How To Spot An Employment Scam

At Faithfi, our vision is to redeem God's design for money so that people would come to see God as their ultimate treasure. When you prioritize God above all else, your financial decisions reflect your identity in Christ. We're here to provide biblical wisdom and practical tools to help you on this journey. By becoming a monthly Faithfi partner, you're supporting us and actively participating in our vision to help people integrate their faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. You can make a difference right now at faithfi.com slash give. That's faithfi.com slash give.

Now let's dive into the podcast. Employment scams skyrocketed last year, increasing by nearly 120 percent. Would you be able to spot one? Hi, I'm Rob West. The FTC routinely handles thousands of employment scam complaints each year, but that number is rising dramatically as technology makes conning job seekers easier for online thieves. Well, look at ways you can spot these scams today and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. You know, the Bible warns us about living in a hostile world. Jesus says in Matthew 10 16. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

So we should do no harm, but also practice discernment and wisdom to prevent ourselves from being harmed as well. There's a wise saying, especially when money is involved. If something looks too good to be true, it usually is. You can avoid a lot of employment scams by just keeping that in mind. But one thing making these scams a bit more difficult to spot is AI. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, AI advancements allow scammers to generate job listings and recruitment messages that look more legitimate.

AI tools help improve the pitch to make it seem more persuasive and compensate for cultural and grammatical differences in language. Sadly, the typical victim loses nearly $2,000. So let's take a look at some common employment scams. Probably the most common are work-from-home scams. Since many workers would prefer to work from home at least part of the time, there's demand for those opportunities.

Con artists will always prey on that desire. Other fake job offers include repackaging, reselling and reshipping merchandise, again from home. These are just phony ways to get you to send them money. Virtual personal assistant scams, mystery shopper scams, job placement scams, and even government and postal job scams. Thieves generally pose as recruiters and post fake job listings to entice applicants, then steal valuable information during the quote interview process.

They often post these phony listings on reputable websites like LinkedIn, Indeed and other job search platforms, making distinguishing between real job listings and scams really challenging. It's also important to note that the rise of remote work since the pandemic has made workers and job seekers more comfortable with digital-only transactions. Recent college grads, immigrants, and even elderly people re-entering the workforce may think digital-only hiring is the new normal, especially for fully remote jobs. But hiring generally doesn't work this way.

Here's what you should know and how you can better protect yourself according to the FTC. Don't have a false sense of security on well-known job search platforms. Independently verify the company exists and is hiring. Don't accept a job offer until you've done your own research. Be wary if you didn't initiate contact with a prospective employer or recruiter. Instead, reach out to the company directly using legitimate contact information. Only limited personal information is generally required during the application process. Name, phone number, job and education history, and perhaps email and home address. Digital-only interactions are a red flag.

However, phone calls are also not a guarantee of security. Honest employers won't send you a check to buy supplies or anything else and then ask you to return the leftover money. This is a fake check scam. Please be careful about something that sounds too good to be true. Scams often offer high pay for little work or require you to provide personal or financial information too quickly.

Now, if you see any of those red flags, you should probably just walk away. More often than not, it's a scam. But you can check out a company by doing an online search. Put in the name of the company and the person trying to hire you. Add a word like scam, review or complaint. If you don't find that anyone else has had a problem, it still doesn't mean the company is legitimate, but if it's a scam, odds are you'll see plenty of complaints already. If you suspect that someone is offering you an employment scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, at reportfraud.ftc.gov or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3.

If you found the job listing on a reputable platform like Indeed or LinkedIn, report the suspicious posting to the site. By taking these precautions, you can protect yourself from falling victim to employment scams. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

We'll be right back. Nearly 60,000 people receive our free weekly wisdom email, and you can too. Create your free Faith Buy account by going to faithbuy.com and click Sign Up to begin receiving weekly wisdom in your inbox.

Have you ever wondered where your money goes when you deposit it in a bank? Christian Community Credit Union believes in helping advance God's kingdom through everyday financial transactions. For over 67 years, they have provided values-aligned banking solutions to thousands of Christians and ministries. Consider Christian Community Credit Union as your banking institution by visiting joinchristiancommunity.com. Membership eligibility required. Each account is insured up to $250,000.

This institution is not federally insured. I'm so thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. In fact, we just opened the phone lines now. 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you today as you think about what it looks like to be a faithful steward in your financial life. I'm sure you have questions around how you manage your spending plan in light of high inflation. What does it look like to save diligently for the short term and the long term? Maximizing these high interest rates but also navigating the volatility that can come in the markets. What about paying down debt? What's the best way to do that? Or giving wisely?

Perhaps you need a plan for your giving so you can maximize your giving over time. Well, we'd love to talk about any of that. The number to call again is 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's go ahead and dive into those questions.

We're going to begin today in Chicago and we'll go to Lee. Go right ahead, sir. Hi, Rob. Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate your ministry and the wisdom given. In 2022, I built a house down in the Nashville area. I live up here in the Chicago area.

I'm a high school teacher. But I built the house so that my firefighter son would have a place to live down there. He was listed as a co-borrower on the loan.

Now, this is exactly and I'm sorry to say how much thought went into that. The lender said, hey, why don't we list your son as a co-borrower? That way it's a primary residence and you get a better rate.

And that was the end of that conversation. I plan on paying that house off. I pay for the mortgage. I pay the taxes and everything. I plan on paying it off in the next two years because I don't want to have any debt. Can I, when I pay it off, do a quitclaim deed and remove my son from the deed and only have myself on it? Because I have five kids and my intention is if I get hit by a bus that the house goes to all five of my kids, not just one of them. Yeah. No, that makes sense, Lee.

Let me ask a question, though. You mentioned the mortgage, that he was a co-borrower, and then you talked about the deed. So those are two separate things. So I understand you're both co-borrowers on the mortgage, but are you co-owners on the deed as well? Well, that's a good question because there is no deed because, I mean, there's a loan at the bank as far as I know. Well, there's a deed recorded in the county that the property is located.

So you need to go to the county records office and find out who's on the deed. If, in fact, it's just that you're co-borrowers but you own the property, it's deeded to you only, then this is a non-issue because all that did by adding him to the loan was it gave the lender recourse against both of you. So if you didn't pay, they could go after you and they could go after him and vice versa because they don't know where the mortgage payment's coming from.

So they'd rather have two borrowers to go after if the loan isn't satisfied versus one. But you're covering that note every month. You're taking that responsibility, and it's going to be paid off. And as soon as it is paid off, there's going to be a release of lien to both of you as co-borrowers.

So that's going to eventually become a non-issue. The question is, is he also on the deed of the property? If he's not, you're good because this is an asset that you own solely, and therefore it would fold into your estate plan, whether that's a basic will or you form a trust and put this home in the name of the trust.

In either case, it would pass according to your estate plan, your will or trust, and that can be split, of course, among the five siblings or the five children of yours. If not, if you co-own that on the deed, in addition to being co-borrowers, then you wouldn't quitclaim anything. He would quitclaim his portion to you. The IRS would see that as a gift. That portion, let's say he owns 50%. Let's say it's worth $400,000.

I have no idea. He would be making a $200,000 gift to you. That's not taxable, but it would chip away at his lifetime gift exemption, but that's $13 million today over his lifetime. Now, that could change. That's what it is right now. And so that would be a gift to you.

You would have the original cost basis, and then at your death, according to your will, you could then distribute that asset as an inheritance to equally all five children if you wanted to, and then they would enjoy that stepped-up cost basis when they received it as their asset through inheritance, and their percentage would be one-fifth of the total value. Does that make sense? Yes, yes.

That's what I wanted to know. Could I do a quitclaim deed? And what you're saying to me is I wouldn't do the deed. He would do the deed.

And the house is about $400,000. Well, look at that. I mean, that was a good guess, I guess, huh? Yeah, good guess. So anyway, I was just worried about creating a taxable event after I did it.

I thought, oh, shoot, what did I do? There's nothing here that said really that it's a taxable event. Now, what I would do is check with your CPA, and I would also get with a real estate attorney to write the quitclaim deed that your son would use to gift his interest in this real property to you. And then the CPA would have to file the appropriate gift tax form with the IRS to let them know that this has been done. Again, that's not taxable. And then you'd want to make sure that this property is effectively represented in your estate plan along with your other assets in terms of your wishes on how it's distributed.

But I would check with the county records office first because what you may find is, although he's a co-borrower, he's not on the deed. And if that's the case, this is a non-issue. Hey, Lee, we appreciate your call today. Thanks for being a part of the program, sir.

Let's go to Montana. Renee, thanks for calling. Go ahead.

Yes. Thank you so much. Just the ability to speak with you now as an answer to prayer.

So thank you. My grandpa has chosen to invest his money in a commemorative coin collection that he's been growing over the years. And he's asked me and my aunt to go ahead and take the coins before he passes and find out what their value is and to sell that money for him.

And I'm just not sure where to turn for it. Yeah, I'm just wondering what your recommendations might be for where to go to ascertain the value and to get the best for his investment. Yeah, absolutely. And it will be important to find a reputable dealer, someone who's a numismatist, that's hard to say, who specializes in rare coins and understands not only the underlying value of the precious metal, but to the extent these are rare coins and have value beyond just the metal, somebody who can give you a true appraisal on that. You know, generally, you'd start with a local coin dealer, if you can find one, you can look at online ratings, whether that's Yelp or any number of services that might rate them online, you know, that would at least be a starting point. And, you know, many online coin dealers have a feature that allows you to appraise your collection.

And there's even several apps that allow you to do that with a smartphone, you can even just search in your app store for coin appraisal, and you snap a picture and it at least could give you a ballpark. But obviously, if you're looking to actually liquidate these, you're going to want to do your due diligence. I'd be happy to have our team give you, you know, perhaps at least get you connected to somebody who could point you in the right direction. If you want to hold the line, Renee, is he looking to get rid of these here pretty quick? Yeah, he'd like to do that. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, very good. So let's do this. You stay on the line, our team will give you at least one source that you can start with. And then I think, you know, doing a little bit of research in your own area, starting with local reviews, perhaps even, you know, checking on some of these apps or online coin dealers could be an idea that, you know, would get you pointed in the right direction as you begin to compare all of these side by side, I think it will merge, you know, what you truly have in terms of its value.

And then it's a matter of just finding that reputable dealer who'd be willing to make that purchase from you or facilitate that sale. But we appreciate your call. And if you stay on the line, we will get your information, get more information to you. Thanks for calling.

All right, one more break and then back with our final segment call right now 800-525-7000. Have you downloaded the faith by app yet? You need to do that today because this is going to make your life easier. Yes, you can manage your money through the in app envelope feature, but also plan out future goals.

I want to buy a house in five years and I'm on track to do that. Here's also what I like, you can connect with people around the country. It's like social media, but better. Ask a question, get an answer and share what you're learning about money and investing. So why don't you grab your phone right now and download the faith by app? Every day we hear life changing stories from listeners just like you who see money and possessions as tools to invite more people into God's kingdom. Instead of chasing wealth, you've chosen to embrace God as your source of love and provision at faith by we're passionate about meeting people where they live and work through our national radio program app resources and website to influence widespread positive change in our culture. Please consider becoming a monthly partner at faith by.com slash give. Well, are you overwhelmed by financial fear and anxiety? If so, you're not alone here at faith by we hear it every day.

People weighed down by worries related to wealth and money, but financial anxiety isn't about the size of your bank account. It's really about at its core the condition of your heart, and that's why we created the look at the sparrows 21 day devotional that will help you find peace through Jesus teaching and remind you to trust in God's provision. If you'd like to replace your financial anxiety with peace today, you can visit us at faith by.com slash sparrows and start your journey. Again, our brand new 21 day devotion is out as of last week. We've had so many already order it. They're excited to get their hands on it. We'd love to put it in your hands as well. Again, faith fi that's faith fi.com slash sparrows and you can learn more today. All right, let's head back to the phones. We're going to head to Georgia and welcome Kirk.

Go ahead, sir. Thank you. Um, I have a friend who's on disability and received subsidized rent and is also on Medicare Medicaid, but he also has a car and other side kind of expenses and he tends to basically run out of money most months, especially if there's car trouble or something. And so I suggested a part time job of 20 hours a week, maybe getting 10 to $12 an hour. His chief concern is that making that additional money that little bit, which I think would provide a cushion for him, would somehow jeopardize his disability and the other things that he receives to support him. He is capable of doing some work. He just can't work full time.

Yeah, yeah, very good. Well, the good news is your friend can earn up to $1,680 a month on an ongoing basis before his work would be declared, what's called substantial gainful activity, which would then put his disability benefits in jeopardy. He can also earn any amount for nine consecutive months without impacting his benefits under what's called a trial work period.

But again, if you want something that's more sustainable, you'd have to keep that in mind. If it's sustainable, you'd have to key in on that $1,680 a month. He should declare to the Social Security Administration that he would like to enter a trial work period. It gets a little confusing because the trial work period uses a different earnings amount. But again, he can still earn up to that $1,680 without jeopardizing those benefits. But any month with the earnings above, I think it's $1,050 will count as one of his nine trial work periods. And if he doesn't report the trial work period, it can result in an overpayment of benefits, which would have to be repaid. So, you know, I would contact SSA just to talk through it with them. But the bottom line is, depending on how much he's looking to earn, you know, there are options here. Oh, that's great information.

So $1,680 is the maximum and then we should get in touch with the Social Security Administration. You're exactly right. Thank you very much.

That's very helpful. Thanks, Kirk. We appreciate your call today, sir. God bless you. Let's round out the broadcast today heading out to California.

Hi, Sam, go ahead. My wife and I want to try to retire this next year. We're both 61.

She doesn't have she won't be able to get Social Security. And we're just trying to decide to figure out what's the first steps we need to take. So we can move forward with that.

Yeah. Well, I think the first step is to determine what are you retiring to, not what you're retiring from. And so you all having a conversation about what life looks like after you step away from your current job, realizing that our calling doesn't have an expiration. And even though it may begin to look differently in that season of life, what is it that you feel like God is calling you to both individually and together and really think through that plan. I just talked to a lot of people who kind of step into that season of life, having without having given much thought to what life is going to look like.

And they're met with unmet expectations and perhaps even different understandings of what each other is expecting in that season of life. Financially, I think the key is always just starting with that budget to say what would our retirement budget look like? You know, most people live on somewhere between 70 and 80% of their pre-retirement income because they're no longer saving for retirement. That's a big ticket item. Hopefully the house is paid off, the kids are off the payroll.

Maybe you're not eating out as much during the day because you're not out working. There's a variety of things that change, but at the end of the day, it really is up to what are you all going to live on? And so putting that budget together to say what is our need to maintain our lifestyle and then matching that up with your known income sources. So if you're only going to get one Social Security check, you've got to determine where is the rest of that income going to come from because Social Security was only intended to cover 40% of your pre-retirement income.

And that's just based on your income, not hers as well, if you've been a dual income household. So what other retirement assets would you be able to tap into, Sam? Well, I have a couple pensions and I have some money, you know, in savings, you know, from pension plans. So that'll all help. So I think a couple hundred thousand, you know, so that'll help. And then we have a house, but we still have a mortgage payment, but our mortgage payment is fairly low.

But, you know, ideally it'd be great to not have a mortgage payment. Yeah, very good. So do you know what your Social Security check is going to be? You know, I'm not really sure yet. We've been talking into that and figuring out on that.

Okay. Well, I think the key is, you know, the longer you can wait, the better. The problem is if you take it at 62, you're going to have about a 30% reduction over what you would get at full retirement age. So I think your next step, Sam, is to meet with an advisor who can help you put all these pieces together. Look at, you know, what are your pensions will generate in the terms of in the form of a monthly check, what other lump sum assets you'll have and what you could use to, you know, how you could manage those to generate income.

Look at what your Social Security will be if you take it early versus if you wait till full retirement age and just kind of put all those pieces together and help you come up with a plan that makes all the numbers work. And so I'd reach out to a certified kingdom advisor at our website, faithfi.com. Just click find a professional.

Hold the line. I want to send you a book that I think will be helpful to you as well. It's called An Uncommon Guide to Retirement, Finding God's Purpose for the Next Season of Life. And I'd love for you to read through that. I think it'll be an encouragement to you that'll deal with kind of the, you know, the plan for your life, you and your wife in retirement. But the other piece of this is that financial piece. And I think that's where an advisor who can help you do some retirement planning to ultimately decide, OK, maybe we need to wait and work longer than we expected. But, you know, all that will come clear as you begin to put all those pieces in place. So, again, if you don't have an advisor, just head to our website, faithfi.com.

Click find a professional. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us, man. We covered a lot of ground today. So appreciate you being a part of the broadcast, listening, calling, engaging with us and for your kind remarks, too. We always enjoy hearing how the program has blessed you.

In fact, if it has blessed you, let me invite you to consider becoming a FaithFi partner. These are those folks who really value the ministry here at FaithFi and are a part of the team that makes this happen. FaithFi partners give thirty five dollars a month or more to the ministry and we invite you into the family. One of the ways we do that is to make sure you get pre-release copies of all of our studies and devotions. Just go to faithfi.com slash give to learn more. Thank you to Gabby, Amy, Dan and Jim. We'll see you tomorrow. Faith and Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.