Chicago area graduate thought she found the perfect job on Indeed - then came the red flags

A job offer offering remote work, good benefits and $45 an hour seemed almost too good to pass up. However, for one Chicago-area woman, that job offer turned out to be a sophisticated scam.

Shayde Fisher from Wheeling says the scammers went as far as conducting a video interview, sending official-looking employment paperwork and even mailing her a check.

Fisher was looking for a new career after earning her MBA online and thought she'd found the perfect fit — an online content editor. The posting came through Indeed and what followed looked and sounded like a normal hiring process.

First, a video interview.   

"It was with a real person as far as I could tell," she said.

She made it to a second interview, but this time through an online chat. The employer told her they were impressed and that Fisher aligned with exactly who they needed for the role.

She was told that she got the job and was sent this employment letter. Then came the paperwork. She shared her Social Security number and her banking information.

"The thing is ... it looked very, very official. I wouldn't have done it unless it looked official," she said.

The supposed employer then told her she needed to buy equipment for the job.

"An ergonomic chair, various types of software, data storage, that kind of thing," Fisher said.

That's when the warning signs became impossible to ignore.

The scammers sent Fisher what turned out to be a fake check, telling her to deposit it and use the money for the work equipment. Instead of depositing that check, she started investigating.

She contacted the company based in Germany and they made it clear there is no American branch and there's no job. This was a scam.

"If you're going to at least make money, at least try to be legit," she said.

Fisher is grateful she trusted her instincts, though the scammers now have her personal information.

Fisher went right to the bank and had to get new credit cards and bank accounts.

"I'm probably going to have to monitor my credit for months over this," she said.

Now, she's out of work.

She put in her two weeks at her long-time job at a car dealership, believing she was moving on to a new opportunity. Now, she can't get her job back.

"Literally anybody can fall for it if it looks good enough," she said.

Fisher also contacted the Illinois Attorney General's Office hoping to stop this from happening to someone else.

CBS News Chicago reached out to Indeed to see how they verify if job postings are legit.

A spokesperson for Indeed said in a statement, "... Fraudulent job postings violate our policies, and our Trust and Safety Team uses human oversight and advanced technology to help prevent, identify and remove them. We take action against misuse of our platform by removing postings that don't meet our strict quality standards and suspending the accounts of job seekers and employers who violate our policies."