Is the job posted on Craigslist from this website a scam?

Is it a scam when a person who posted a job on craigslist asks you to do an interview with yahoo messenger?

• I have gotten a weird email saying create a yahoo messenger account to do an interview but the job location is posted in my city so I don't understand why we would need to create a chat and if we did need to do this why not by telephone.  The. I think to myself how can someone scam you with yahoo messenger?

• Answer:

  Rule #1 – if it feels like a scam, it probably is. Look for spelling or punctuation errors in your correspondence, vague details about the company or the job, lack of an email footer listing the domain, twitter or facebook page of the business, emails at odd times of day, evasiveness if you ask for a call back number or official email address or more information about the company, exorbitant or unrealistic promises of how much the job will pay, and so on. What they will do to scam you: typically they are trying to get more personal information – for example, ask for your social security number or driver's license. Or they might be trying to get your internet passwords – for example, asking you to create a new account and then share the password with them, or offering to create a profile for you and asking you to pick a password. Or they might try to get you to download and open a file containing a virus. Often it's easier to trick you in real-time, where you feel flustered and under pressure, rather than by email where you have more time to think and to notice discrepancies. But it might not be. Almost always when I'm hiring people I will do a first screen by phone or by skype – basically to see if it's a reasonable fit before I waste a ton of their time inviting them in to visit the office. Maybe this person prefers Yahoo messenger – there's nothing inherently wrong with that. So there's no reason not to accept the interview… just be on your guard.