How many ways can you get scammed online? From spam emails to crypto cons, crooks create plenty of opportunities to get your information and commit identity fraud. One of their tricks is to pretend they want to hire you for a job.
Job seekers are particularly vulnerable to identity theft schemes. You have to give up all kinds of information about yourself before you can even get an interview. According to the FBI, scammers take advantage of people who apply for jobs by creating fake job postings to phish for personal information. The scammers then use the data they collect to commit identity fraud.
Does a job posting seem fishy to you? Your intuition may be correct. Victims have reported an increasing number of hiring scams to the FBI since 2019. According to the agency, the average reported loss was almost $3,000 per victim in addition to damaged credit scores.
Here’s how the grift works: Criminals create spoofed websites, often with stolen graphics of company logos to make the site look legitimate, to harvest job seeker information. The scammer’s post links to these phishing sites on well-known job boards. Job seekers fill out forms with key information such as addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and employment history. In some cases, the scammers even contact the victims and ask them to pay upfront for background checks, job training, or supplies. Once the crooks get the money, they disappear.
Job Posting Scam Indicators
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Suspicious interview…
