Indeed has been called out before by job seekers for allowing scammers to upload bogus job listings in the past. However, one TikToker is claiming that it’s not just scammers who are doing this. Do his claims hold any weight?
Aaron Corn (@aaron85c) posted a viral clip to the popular social media platform that’s garnered over 394,000 views. In the video, he contends that Florida residents looking for jobs should be on high alert. Based on his assertions, there are people using the listings to try and beguile individuals into life-threatening situations. However, it is unclear where the information he bases his claim on comes from.
Beware
“If you—and I need everybody to listen to me—listen up, if you are in Florida, and you’ve been job searching on Indeed, be careful,” he says.
Next, Corn explains why he thinks it’s so important folks exercise caution while searching for employment on the popular online job search site. “People are literally ending up missing by thinking they’re going to interviews, and it turns out they’re being, you know what.”
A text overlay in the video indicates the “you know what” Corn is referring to. “Indeed jobs serial unaliver in Florida,” the on-screen caption reads. He is strongly suggesting that there is someone on the job posting site who is going out of their way to ensure folks aren’t making it out of their faux job interviews alive.
The TikToker continues, “Please be careful, guys. Indeed Jobs—be careful on that website, guys. They’re using the website to meet up with people, and then when you get there, there’s no job. It’s just a white van, and y’all know what I mean. I can’t really be too, you know, about it, but y’all know what I mean.”
Following this, he clarifies that this is a “Florida” phenomenon. “I need y’all to be safe because I care. I’m dead serious. Be safe out there, guys.”
Corn uses his TikTok account to share stories of his life and his opinions on hot topics with his 14.8K followers. He states in his bio that his videos are “Just My Thoughts.” He previously sounded the alarm about another alleged serial killer operating in the Jacksonville and Daytona Beach areas of Florida in March.
As with this most recent video, he urges viewers to take the supposed threat seriously and “be careful.” However, he does not provide any evidence or cite any sources to back up his claim.
In a Jan. 22 Facebook post, the Daytona Beach Police Department said rumors of a serial killer in the area were just that: rumors.
“The post [claiming there is a serial killer] includes a photo and some alarming claims, but we want to set the record straight: this information is completely false,” the Department stated.
Similarly, in March, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office called serial killer in Florida rumors “100% false.”
Job posting killer?
Corn’s story sounds like it could be a storyline for the next season of Dexter or maybe the next 42 episodes of a podcast heralded by someone who has a worrying fascination with the lurid and macabre.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any widespread media reporting on this supposed phenomenon. But there have been Florida outlets that have published write-ups on the overwhelming number of phony online job postings.
Fox 13 Tampa posted a story referencing a study that avers “1 in 5 job postings aren’t real.” According to the piece, there’s an alarming number of employment opportunities that are inauthentic, which leads to folks applying for positions that end up being identity theft scams.
CBS News also reported in 2024 on the “boom in ghost jobs.” Surprisingly, the outlet stated that hiring managers themselves are responsible for these listings. In fact, the piece indicates that “seven out of 10 hiring managers” see no issue with this practice.
Stacie Haller, the chief career advisor for Resume Builder, said that this isn’t a new routine companies exercise. However, she went on to claim that as of late, there’s been an uptick in the amount of imaginary positions inundating employment sites.
Why?
It may seem like a baffling venture for any corporation to engage in. After all, employees are dedicating work hours to crafting convincing calls for job applications to positions that simply don’t exist.
But Haller states that these counterfeit gigs are put on websites for one sole purpose—perception. By uploading numerous listings for jobs that don’t exist, it builds an “impression” that a company is doing better than it really is. Money’s flowing so much, and business is doing so well that they need more people to take on more work, even when this is clearly not the case.
What’s more is that the majority of hiring managers don’t think there’s anything wrong with engaging in this behavior. Although folks taking the time to actually apply to these dangling invisible carrots may beg to differ.
@aaron85c Be careful we have a serial unaliver on the lose using indeed jobs to get people😳 #fyp #florida #indeed ♬ original sound – A-Aron
Commenters react
Several people who replied to Corn’s video seemed to certainly think it was possible for a fake job killer to be on the loose. “This world is wicked you can’t even look for work without the fear of [skull emoji],” one said.
Another individual stated that they believe they may’ve had a near miss with one of these murderous false job posters. “Had interview at 3:30 today something said google address. I did and it looked abandoned. Definitely didn’t go.”
Someone else thought that Indeed should be doing a better job of sifting out fake listings. “Why isn’t Indeed addressing this?!”
Whereas another didn’t seem too surprised by the deceptive jobs posted to the popular online job search tool. “Indeed is notorious for letting scammers slide.”
And there was at least one person who said that all of the falsehoods they come across online is having them yearn for olden times. “That’s why I hate online job searches. They need to go back to paper applications,” they remarked.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Corn via Instagram direct message and Indeed via email for comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
