Thousands of jobs are headed to Northeast Florida, but the new opportunities also open the door for scammers.
A Jacksonville woman said she applied online through a site she thought was legitimate, but now she believes her personal information was compromised.
A quick search online for jobs available through Wawa, the newest fuel station and convenience store headed to the area, pulls up a paid site first.
The application site shows what looks like a legitimate logo for the convenience store.
Candace Moody, vice president of communications at CareerSource Northeast Florida, said it’s actually a third-party site.
"We find there are unscrupulous people who take advantage of job seekers by setting up a quick, dishonest site that will allow people to put in information,” Moody said.
And after applying for what she thought was a management position, a woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said she has been getting calls asking her for personal information.
“They started asking for me to spell my name and spell my address, that's when I hesitated and the recording kept going and I realized it wasn't an actual person," the woman said.
Action News Jax reached out to Wawa and a spokesperson sent the following statement:
“Wawa is currently screening for management level positions in all our open markets in Florida, with the following new counties just added: Clay, Duval and St. Johns counties. To view and apply for positions, our Application Tracking system should be accessed only through www.wawa.com.
"In regards to the viewer in question, it appears as if they responded to an ad, which is not ours, and which looks like a marketing site managed by a third party.”
"It's very scary to think that that's out there and people are dealing with that, just good people trying to find jobs," the woman said.
Wawa is just one of many companies, like Amazon, moving to Jacksonville, bringing in thousands of jobs.
"Every opportunity presents an opportunity to scam someone," Moody said.
And when applying online, "Go directly to the company's site. Every single large company, including Wawa, has a career page," Moody said.
Moody also said to never give out your Social Security number online or your birth date because that is the gateway to identity theft.
For more information on how to safely apply for jobs online, visit the CareerSource website.
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