MANATEE COUNTY - A Bradenton woman who's been looking for work for 6 months thought she finally got a solid job lead.  Instead...she could have been scammed.

After searching the internet and newspapers for jobs, Pam Stevens of Bradenton found an interesting ad.  So she sent a resume with all her information on it.  The job offer she got promised good money...and could have ended up costing her money.

Stevens has years of experience doing clerical work in accounts payable and receivable.  So when she saw a newspaper ad looking for an accounting manager, she sent her resume.

But when she got an email back detailing how the job would work, she knew it was a scam.  "I had to deposit money into my account and take a portion of that money that would be my income and they would take the rest."

The email was from Backstar Trading Company.  They told her to take payments from their customers, deposit them into her account, keep a portion as her salary, and wire them the rest.

In a scam like this, most often those checks would bounce...days after you deposit them into your account and send your money on to the bogus company.  "It really doesn't make me feel good, and I really can't express my feelings right now.  It wouldn't be appropriate."

Stevens says she is now worried the scammers have some of her personal information from her resume.  She's also worried about others that are desperate for work who may have taken the chance.  "It's so frustrating...I certainly hope no one fell for this."

While doing some research on Backstar Trading Company, ABC 7 couldn't even find the company.  The phone number in the ad was disconnected.

Before you apply for a job, research the company if you can.  And remember, no legitimate company will ask you to deposit money into your account and then pay them.  According to Staff-Centrix, a company that screens online job offers, less than 2% of work-at-home jobs advertised on the internet are real.