UK webmarketers. Is this normal practice of a scam?

13 replies
Ok i was just looking from the really rubbish jobs they have on the Job center today. Anyway without putting the add or the full URL i found this advert: The job discription is "They are looking for a number of work at home people who have experience at selling online who can promote the site by online adverts, forums and any other method of promotion you can think of" and the website is morganthomasrecruitment.co.uk. Nonetheless, in desperate need of payed employment i looked over the website out of interest.

For starters the website is ranked at 1/10 in Google and in the millions with Alexa and their other website, which they call their sister site has even worse ranking. On top of all the website is basic website design, none professional for a recruitment agency and well i think designed by someone with very little knowledge of web design. Along with all this looking at the jobs that the website has on it site they are all fake. Quite logical that most would be, with the ranking the site has, however, the are laughably fake e.g £50-60,000 for doing a job that make no sense and asks for no academic qualifications. Plus i also question over whether the person has any way of paying people to do link building for them as clearly they can not pay professionals to design or write on the website. So anyway, is this a new marketing technique people are using to create fake jobs in the job center to drive traffic to their website or could this be just another very poor quality job thats normally provided by the job center. Anyway would love to hear what other people think because to me it seems like one big scam which i am suprised the job center even allowed to be published in their jobs.
#normal #practice #scam #webmarketers
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Sounds pretty dodgy to me ... lol. I don't think I'd be spending much time promoting their sites via that ad or any other ad they have.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6928774].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author shane_k
    we get alot of these here in Canada.

    it is possibly one of two things.

    it is either a site of an internet marketer who is promoting get a job type products like how to improve your resume, best interview tips, how to dress to impress, how to negotiate the wage you want, etc, and all they are looking for is to get you to opt-in to their list.

    Or it is a recruiting center looking for leads, and they will contact you telling you that if you pay them they will help you find a job.

    If you want what you can do is setup a new email on google and opt-in to see what happens.

    That's what I did to a few different ones and what I found is they were either one of the two situations above.

    EDIT: There is also the possibility that it is a legit job, but the chances are pretty slim so create a new gmail just for that and check it out to see.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929263].message }}
  • {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929300].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    This is where the site came from http://www.recruitmentboxed.eu/

    Looks to me like someone succumbed to the idea of buying a "business in a box" and has how realised that the site needs links and visitors! So they are hoping to get some people to do link building to somehow get users to their site.

    There's a phone number on the site - I would ring them. Then you might get some idea of who they are and whether or not it is likely that they can pay you.

    Proceed with caution.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929389].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author easternodyssey
    Well the Job Center in the UK is government website. I think that 99% of their link juice is from that one site. I dont think they want anyone or need anyone like the Shane_K said recruitment agency aiming to recruit rather than employ. Personally i am more puzzled at how the website gets the job posting on the Job center site but i am assuming its really not that hard to do. Plus i looked through their other site in a little more detail and anyone who knows anything about website design their package buisness deals are just laughable.
    Signature
    Eastern Odyssey | The Definitive Guide to Asia
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929717].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Indecision
      I know the site you are talking of and IMHO it is sketchy as ****, probably not an outright scam but just something you won't actually ever make much money on. Not worth the paper your email application is printed on.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929728].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Bootfit
    Just did a quick dig around in the source code for the homepage of morganthomasrecruitment . co . uk/

    Within the source code there's a reference to a url: morganthomas2.moonfruit .com

    Which redirects to: doorknockingjobs . co . uk/

    I understand you may be keen to find work, but I wouldn't touch these people with a bloody long sick - steer well clear.

    Try jobsite . co . uk instead.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929807].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Indecision
      Originally Posted by Bootfit View Post

      Just did a quick dig around in the source code for the homepage of morganthomasrecruitment . co . uk/

      Within the source code there's a reference to a url: morganthomas2.moonfruit .com

      Which redirects to: doorknockingjobs . co . uk/

      I understand you may be keen to find work, but I wouldn't touch these people with a bloody long sick - steer well clear.

      Try jobsite . co . uk instead.
      funny thing is the job advert the OP is talking about is actually advertised on the official government job centre website... just goes to show how much they reallt check the jobs they advertise lol. Interesting idea by the original poster of that advert using jobcentreplus to find affiliates, would be interesting to find out how it works out for them.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6929852].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DZainein
    There are plenty of scammers, who would promise a Data Entry or Form Filling Jobs and then will ask for a joining fee - they are all fakes.
    Signature
    www.dZaine.in - Joomla or Wordpress Web Sites at USD199 and Site Maintenance Services.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6931290].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Johnwayne43
      This company owe me around £5000. I've just done a credit search using credit focus and they the result was 'High Risk'. All their jobs are fake, they use universal jobmatch to advertise for fake jobs just to collect data.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8610112].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Stefan Shields
    There are a lot of "work at home" jobs that get posted on the jobsites over here in the UK.

    The ones that are genuine are just self-employed type things anyway where you will probably not even make minimum wage.
    Signature

    Please contribute to my university research into how generative AI is transforming digital marketing strategies

    Survey Link

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8610220].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RuthRNM
    I previously worked for the Department for Work and Pensions (who look after the Job Centres), and that sort of advert is definitely against the rules. Advertisers have to sign an agreement that they're paying at least national minimum wage, so they'll have had to sign it fraudulently. Still, that seems like the least of their dodgy behaviours if the comments here are anything to go by...

    For the same reason, MLM schemes can't be advertised in the Job Centres. Even with the legitimate schemes, they can't guarantee that the applicant will earn minimum wage.

    I'd imagine that it'll be taken down shortly, I'm quite surprised that it slipped through the net.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8610333].message }}

Trending Topics