Eric the Red

A number of my friends have been applying for jobs they find on Craigslist. After they email their resume, they get an email asking for a credit report and get a link to a site that sells one for some kind of small fee.

Potential employers can and will run your credit at their expense if they have a legitimate reason for it.

This could either be an ID theft scam OR a scam to sell credit reports.

You can avoid falling victim to such a scam with a few simple things. First, try running a google search for the company. Also look through the phone book for the company. Finally, look up your states department of assessments and taxation online. This will likely have some “business entity information” search function where you can enter the business name, and the state will show you some public information – such as name, address, property and owners. You can use this to look up potential businesses and avoid getting scammed.