Steer clear of online job scams. (Money).

Being unemployed is bad enough. But job seekers have a new worry: falling victim to criminals and con artists prowling Internet job-posting services.

Online recruiting sites such as Career Builder.com, Hotjobs.com, and Monster .com have grown from job-posting boards into Web sites hosting millions of resumes and thousands of jobs. Unfortunately. crooks have also discovered online recruiting, and they've been busily devising new schemes to exploit job seekers.

Most scams take one of two forms: either a fraudulent offer of placement assistance or identity theft by someone posing as an employer to gain a job applicant's personal data. Swindlers are using the Internet to target millions," says Sheila Adkins, a spokeswoman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Va.

SURFING FOR JOBS

Americans have flocked to Web sites in search of jobs in recent years. There they can explore postings and take advantage of resume-writing services and personalized coaching. Online recruiters are mum about their effectiveness for job hunters: None of three major sites we queried could cite placement success rates. Indeed, targeted resumes are generally more effective than "resume blasting," says Rebecca Smith of Fremont, Calif.. founder of eResumes & Resources (www.eresumes.com).

But recently some online recruiting sites have begun warning users about scams. "Third parties may have been using resumes and having access for purposes that were not approved," says Colleen McGrath, a Monster.com spokeswoman.

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