I was out of work for 4 days and already desperate, so when this guy messaged me on LinkedIn about a remote role paying $85k I didn't check his profile hard enough. He sent a 'contract' and asked for $200 for a background check plus $200 for a laptop deposit, and I wired it through Zelle because he said the HR portal was down. Friday morning I called the real company's HR and they'd never heard of him, and my bank said Zelle payments are basically gone forever. Has anyone else gotten hit by these fake job scams right after a layoff, and how do you spot them before you send cash?