A Wheeling woman who earned her MBA online resigned from a long-time job at a car dealership after landing what looked like the perfect remote position — only to discover the job, the paycheck, and the company behind it were all fake. Shayde Fisher had been searching for a new career as an online content editor when a posting promising $45 an hour, remote work, and good benefits appeared on Indeed.
Fisher completed a second interview through an online chat and later sat for a video interview with the people behind the posting, according to CBS News Chicago. The supposed employer told her she had gotten the job, and the scammers followed up with official-looking employment paperwork that Fisher said looked very convincing. She resigned from her position at the dealership, believing she had secured something better.
The scammers then mailed her a check and instructed her to deposit it and use the funds to buy work equipment, including an ergonomic chair, software and data storage, per the same report. Before depositing anything, Fisher decided to investigate the supposed job rather than trust the check outright — a decision that unraveled the entire scheme. When she contacted the company based in Germany, its representatives said they had no American branch and no job to offer her.
A Scam Built on a Banking Loophole
By the time Fisher realized what was happening, she had already shared her Social Security number and banking information with the supposed employer, meaning scammers now possess her personal information. She has since obtained new credit cards and bank accounts and plans to monitor her credit for months as a precaution.
The scheme Fisher encountered relies on a well-documented gap in federal banking rules. Under the Expedited Funds Availability Act and Regulation CC, banks are legally required to make provisional funds from a deposited check available within one to two business days, even though verifying whether a check is counterfeit can take weeks, according to the FDIC. That gap is exactly what con artists count on, pushing victims to spend or wire back money before the fake check bounces. The Federal Trade Commission has found that victims of fake check scams suffer a median loss of nearly $2,000, more than six times higher than the median loss across all consumer fraud types combined.
Job Scams Have Exploded Nationwide
Fisher's experience fits a national pattern. The FTC reports that consumer losses from job and employment agency scams surged from $90 million in 2020 to $501 million in 2024, with total reports nearly tripling over that span. The Better Business Bureau's 2026 Employment Scams Study found that complaints filed with its Scam Tracker doubled in 2025 alone, with text messages serving as the initial point of contact in half of all cases.
Young adults appear especially exposed. A 2026 analysis of federal data by SmartAsset and the BBB found that adults aged 18 to 34 report falling victim to employment scams more often than any other fraud category, even though older adults tend to lose more money per incident. A Loyola University Chicago expert cited in that same 2026 study pointed to recruiters who avoid video calls, poorly written postings, and unprompted offers of flexible remote work at above-market pay as primary red flags — though Fisher's scammers notably did conduct a video interview with her, showing how convincing these schemes have become.
Indeed Says It Moves Fast, But Not Fast Enough for Everyone
Indeed told CBS News Chicago that fraudulent job postings violate its policies and that the company removes listings that fail its quality standards while suspending the accounts of job seekers and employers who break the rules. Indeed's Trust and Safety team said it uses human oversight and advanced technology to prevent, identify and remove fraudulent postings, and the company has separately disclosed that roughly 90% of fraudulent employer accounts it identifies are removed within four days of creation. That narrow window is still long enough for scammers to reach job seekers like Fisher before moderation catches up.
Fisher has since contacted the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which operates a dedicated Identity Theft Hotline at 1-866-999-5630 staffed by trained advocates for residents whose personal data has been compromised. Illinois residents can also place free credit freezes with major credit reporting agencies under state law, and anyone who encounters a fraudulent job posting can file a complaint with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division or call its Chicago regional hotline at 1-800-386-5438.
Fisher told CBS News Chicago that anybody can fall for a scam if it looks good enough, a warning that underscores how sophisticated these schemes have grown. She remains out of work and cannot regain her former job at the car dealership. Researchers cited by the BBB estimate that only 4.8% to 6.7% of mass-market fraud victims ever report their losses to government agencies, suggesting the true scale of employment fraud nationwide is far larger than official tallies reflect.
