While politicians and economists debate whether or not the recession is truly over in the United States, many average Americans are still struggling with making ends meet. Rounds of layoffs and an increasingly competitive job market create challenges for job seekers. For some, months may pass without any leads. I think most people would become discouraged in such a situation. I also think most people would jump at a seemingly legitimate job offer in a heartbeat.

That’s a big problem. There are many scam artists who target job seekers. For one thing, people looking for a job are vulnerable — they are looking for a way to improve their lives. For another, it’s natural for humans to feel excited and happy when an opportunity arises. It’s not necessarily natural for us to step back and examine the opportunity critically. But that’s exactly what we need to do before responding to a job opportunity.

Last night, I received a tweet about a supposed work-from-home program headed by Google. I was immediately skeptical — I follow Google pretty closely as part of my job and I hadn’t heard of any plans to create such a program. What’s more, the tweet claimed that the program had been covered in major news outlets. Again, that seemed odd to me; surely I would have heard about such a thing! I decided to investigate.