Job-seekers targeted in upfront fee scam

As a rule of thumb, if any recruitment website wants an upfront fee, run a mile.

Take EasyRecruit.online, which contacted one sixth form student from Surrey after she applied for part-time fruit picking work through the Indeed job-search site.

EasyRecruit emailed to say she had been accepted for “farm operative” work and asked for £58 to pay for an enhanced DBS check.

These Disclosure and Barring Service checks are used in some job sectors, such as security roles or working with children.

A standard check, let alone an enhanced one, is not needed for working on a farm.

Lots more about this didn’t ring true.

EasyRecruit does not give any company details on its website and wanted payment by PayPal rather than credit card, which doesn't sound very professional.

When the student asked it to specify the farm where she would be working, it replied vaguely: “Elstree/Richmond/Bromley area.”

A document marked "job specs" was no more helpful, mentioning a wage of £12.50 an hour for picking fruit and vegetables and a six month contract, but no details of who the employer might be.

Among testimonials on EasyRecruit, there’s one from a supposed employer named only as Henry Davis that begins: “I’ve been using Easy Recruit for 5 years now.” Its homepage claims: "We hire for some of the world's most recognised and best companies."

Which is some achievement considering that EasyRecruit.online was only registered last month.

It did not respond to my questions.

A spokesperson for Indeed said: “At Indeed, our goal is to help people get jobs, while ensuring the safety and privacy of jobseekers. This requires that every job meet standards of accessibility, transparency and honesty.

“Our 24/7 Search Quality team has developed a clear set of signals to automatically identify and remove poor quality sites or posts.

"The vast majority of companies whose jobs appear on Indeed provide quality job content for fair and verifiable opportunities.

“It shouldn’t cost you money to apply for a job, and background checks are most often paid for by the employer.

“We encourage jobseekers to report these types of advertisements to us and we will continue to strive to prevent illegally discriminatory job solicitations from appearing on our site.”

The group SAFERjobs is a collaboration between police, government departments and the recruitment industry aimed at fighting job scams. It advises: “Most organisations will want you to start the role so will not ask for any payment upfront. If in any doubt, do not part with any money.”