It was an opportunity that seemed to come out of no where. A man reached out to a woman online with a job opportunity she was definitely qualified for.
It was a work at home position in which the Detroit woman was told she would be doing data entry for Universal Health Services.
The person contacting her had a LinkedIn account indicating he allegedly worked for the company. She did an extensive interview, then for five days did test after test to prove she qualified. Finally she got an offer.
“I am like, oh my goodness. To work from home and make $30 an hour. It is the perfect job,” said Karen Littleton.
Then she got a text telling her all she needed to do was pay $510 for equipment.
“I said, wait a minute, why am I paying for anything?” said Littleton.
Suddenly she was blocked from communicating with the person who offered her the job.
She reached out to the Universal Health Services Company directly. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania based business told her she was the victim of a con-artist. The company never offered her a job, and she was correct. The company does not charge people fees to obtain employment.
“It is a scam. If I can stop it I will,” said Littleton.
She reached out to 7 Action News to warn other people.
Universal Health Services spokesperson David Carter tells Seven Action News, “This is a regrettable incident. We can confirm that Universal Health Services was not involved and that the alleged company representative had nothing to do with our company. This was a scam.”
The company is aware of a handful of similar cases that have occurred around the country and all have the same elements.
“Our Compliance Department is actively engaged in working to uncover and end these deceptive practices that target individuals and companies. We are in close contact with Google as well as recruiting websites and law enforcement agencies about these cases, and we work collaboratively with them to provide the information necessary to try and track those doing this and to eliminate false accounts,” said Carter.
Littleton said she wants the people who did this to face prosecution.
“They need to be stopped. Period,” said Littleton.
