Unemployment is up and Americans everywhere are seeking job opportunities to prevent bankruptcy, foreclosure and the loss of of their possessions and integrity. In a desperate time, the jobless are seeking anything that shows promise of financial stability. Online job offers and work-at-home jobs have become more prevalent during hard economic times; however, these hopeful jobs are not all that they seem.
Just last month, the FTC sent 75,000 people refund checks because of a recent scandal with Abili-Staff, a small company that offered people an online list of work-at-home jobs for a pricey fee. After paying for the list, job-seekers were denied access to the list and never reimbursed for their money.
In court, Abili-Staff faced a judgement of 3.6 million dollars, but could not afford it, leaving the innocent and jobless with a mere $9.70 in refunds. The Washington Post explains the difficulties in recovering damages in situations like Abili-Staff.
"When it comes to recouping losses in alleged scams like this, there’s often little money for the victims. As the unemployment rate has spiked in recent years, the FTC has ramped up efforts to shut down operations that prey on the financially distressed, including the unemployed. But in many cases, the ill-gotten gains have been spent or hidden by the time the government uncovers the fraud and the case winds its way through the courts."
The FTC has allegedly brought down 20 different cases involving fraudulent companies claiming they have job opportunities. They have also been more strict in dealing with first offenders, since the organization sees great value in shutting down companies that involve themselves in these practices.
It's sad to hear that when so many people are down, that greedy companies find it prime time to prey on how desperately seeking some people are.
Do you know someone who was affected by a fraud case like this?