With so many people unemployed in our state, some are making ends meet by advertising for odd jobs online.

Look on any networking site and you’ll see a ton of offers for construction work, handymen, haircuts, manicures and more. Many of the people advertising claim they’re laid-off workers. But the state of Washington warns consumers to be careful.

Amber Minor says she learned that lesson the hard way.

“It was supposed to take a day,” she recently told KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy, regarding a construction job she had hired a worker to do.

Minor needed someone to finish the greenhouse she and her father started, so she found someone she thought she could trust on Craigslist.

“He said he was licensed and bonded. And in the ad at the bottom it said he was licensed and bonded,” said Minor.

The Bellevue woman told Clancy that she asked for proof the worker, Donald Swanson, had the credentials his ad promised. She says Swanson made some excuse and didn't show her anything, but she hired him anyway and was happy with the work he initially did.

"He was really conscientious," she says of Swanson.

But when she wanted to expand the job to include more concrete, Minor says the deal turned sour. That, after she paid for materials, Swanson told her he couldn't do the job for what he bid. After reaching a compromise and writing Swanson another check, Minor was expecting the job to finally get done but says Swanson “went immediately to my bank, cashed my check and came back here while I was at work and took all his tools and disappeared.”

That's when Minor, who says she’s now out $700, did what she admits she should have done before hiring Swanson. She put his name into the Washington State Labor and Industries' Web site and learned, not only was Swanson not licensed, bonded or insured, but he also had been fined $1,000 by L & I for advertising on Craigslist while not registered as a contractor.

Elaine Fischer of L & I says, because of our struggling economy, her office is “seeing a lot of unregistered contractors right now,” and that complaints similar to Amber Minor’s are pouring in.

“There is a sense of urgency,” Fischer tells Clancy, “that people are really having a hard time, and we feel for those people. We understand. All of us know someone who is having a hard time right now. But on the other hand, there are 60,000 registered contractors in the state that they’re all trying to make a living, too. And they’re being undercut by contractors who aren’t following the rules. That’s why they can work cheaper.”

It costs money to be licensed, bonded and insured, and contractors aren't the only ones who need state certification. So do real estate agents, hair stylists, manicurists and many more workers. The Department of Licensing recently found, of 17 people advertising cosmetology services locally on Craigslist, only three of them were licensed by the state. Christine Anthony of the Washington State Department of Licensing says, it’s a trend that can hurt consumers.

“If people are just out there advertising these services and they’re not properly licensed, there’s no guarantee that they’ve had the proper training. And there’s no guarantee that they’re following any kind of safety and sanitation guidelines set forth by the state,” said Anthony.

The state says it doesn't have enough workers to police online ads, so both L & I and the D.O.L. encourage consumers to file complaints. Amber Minor's complaint has now been forwarded to the King County Prosecutor's Office, and may result in criminal charges against Swanson.

KIRO 7 Consumer Investigators learned that Donald Swanson already has convictions for assault, malicious mischief and theft, but KIRO wanted to hear his side of the story. So Clancy and her photographer went to the Aberdeen apartment Swanson advertised as his business address. Neighbors tell Clancy that Swanson left months ago. His business numbers were no longer valid. So Clancy e-mailed Swanson. He wrote back and claimed he was honest from the beginning. That it was Amber Minor who wanted to lower the price. But, Swanson tells Clancy, he will pay his fines and had “learned my lesson and will never make the same mistake again.”

According to L & I, Swanson’s fines now total $4,000.

Not all jobs require licenses. The state tells Clancy that people can do yard work without a license, but not build fences. A worker can also clean gutters, but not build or repair them.

For more information on what jobs require licenses, or to check out whether a contractor or worker has the proper credentials for the job, see the links provided.