Teens Exploited Through Job Flyers
BARRY CHEUNG
Staff Writer
According to NBC Los Angeles, job advertisements were posted along the walls and telephone poles near the schools of Downey in the month of July. The advertisements offered $150 to $400 a week with provided transportation. Officials immediately deemed it a fake job targeted to exploit teens and said that those jobs could place teens in dangerous situations.
“Issues like this is what messes up our society,” junior Matthew Dominguez said. “The things we see and hear in public can’t be trusted anymore like those job ads or announcements.”
Teen job advertisements are seen at ordinary places or highly populated areas in the community. According to a message released by the Downey School District, these advertisements are often hoaxes and fronts of teen exploitation. It comes in different forms, such as commercial sexual exploitation of youths and teen manipulation to market a product or have teens be the market itself.
“I find that to be really sketchy,” junior Raymond Huynh said. “I would only apply for [from] businesses that I know for sure are legitimate, not some random flyer or poster that I would see on the streets.”
In addition, as mentioned by the Chicago Tribune, summer job flyers were placed in Chicago neighborhoods and were spread through social media sites. The flyers promised 10,000 summer jobs that did not require people with experience, but required a student ID or state ID. The ad was claimed as fraudulent by officials because the only way to be employed as a youth is online through the One Summer Chicago website.
“I find things like these jobs purely twisted,” sophomore Stella Lin said. “A person should never be put into a position where they are in peril when all they are trying to do is make some money in the economy we have today.”
To ensure the legitimacy of job advertisements, teens need to take two crucial steps: be hyper-vigilant of the details and check the validity of the advertisement. In addition, personal information should never be given until it has been confirmed that it is a legitimate job source.
“To see if a job is legitimate, [we at the Career Center] check out the company’s website to see if it is a legal one, if they have a business license, if they are active in the city, if they have had complaints filed against them and sometimes perform spot checks on the business,” Registered Dietitian Nutrition and Career Tech Education Specialist Judy Huffaker said.
Teen exploitation is considered a crime and the potential threat of teens being exploited by these job advertisements add onto the crime by posing a rate of danger if taken lightly by the teens in the community. To stay safe, Alhambra teens should look over, research and ask their friends and family about their thoughts on the legality of any job ad.
