Looking For Work? Caution

Identity Thieves Target Job Seekers

From Business Week: As the joblessness rate climbs, scammers are setting up fake Websites to trick job seekers into giving up sensitive personal information. A lot of unemployed people are eager to divulge information they believe will land them a job, and so become the target of scams.

In another popular scam, perpetrators pose as recruiters ready to extend an offer — who request Social Security numbers or other personal information to do background checks. “We’ve even heard cases of fraudsters posing as potential employers, asking for bank account numbers,” says Jeremy Miller, director of operations at Kroll‘s Fraud Solutions Practice. “They’re using the fact that a person is looking for a job and has that need, and counting on the fact that they’ll do anything to get that job.” (Please click the link to read entire article. It will open in a new tab.)

A few days ago I posted In These Tough Times, Could You Use Some Extra $$$’s ? which looked at various scams that land in your Inbox that are counting on the fact that you might be in need of income. The fact is, the more needy someone is, the less common sense caution they tend to exercise. The con artists know this.

There is a significant rise in the number of fake job openings on online classifieds sites, like CraigsList, and job-seeker sites, simply set up so that people will send their resumes. Many people still include their DOB and SSN’s in their resumes, which makes stealing their identities pretty easy!

There is strong evidence that if your social security number is harvested in this way, it will be sold to an illegal emigrant so that they can gain employment. In fact, someone may already be using your SSN and you wouldn’t know (see, A Dirty Little Secret).

Almost 10 million people in the US reported having their identity stolen, and this number is not going to shrink (see, report). So be cautious and do your homework. Make phone calls and verify the company, and that it’s hiring. Don’t mass mail your personally identifying information (“PII”) out to every job listing you see. And enter “ABR” (Available By Request) in some of those application fields.

And, I sincerely wish you you a happy and speedy conclusion to your job search.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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