged her job interview because she sensed it was a scam, but the phony recruiter would not give up.
“They called me back again for like a third interview, he’s like, 'We loved your answers, that was amazing, we really want to have you on the team,'” Arriaga tells Inside Edition.
Claire Rosenzweig of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York says the rise in these types of scams is staggering.
“There’s been a 54.2% increase from 2022 to 2023, and it’s hitting the 18 to 24 year olds,” Rosenzweig says.
Career experts say there are several ways job seekers can protect themselves.
Experts recommend checking the recruiter’s references, being cautious of emails sent from personal accounts, and to never give out financial information.
“People like to believe what they want to believe. If you’re looking for a job and someone sounds interested in you, they know that. Scammers work on emotion,” Rosenzweig says.
