Beacon Hill Warns Job Seekers of Impersonation Scam
Dear Beacon Hill Community,
We are aware that imposters have been presenting themselves to job candidates falsely as Beacon Hill representatives on certain job search websites, promising jobs they don’t have and soliciting information and money from job seekers. Unfortunately, many job seekers have been victimized by these scams.
Companies with a high business profile like ours will generate scammers who try to trade on the company's good name and reputation. Don’t fall victim to one of these scams. This webpage offers quick and clear steps on how to make sure you do not waste your time and effort, jeopardize the security of your own information or lose money or real job opportunities in the process.
Perhaps the most deceitful part of these scams is that they often misuse the websites of legitimate businesses, especially those that operate on a model that encourages independent engagement by users through their website. These businesses are being victimized as well, having their facilities used for fraudulent purposes.
One such business is known as “Upwork.” We receive numerous reports every month from job seekers that they have encountered scammers on the Upwork website who falsely claim to be from Beacon Hill. Upwork is a legitimate business that offers a useful service, and we have notified them and will work with them to remove or minimize this danger. However, because our name is being misused to harm innocent job seekers, it is also our duty to notify our own community and to offer tips to avoid being affected by this.
To begin, we would like for you to know that when contacting you, our recruiters will NEVER:
- Ask for any protected information (i.e., age, gender, etc.) or tell you theirs
- Ask for personal information over an informal or unsecured channel, such as Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp or Telegram Messenger
- Ask you to complete actions like buying a gift card, purchasing your own job equipment, sending money upfront, or other similar financial transactions
- Ask you to reach out to an email address that is not connected to our company’s domain
Our recruiters will ALWAYS:
- Contact you from an email with a legitimate Beacon Hill domain – “beaconhillstaffing.com,” “beaconhillsg.com” or "bhsg.com" (note, scammers will often use similar-looking domains to ours, so please review closely before engaging)
- Treat you with kindness in a professional manner
- Properly onboard you through secure measures
- Work with you and our client to provide you with job equipment such as a laptop, if needed
Please Note:
To continue to be transparent with our community, we want to keep you informed about some exciting changes on the horizon. We have begun a rebranding initiative aimed at refreshing our brand identity and enhancing our connection with our community. We believe this rebranding effort will help us better communicate our mission, values and offerings to you, our valued community members. Please click here to learn more about our rebranding kick off or click here to read about our recent headquarters relocation!
How to Spot a Scam Attempt:
Pressure to act quickly – While we love placing job seekers in roles as quickly as possible, recruiting takes time. A quick way to spot a scammer is when they employ aggressive tactics, insisting on immediate action and becoming increasingly rude when questioned.
Requests for money or financial information – Our recruiters will never ask for upfront payment or financial details through communication apps or text messages. Financial information will only be requested through secure Direct Deposit forms during the onboarding process. Further, we will not ask you to connect your bank account to any type of payment portal or payment app. Only employers are asked to pay through an e-pay portal; there is no cost to job seekers for working with our recruiters.
Requests for personal information – Our recruiters will never ask you for protected information, especially through insecure platforms.
Contacting you through an unaffiliated email address – When reaching out via email, our team will always contact you from an email address with the domain "beaconhillstaffing.com," "beaconhillsg.com" or "bhsg.com." Beware of scammers using similar addresses like “beaconhill.com” or completely different domains such as “[email protected]”.
Contacts you through an unsolicited text message – While our recruiters may occasionally text job seekers, this will typically only occur after an established relationship has been formed. If you receive a suspicious text message, contact your recruiter through their verified Beacon Hill email address to confirm the mobile number is theirs or email [email protected] for review before replying to the text.
It sounds too good to be true – If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is. As a habit, you should always verify information directly from the company's official website. If a situation is raising a red flag, make sure to contact the company directly using information on their legitimate website.
Examples of Recent Scam Attempts Job Seekers Have Alerted Us To:
Being contacted via Upwork –
Our recruiters do NOT use Upwork for recruiting and job posting. If you are being contacted on this platform, please do not engage. Snap a screenshot and send it to [email protected] right away.
Here are four recent scam messages from UpWork that job seekers sent us:
Being contacted via unsecured chat platforms –
Our recruiters do NOT use chat platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp or Telegram Messenger for recruiting and job postings. If you are being contacted on one of these platforms, please do not engage. Snap a screenshot, the link to the posting, as well as any other applicable links, and send it to [email protected] right away, and we will investigate.
Below is a scam example where the scammer is trying to direct the job seeker to use WhatsApp rather than a legitimate communication source.
Below is a recent scam message that a job seeker sent us. Please note the comment about the different departments using different platforms. Everyone who works for Beacon Hill will email you from a legitimate Beacon Hill domain: “beaconhillstaffing.com,” “beaconhillsg.com” or "bhsg.com." Another red flag is how this scammer talks to the job seeker. Our recruiters will never be anything less than professional, and therefore, would not ever say something like, “Are we gonna have a problem?”
Impersonating a legitimate Beacon Hill Employee to scam job seekers –
We have recently seen scammers using fake profiles pretending to be people by the names of our legitimate recruiters, sometimes going as far as sharing a fake employee badge. Even if the name you are being contacted by matches someone on the Beacon Hill website, please continue to use caution and ensure that the recruiter is reaching out using their legitimate methods of contact, not an unsecured platform.
Below are two examples of fake employee badges being used to try to trick job seekers into trusting the scammers:
A red flag for the scammer impersonating Chelsie Walsh below is the misuse of the company name, as they use the term “Beacon Hills” rather than “Beacon Hill.”
Impersonating Beacon Hill by creating fake LinkedIn accounts –
Related to the scams above, scammers may also create fake LinkedIn profiles, pretending that they work for Beacon Hill. Things to be on the lookout for to determine if a LinkedIn account is fake include no profile photo or use of a logo or stock photo, complete lack of posts or strange posting patterns, discrepancies in education or work history, a lack of or very few connections, and a strange username such as “user1234.” Click here to learn more about LinkedIn scams.
Impersonating Beacon Hill by creating fake Facebook business pages to scam job seekers –
Not only are scammers impersonating individual recruiters at Beacon Hill by creating personal pages, but they are also creating fake Facebook business pages pretending to be the company. Our main Facebook account can be accessed here or via the Facebook icon at the bottom of our website.
Please continue to use caution when seeing a business page such as the one below.
Posting fake job listings to Facebook town groups –
Please use caution when seeing a Facebook group post from someone claiming to be a Beacon Hill recruiter and asking you to DM them for more information.
A few red flags in the posts below are all the grammatical errors, and the line stating, “Note: This is not a scam or fraud alert.”
Directing you to reach out to an email address that is not associated with Beacon Hill -
This can be difficult as scammers use email addresses that look like they may be legitimate. It is important to remember that our team will only reach out using email addresses that are tied to our company domain; “beaconhillstaffing.com,” “beaconhillsg.com” or "bhsg.com." Email addresses that are not legitimate include things such as [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].
Pressuring you to only be in touch via text or another similar platform -
Scammers may pressure you to contact them via their preferred channels, many times directing you to an unsecured third-party platform. Our recruiters will always be willing to touch base via phone call.
Texting you asking for information claiming it’s the CEO of Beacon Hill –
Scammers may text you pretending to be the CEO or someone else at Beacon Hill, requesting that you provide information to receive gift cards. When this occurs, we recommend that you do not engage, block the number, and never give out any personal information to anyone claiming to be from Beacon Hill without confirming through legitimate sources.
Directing you to other websites or platforms claiming it’s Beacon Hill –
Scammers will frequently direct job seekers to websites to try to legitimize their offer. Please contact us if you are directed anywhere other than https://beaconhillstaffing.com, https://www.bhsg.com, or https://jobs.beaconhillstaffing.com.
Here is an example of a fake website page that scammers have been directing job seekers to:
Impersonating Beacon Hill by mirroring our website –
Scammers will even go as far as trying to mirror our website. That was the case with scammers using the website www.beaconhillstaffing.online. As you will see in the image below, the website looked very similar to ours.
Impersonating Beacon Hill by using a similar company name –
In many cases, we see scammers using similar names to ours. Please note that we do not reference our company by the name of "Beacon Hills," "BeaconHills Group," or "Beacon Hill Recruitment."
Below is an example of this type of scam:
Fake Check Deposit Scheme
Scammers are posing as our company, sending fake checks with our address and asking job seekers to deposit them as part of onboarding. We never issue checks or request deposits during our hiring process. If you receive a suspicious check or communication, contact us directly. Protect your information— always verify before acting.
What to Do if You Believe You Are Being Contacted by a Scammer:
If you believe you have been in contact with someone falsely representing themselves as a Beacon Hill employee, stop engaging with them immediately and contact us at [email protected].
Additionally, you can click here to check out the Federal Trade Commission website to learn more about what to do if you were scammed.
We thank you for your patience as we work with the authorities to try to prevent this from continuing to occur. With any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at [email protected].