The advent of online career listing sites such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com over the past 10 years has made it possible to apply for jobs with a few clicks of a mouse. But it has also led to a recent increase in online job scams -- something college-aged job seekers might fall victim to, officials warned.

"College students may be more susceptible to these fake job postings since it is the first time they are accessing these types of sites," Warren King, president of the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania, said. He added that since college students are a high-spending group, companies might try to take advantage of this.

King said while he has dealt with different types of job scams for the past 20 years, he has noticed a growing number of Internet-related schemes in the past four years.

"There seems to be a higher amount of these types of fake postings for federal jobs and agencies," he said. "Most of these con artists portray themselves as legitimate businesses in order to steal a person's money or identity."

Robin Stevens, director of corporate relations for the Smeal College of Business, said to use common judgment.

"If [a job] looks too good to be true, it probably is," she said.

King said because no profession is immune from these types of scams, students should look for postings
that have a fairly extensive and accurate description of the job. Brief, vague listings are often red flags.

"Most of the scams we see are for companies that will hire people as independent consultants," he said. "This means that you are not working directly for the company and have to pay for your own travel and equipment expenses."

King said résumé centers "aren't diligent enough and people can't rely on them to weed out the false jobs."

Since 2003, Monster.com, one of the world's largest online job search board, has been posting messages on

its site to warn users of fake job postings because of the growing number of complaints.

"People cannot hold these Web sites accountable if they come across a fake company," King said. "Students have to take precautions to protect themselves."

Stevens said there are companies who use the Internet to take advantage of students.

"One summer we had a student that accepted an internship and was expected to be making $15,000 and in the first week, he made less than $5," she said.

Stevens said if a company offers a large salary and training sessions in exotic locations, this is a sign that it may be fake.

"You should be skeptical if a company asks to sign a contract or to pay money up front," she said. "You have to read all of the small print."

More students have been calling or e-mailing career services with concerns about companies they found online, said Cathy Dufour, associate director of Recruiting and Employer Relations for Penn State Career Services.

"That didn't happen a few years ago -- it is a pretty recent trend," she said.

Dufour said when students are job searching, they should look at evidence that a company actually exists, such as an address or phone number. She also said it is suspicious if an employer uses a Gmail or yahoo e-mail address and not a company address.

"If you go to a site that looks a little suspicious, you can right click on the hyperlink and select properties, which will show you the destination of the link," she said, adding that students should look to see if the address and the link add up.

Dufour also suggests typing in a company's address instead of clicking on a link to get to its site.

"If there are pieces of information missing about a company, you should probably not apply," she said.

Stevens said the College of Business and other Penn State colleges have knowledge about companies in certain fields and can give students insight and advice as they search for jobs.

Dufour said Career Services has its own database for students.

"We try to be as thorough as we can when we screen companies and often make follow-up calls to look into these jobs," she said.

Stevens said Smeal has information about several companies as well.

"In Smeal, we have a list of companies that we recommend and some that we know students should avoid," she said. "We encourage students to look at companies we have had success with in the past as well as those represented at career fairs."

King said the Better Business Bureau Web site, www.bbb.org, lists more than 2.5 million company reports on a national basis.

"There are online resources available to students to see if a company is legitimate," he said. "We provide the first line of defense."

King said the Better Business Bureau is not a regulatory agency, but that it works closely with the FBI, CIA, Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Office of the Attorney General.

When a person encounters a fake employment scheme, King said the first thing to do is file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

"We will first try to contact the company and approach them about the situation," he said. "If this does not work, the agencies that regulate the industry, such as the FBI, can get involved."

King said the Better Business Bureau cannot issues fines or jail sentences, but it can put victims of fraud in contact with agencies that can. He added that victims can visit www.ic3.gov, part of the FBI division that investigates Internet crimes.

"We don't see many complaints from students, but we probably should," King said. "College students may fall prey to scams and get ripped off but write the situation off as a lesson learned and not file a complaint."

King said it is important for students who lose money to a fake company to file a complaint "so that it doesn't happen to other students."

Stevens said the Better Business Bureau is helpful but that companies can get around the system by changing names or posing as a well-known company.

"Doing some homework on a company up front can usually save students from getting into trouble," Stevens said.

Dufour said Career Services has not done outreach or set up programs to discuss the risks of searching for jobs online.

"I think [Career Services] may want to think about helping students avoid these fake jobs in the future," she said.