DES MOINES, Iowa — Attorney General Brenna Bird is warning Iowans against job scams and shares how to detect the false employment offers.

Bird says a common scam involves the scammer texting or emailing to offer a job where you can work at home and earn lots of money for little effort. Scammers will often send official-looking job offers that require the recipient to hand over personal financial information. “Recruiters or interviewers” will often ask for this information before sharing details about the job, Bird says.

“If a job offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers are evil and prey on people who need a job or extra income,” said Attorney General Bird. “Be very aware, do your homework on a potential employer, and don’t give away your personal information until you have a job offer from a legitimate business.”

Bird says ways to detect a scam job offer include whether or not you applied for a job and to be wary of offers given after a simple interview process. Bird says scammers typically send these messages from a @gmail.com or @yahoo.com account instead of a corporate account. Never share information like driver’s license, Social Security number, or bank account to fill out “employment paperwork” before an interview or before discussing job duties.

Before accepting an offer Bird says recipients should search the company online and initiate a search using words like “scam” or “complaint” to see if others have experienced issues. Never pay any money to the scammers for the job and never bank on a “cleared” check, where you must send part of the money back to them, this would also be a fake check scam.

If you or someone you know is a victim of or suspicious of a scam, contact the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 1-888-777-4590 or file a complaint online on their website.