THOMASVILLE, N.C. - You could sit in a cubicle all day in dress clothes. Or on your couch, with a cup of coffee and your pajamas.
Disney is the latest big company to offer work from home jobs. Amazon and apple are both offering the same options. These jobs are legit, but a lot of work-from-home jobs you find online aren't.
2 Wants to know talked to Mark Johnson who was looking for a work at home job and found one that raised several red flags. He applied to a secret shopper position through monster.com.
He got a packet in the mail and realized, things weren’t adding up. Johnson noticed the person he was getting emails from wasn’t the person he was getting the to-do-list from.
Then, he got a check that was way more than they had discussed.
“They wanted me to keep a portion of the check, which that was another red flag,” Johnson said.
Not knowing much about cashier checks, he started doing some research online. Cashier's checks should have phone numbers and address on them.
But the check he received?
“The check that they sent me had a PO Box for the bank.”
Turns out the banks is real, but the check was not from the bank.
Texas Regional Bank sent 2 Wants to Know to the fraud alert on its website. It’s warning people that the bank’s name is being used in the secret shopper scam and if anyone receives a cashier’s check to report it to the FBI.
The worst part? Mark said this wasn't the first time this has happened to him. In the 5 months Mark has been looking for jobs this was the second scam targeting him
“It taught me to look at things more closely and not take things at face value,” he said.
Mark’s not closing the door to online jobs in the future but he said he's going to be more careful.
2 Wants to Know reached out to Monster.com who said it has a team dedicated to Fraud Prevention Analysts. They survey the network and database to detect and delete access to listings that seem fake. They also monitor phishing incidents in real time.
