After recently losing her job as a conference manager, Stephanie Perry received a message on LinkedIn from someone who claimed to be a recruiter at a large local company.
Before responding, Perry tapped her network to check it out. “Initially it seemed too good to be true, but I asked a friend who worked at the company if the person was legit and she confirmed that she worked there,” said Perry. However, the scammer had hacked the recruiter’s LinkedIn.
The fake recruiter shared a job description and an email address and asked for Perry’s resume. “I became suspicious when the job description closely matched my previous job. She started to email me more questions, and then I messaged another person at the company who looked into it further, and there was no job — it was all fake.
“I ended communication and I also reported the person’s profile to LinkedIn. What a disappointment, because I was so hopeful and flattered!”
Job Hunters Beware
Perry is not alone. Online job scams, which are on the rise according to the Federal Trade Commission, often start with the imposters taking time to develop trust with the victim before asking for personal or financial information, most often a Ssocial Ssecurity number. They provide specific details about the role, company, salary, and benefits, and often refer to the process as “prescreening.”
Some recruiters will ask job hunters to provide references, then call the contacts with sales pitches for their services. “Always look out for requests for multiple references before you’ve had any interview or confirmation of candidacy. Protect your network, and trust your instincts,” said Nancy Gamble, founder of the recruitment firm Hire Profile.
Opus Agency, a global event agency, was the target of scammers using its name to post fake job listings on LinkedIn and via email. The company reported the fraudulent domain and disabled it, and posted a warning on LinkedIn to job seekers that included how to spot legitimate Opus Agency job postings and emails, including the email addresses they would come from.
“The most disruptive part wasn’t necessarily the internal lift to address the issue, but knowing that individuals invested time and energy into what they thought were real opportunities, only to find out it was a scam,” said Spokesperson Paula Mettler. “It risked leaving a negative impression with some truly talented people we’d love to work with. Unfortunately, we’ve seen other agencies in our industry experience similar scams, so it’s something we all need to stay vigilant about.”
How to Spot a Scammer
The FTC offers these tips to spot a scammer from the start:
- Look at the sender’s email address — Is the email from a business or a personal email? Recruiters will generally email from a corporate email account, not from @gmail.com or @yahoo.com.
- Don’t share personal information — Scammers will ask for your personal information before you interview: your driver’s license, Social Security number, or a bank account number to fill out “employment paperwork.”
- Research the recruiter — Do an online search of the recruiter’s name and his or her company. Type the name with words like “scam” or “complaint.”
To report a job hunting scam, file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and report the scam to the job board where the listing was found and to your State Attorney General’s office.
