- 2 days ago
There is a growing trend of scammers impersonating recruiters is making finding a job even harder.
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00:00this morning on brn privacy how to protect yourself from scammers offering fake jobs
00:10joining me now to discuss this is eva velasquez of the identity theft resource center eva so great
00:20to see you thanks for joining us on the program this morning happy to be here hope we can educate
00:24some folks yeah this is a big let's start back up for a second how how big of an issue are scammers
00:34and and more importantly things like fake jobs uh is this i've never heard of this until reading this
00:41article is this kind of a newer trend where people now scammers are offering offering fake jobs to
00:46people well scams in general have become uh an absolutely explosive the the losses globally are
00:55in the trillion over a trillion dollars when we look at job scams those have been around for as
01:02long as scams have been around but we're concerned because we're seeing a rapid increase in that
01:09particular scam type in our contact center and so that's why we put out this information when we look
01:16at our trends and what are people experiencing we saw this incredible growth in job scams and knew
01:23we needed to warn the public yeah so so what does it look like and we'll probably have some graphics and
01:29footage as we go but what what does this typically look like is it in the form of an email a text
01:35a social media post or all the above yeah the the short answer is yes it looks like all of those things
01:43and there are typically two pathways that that people uh engage or interact with the the criminals
01:50and that is either through a fake posting on a legitimate site so think indeed or linkedin or through an
01:58unsolicited communication incoming communication from a recruiter and that can come in the form of uh an email a
02:07text message a phone call social media direct message it's it's really across all channels and platforms
02:14but those are the two key ways a fake job posting on a legitimate site or incoming communication that's
02:21coming directly to you from a phony recruiter and how do these scams work do they do they ask you to fill
02:29out and provide your resume and fill out financial information often what we're seeing is that they
02:37go above and beyond what a legitimate recruiter or posting would ask for in the initial assessment
02:43when you're just applying for a job you only need to provide your name your contact information and your
02:49skill set so a resume or a cv that's it but a lot of these fake applications start asking for more and more
02:57data about you your your date of birth your driver's license number your passport number sometimes even
03:05copies of those documents or other credentials sometimes they'll even ask for your banking information
03:11oh well we need your your bank account so we know where to put direct deposit uh you know for your paycheck
03:17but this is before you have even received a job offer so we encourage people to to remember that when you're
03:25applying for a job you only need to provide that very basic amount of information and it's really more
03:32about your skill set it's not about your pii or your personally identifiable information so it sounds like
03:38these platforms and i i have to imagine just like some of the social media platforms that they're trying to
03:45get rid of these types of scans but candidly it's like whack-a-mole they just continue to pop up and
03:51therefore it's up to us as consumers to do our research that's a really good analogy because it
03:58is like whack-a-mole of course these are i mean these are legitimate sites and they do have processes
04:05and procedures in place to weed out the the fraudulent postings and the fraudulent activity but it's so
04:12prevalent that they can't get to all of it so this is a shared responsibility absolutely the the platforms and
04:19the channels that are responsible for putting us in touch with the criminals and the bad actors
04:25they have a responsibility but we have to do our own homework as well and i can give you some tips
04:32on what that looks like yeah i was gonna i was gonna follow up and ask you so what type of homework
04:36should we be doing what should we be looking at when we see these these ads and now it's going to be
04:43different depending on if you are seeking out the job or if it comes to you so i'll start with if you're
04:49looking at job postings on the various online sites i i want you to verify that that's legitimate
04:57if it's a company a well-known company or brand please go directly to that company's website
05:04check and see are they hiring who is the hiring recruiter if possible go ahead and apply for that job
05:11directly through the company's website or whatever process they want you to use
05:18i do have to warn you that some of these scams are so sophisticated that the the scammers will do
05:25their research and they'll use the name of a legitimate company they will use the name of
05:30the legitimate hiring manager and they'll build a fake profile for that person so it can be really really
05:37challenging but if you do enough of these little things to to indicate you know do your homework
05:45you can see the the red flags especially if even if there's a legitimate posting and you see it on the
05:51website but the salary is different and and often they're there they will be offering a significant
06:00increased wage for the type of work that's required so it looks very appealing you go wow that's so much
06:07more than other jobs in my industry so high dollar high wages with sometimes relatively low skill set
06:16required and often 100 remote work because they know how appealing that is to people yeah i guess
06:23the old adage is true if it's too good to be true it it usually it usually is are there certain segments
06:30i know we're talking about job applicants there's a second piece to that okay sorry go ahead sure sorry
06:35no that's okay i just want to make sure i cover it um now for folks who are getting that text message
06:42or that email from a recruiter this is where you really need to do your homework and i always encourage
06:47people to uh verify that that person is legitimately a recruiter what company they work for and try to get
06:55in touch with them through a different channel than the original communication was received an example of
07:02that would be if you receive a text message from someone saying hey i'm joe smith i'm a recruiter
07:08with xyz company we have this job i want you to try to get in touch with joe smith maybe through a phone
07:14number or an email that's listed on the legitimate recruiters website now that's not a 100 guarantee
07:22again they can be very sophisticated and set up things like fake profiles but it will weed out some of the less
07:30sophisticated bad actors yeah i apologize for interrupting you i was going to ask are there
07:36more vulnerable populations that are susceptible to this and and because you could be of any age
07:42looking for a job you could be a younger person uh just out of college or you could be someone who's
07:47more mature like myself who may be making a career change or doing something different so you could be on
07:53on indeed so are there are certain parts of our population more vulnerable than others
07:59there are people that are going to be at an increased risk but it's not necessarily based on
08:03your typical demographics like age uh it's it's really about how familiar you are with the workforce
08:10and the way that we currently uh recruit and hire people and that's changed that's changed dramatically
08:16just in the last couple of years so if you're a college student or even a high school student
08:22applying for your first job you may feel like hey we're doing this interview over text or on whatsapp
08:30and that feels completely legitimate because that's how you communicate now there are some legitimate
08:38organizations that will communicate over text or even over whatsapp but an interview is not going to be
08:46conducted completely over text i i have not seen that happen legitimately or or heard that happen
08:53legitimately but it again it's not about your age maybe you're a recent immigrant to this country and
08:59you just don't understand how this system and these processes work maybe you're someone that took a break
09:04from the workforce to raise kids or care for aging parents and now you're going back into the workforce
09:10after an absence so it it really is about people who just aren't familiar with how we are currently
09:18doing things and again frankly they've changed dramatically just in the last four years yeah and
09:24continue i mean artificial intelligence really layers up or levels up uh the the interaction uh last
09:33question for you and we'll bring it back because i think this is a very important topic it's one that needs
09:38continuous um conversation to keep people informed but what do you do if you find a scam what what
09:45should you do should you call the police should you forward it on to another governmental entity
09:52now it really depends on what you've discovered and what you have self-compromised we really do
09:58encourage people to go ahead and report the scam even if they discovered it and they in time to not share
10:03their information because that helps us get a handle on on these issues and you can report it to the
10:10federal trade commission at identitytheft.gov you can report it to the fbi at ic3.gov now that is not
10:19necessarily going to result in investigation or prosecution and i really want to make sure people
10:24understand that it's very hard to investigate these cases we often don't even know who's at the other
10:30end of that communication but reporting it actually does help it helps law enforcement and advocates
10:37such as the itrc to get a better handle on the scope of the problem now if you are a victim and you've
10:43shared your information i always encourage people to get help from a trusted resource to and to get
10:49a recovery plan of course that's where the identity theft resource center comes in we're 501c3
10:56non-profit organization we're charity everything we do for the public is at no cost to them so people
11:02can call us on our toll-free number they can live chat with us on our website and and they can let us
11:07know very specifically what information was compromised was it your was it documents did you send copies of
11:16documents what documents was it just the numbers was it your date of birth and your social security
11:22number was it your banking information it's critically important that you you make a list of what was that
11:30data because that is how you determine what your recovery plan is going to be unfortunately there's
11:37not a one-size-fits-all you know if you're a victim of a scam do these three things because scams are so
11:44broad and so different and there's so many ways that we can be victimized and harmed that understanding if
11:50it's my social security number i do these things if it's my financial information i have to do these
11:55things getting that free plan it i think is going to be critically important and if you don't come to
12:01us there's the federal trade commission has free resources for victims aarp has free resources for
12:09seniors who are victims so there are a number of free resources available to help people as long as they
12:16don't let shame and embarrassments embarrassment stand in the way which is another critical piece
12:24yeah it's the the criminals are out there you you are being deluged it's okay a mistake was made
12:33you believed a lie that's no reason to try to do this on your own and not get the help that you need
12:38so we're really trying to fight against the shame and embarrassment that victims feel
12:43that's right foal me once shame on you foal me twice shame on me either we're gonna have to leave
12:49it there great conversation very important information and uh folks got to pay attention
12:55no matter your age or or your uh any any factor we're gonna have to leave it there great to talk
13:01to you thanks for joining us and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon
13:06it was a pleasure thank you and don't forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter the morning pulse
13:10for all the news in one place details of course are at our website and we're back again tomorrow
13:16for another edition of brn until then i'm jeff snyder stay safe keep on saving and don't forget roll with the
13:22the changes
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