You're desperately looking for a new job. You post your resume all over the place and a few weeks later, you get a phone call from the human resources department of a large, well-known company. You get excited because you have heard that they're a very good company to work for. It's in another city, but that doesn't bother you since you need a change.

The caller asks a few questions about your resume. Then, she decides to be up front with you, saying you're the man for the job, if you'll take it. She tells you she understands how inconvenient it is to move, so she offers you a relocation fee and an installment bonus. The salary is even a little more than you expected! You decide it's the perfect offer at the perfect time, so you take it.

The only things that still need to be worked out are a work visa/travel fee and paperwork charges. She asks you to wire her the money, assuring you the sum will be made back on the first check. Unfortunately, that check never comes. You'll soon find out this dream job was only that: a dream.

Another variation is when scammers advertise these jobs themselves, looking for manpower. Hundreds of candidates send off their resume, they contact them and get a few hundred dollars out of each of them, pulling in a total of thousands of dollars.

How to avoid: you should never pay for a job; your employer should always pay you. There are some jobs that have "training fees" off the start, but you should find some independent information online to confirm that these charges are legitimate.