Job Safety and Scam Awareness

Most employers are exactly who they say they are. A few aren’t. Here’s how Fun First Jobs checks employers, what our checks can’t promise, and the habits that keep you safe when you apply for any job, here or anywhere else.

Last reviewed October 1, 2026

What we do

  • We verify organizations before their jobs can be published. Here’s how.
  • Every job must pass our verification and safety checks before it can appear. Automated checks look for warning signs such as application fees or requests for sensitive information, and jobs or employers that raise a concern are held for review by our team. No check catches everything, so please report anything that doesn’t look right.
  • Questions employers write for applications through Fun First Jobs are reviewed before they can appear, and questions about protected or sensitive topics aren’t allowed.
  • Jobs come down automatically when they expire, and right away when the employer marks them filled.
  • Anyone can report a job or an employer, and our team reviews reports.

What verification can’t promise

“Verified employer” means we confirmed the organization controls, or is reasonably associated with, its listed website or contact information. It isn’t a background check, an endorsement, or a guarantee about the job, the pay or the workplace. Our checks lower the risk; your own judgment still matters.

Warning signs of a job scam

The Federal Trade Commission describes these common patterns. Any one of them is a reason to stop and check.

  • You’re asked to pay to get the job: for an application, training, a starter kit, equipment or a certification. Honest employers don’t charge you to get a job.
  • You’re sent a check and told to deposit it, keep part and send the rest somewhere else, or use it to buy gift cards. That’s a fake check scam: the check bounces, and the bank expects you to repay the full amount.
  • The “job” is receiving and reshipping packages. Reshipping goods for someone you’ve never met isn’t a real job.
  • The pay sounds too good for the work, like thousands of dollars a month from home with little time or effort.
  • Someone offers a government or postal job for a fee. Applying for federal and U.S. Postal Service jobs is always free.

Be careful, too, when someone offers you a job without a real interview, will only communicate by text or a messaging app, writes from a personal email account, or sends you to a website whose address is slightly different from the organization’s real one. None of these proves a scam, but each is worth checking.

Protect your information

  • When you apply, share what’s needed to apply: how to reach you, when you can work and your experience.
  • Employers need your Social Security number and identity documents after they hire you, for payroll and the federal employment eligibility form (Form I-9). If someone asks for them before an offer, or in a way that seems unusual, pause and confirm who they are.
  • Never share passwords, sign-in codes or bank login details with anyone.
  • Fun First Jobs will never ask you, or your parent or guardian, for a Social Security number, ID, bank or card details, or a birth date. If a message that says it’s from Fun First Jobs asks for any of these, don’t reply; tell us instead.
  • Check where you’re applying. Each job page on Fun First Jobs shows where the Apply button goes. If it leaves Fun First Jobs, make sure it goes to the employer’s own site or a hiring system you recognize. Apply on Fun First Jobs keeps you on our site.
  • When you Apply on Fun First Jobs, you see exactly what the employer will get before you send it. Our standard application doesn’t ask for a birth date, and applications never ask for Social Security or ID numbers, bank details, school schedules or health information. Employers write their own questions only with our approval. If an employer later contacts you and asks for money or for those details before a job offer, stop and tell us.

Check before you say yes

  • Look up the organization yourself. The FTC suggests searching its name along with words like “scam,” “review” or “complaint.”
  • Talk the offer over with someone you trust before you accept. If you’re under 18, a parent, guardian or school counselor can help you check it.
  • For an in-person interview, meet at the workplace or another public place, and let someone know where you’re going.
  • Work rules for people under 18 depend on age, the job and the state. The U.S. Department of Labor’s YouthRules site explains the federal rules and links to state information.

Report a listing

Every job page has a “Report this job” link, and employer pages have “Report this employer.” Choose the reason that fits, add details if you like, and leave your email only if you want us to be able to follow up.

What happens after you report

  • Our team at Fun First Jobs reviews reports.
  • The listing usually stays up while we look into it. If several people report a serious concern, such as a scam or a request for money or sensitive information, we may pause the listing until we’ve reviewed it. If we find a problem, we can take the job down, or suspend the organization and all of its jobs, right away.
  • Reports are never published, and we don’t tell the employer who sent them.
  • If you left your email, we may contact you for more details.

If you think you’ve been scammed

  • Stop responding, and don’t send more money or information.
  • If you paid, contact the company you used to send the money right away (your bank, card company, payment app, wire service or gift card company), report the fraud and ask whether the payment can be reversed.
  • Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general.
  • If you shared your Social Security number or other personal information, IdentityTheft.gov has steps to help protect you.
  • If the job was listed on Fun First Jobs, report it to us as well so we can take it down.
  • If you feel unsafe or are in danger, call 911.

Learn more

This page is general information, not legal advice.