According to www.recovery.gov, the White House Web site for all things economic recovery, a new scam has emerged.

Earlier this year, a phony company called Mouch & Thompson PLLC sent a letter to low income residents offering rental assistance grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letter stated that its first 50 recipients who showed up at the company’s offices would be guaranteed the money. The letter was supposedly penned by the company’s president, Wesley Mouch.

But the letter was, in fact, an identity theft scam. The company does not exist, and neither does its president.

According to officials in the Charleston, West Virginia are where the office was supposedly located, lots of people showed up. Investigators were tipped off about the scam, and placed surveillance cameras at the location, but the crooks never made an appearance.

And so ends another cautionary tale in the identity theft saga.

There are many scams currently being used to take advantage of those hit hardest by difficult economic conditions. Scammers often claim they can help eligible Americans obtain recovery money or other government funds. One such scam claimed that for a small credit card fee, a person could order a compact disc or gain access to another Web site explaining how to receive a $12,000 government grant. Those who took the bait were charged a monthly fee of up to $69.95.

Many of these scams use official government insignia or photos of President Barack Obama to lend their claims an air of credibility. The scammers also employ the use of e-mail, traditional mail, phone calls and radio announcements.

In this particular type of scam, criminals rely on the public’s lack of knowledge regarding Recovery Act programs, and will claim they can assist in acquiring grant or loan money, or even tax rebates, all available under the Recovery Act.

But the law has provided funds directly to individuals in only a few instances, such as in 2009 when the Recovery Act provided economic recovery payments through the Social Security Administration to individuals receiving Social Security or supplemental security income benefits.

The Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly warn the public about stimulus scams, and investigators from these agencies say citizens should avoid providing any personal information to companies offering access to recovery money, and should immediately contact their state’s Attorney General if approached with such offers.

A former marketing executive, out of work for nearly a year, finds a job posting that seems perfect for him. It’s a job with a leading international insurance broker, and after sending his resume in, he receives an e-mail from the human resources manager, saying the company is interested in him, and that he just needs to submit some information for a background check. So he submits his age, height, weight, Social Security number, bank account number and mother’s maiden name.

But it was all just an elaborate scam designed to steal his identity.

When looking for a job, most people are more than willing to jump through the hoops presented by employers in order to obtain a much-needed job. There are no numbers on how many people fall victim to this type of scam each year, but with the economy being what it is, there are sure to be thousands of victims. There are some things you should be aware of when conducting an online job search.

First, do not give your Social Security number to any prospective employer, regardless of the reasons they give for asking for it. You should not surrender your bank or credit card numbers either.

Carefully review the ad, looking for bad spelling, grammatical errors and awkward sentence structure. This could be a clue that the ad is fraudulent. If you respond to an ad, and receive a response from an individual, that person’s e-mail address should not be a private one. A real human resources employee or manager would use a company-issued address.

Check with the company that supposedly listed the job posting, and make sure it is a legitimate posting, and that the person who is corresponding with you actually is employed by the company.

Last, if a person claiming to be a company representative asks for you to remit a payment of any kind, discontinue the correspondence immediately. No employer would ever have any reason to ask for payment from you during an employment screening process.

You can also check with the Better Business Bureau in order to find out if the company is legitimate, and if there are any grievances filed against it.