How Job Hunters Can Protect Themselves from Identity Theft
Online job boards have become hot spots for identity thieves.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said in July that it is investigating a variety of cases involving online job scams. In one scenario the FBI cites, people are finding resumes posted online with Social Security numbers and other personal details, and using the information to apply for fake credit cards and loans in the job hunters’ names. In another, people send a job hunter an email claiming to be from a recruiter or company seeking personal details for a pre-employment background check, and use the information for identity theft.
Margaret Davis, 36 years old, of Chicago, says she was a victim of identity theft in 2001. After applying for a position on a job board, she exchanged emails and had a phone interview with someone whom she thought was from a recruiting agency.
Ms. Davis opened the employment forms emailed to her as attachments and later noticed several attempts to hack into her personal computer. She traced them to the emails, she says, discontinued contact with the person, and reported the incident to the job board. But two years later, she says, she learned that around the time of the correspondence, her Social Security number had been stolen and used to rack up $3,600 through an online account with a large electronics retailer. She then reported the problem to a credit bureau and the police.
Ms. Davis says she was able to restore her credit. But identity-theft problems often aren’t easy to resolve, so prevention — by keeping personal information private and taking precautions to make sure you’re dealing with legitimate companies and recruiters — can save you money and time.
When you post a resume, clear it of personal information. Cyberthieves have been able to gain access to resume databases and troll for Social Security numbers and other personal information, such as where you live and your contact information, says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a public interest research group in San Diego.
Some job boards offer posting options to keep your personal information anonymous, allowing users to check a box to “hide” contact information from employers. Ms. Dixon suggests keeping your name, address, date of birth and phone number hidden, and never posting your Social Security number or any other information that could help a criminal set up a bank or other customer account. On job board CareerBuilder.com, for example, if you “hide” all your contact information, employers can contact you only by email by choosing a “Send email” option.
Since scam artists have been known to post fake job ads, also remove personal information from resumes you submit to potential employers, says Ms. Dixon. Sometimes phony job postings can be spotted by checking for their misspellings and grammatical errors, she says. Ms. Dixon suggests creating a temporary phone number or email address for your job search.
Think twice before revealing personal information by email or phone. Con artists “phishing” for information through fake interviews may ask for, say, information such as your Social Security number or a scan of your driver’s license or passport, says Ms. Dixon, and claim it will expedite the application process.
Jennifer Sullivan, spokeswoman for job board CareerBuilder.com, also cautions against providing your marital status, eye color or financial information such as bank-account or credit-card numbers.
Two popular phishing methods are asking job seekers to complete a pre-employment background check or to create a direct-deposit account with the company, according to John Kane, acting manager of the Internet Crime Complaint Center in Fairmont, W.Va., which is funded by the FBI, and run in partnership with the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. In most circumstances, you shouldn’t agree to a background check until you have had an interview in person, or set up direct deposit until you’ve been hired.
There are legitimate work-at-home positions, as well as freelance and contract work, for which you may need to share personal information with an organization before meeting with hiring managers in person, but before you do, look for signals that it might not be above-board. You can start by searching on the company’s name on the Better Business Bureau’s Web site. Another helpful Web site is Lookstoogoodtobetrue.com, maintained by a joint federal law-enforcement and industry task force.
“The victim community tends to be very vocal in terms of warning people about scams,” says Mr. Kane.
When Shelley Cardenas, 51, posted her resume on a large job board after her employer relocated from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., she received an email offering her a financial post — though she hadn’t applied for the job. When she did an online search for the name of the person who contacted her, nothing came up in affiliation with the company. The same thing happened when she searched online for the names of executives she found on the Web site the email cited. Growing skeptical, Mrs. Cardenas posted her concern on a Web site dedicated to exposing scams online, and a discussion participant sent her a link to user complaints on the site about the company. After receiving six emails that she suspects were scams via the same job board within two months, she pulled her resume from the job board.
“I think it’s unfortunate in this day and age that there are so many people out there that just want to hurt other people,” says Mrs. Cardenas.
If the company that contacts you appears to be a well-known employer, don’t think you’re in the clear. Criminals are copying company Web sites and tweaking the contact information or links, says Ms. Dixon of the World Privacy Forum. Although a Web site may look credible, do an Internet search of the company to make sure the URL of the official Web site matches the address the employer refers you to. If there’s a mismatch, find the phone number of the company’s corporate headquarters on the official Web site to verify that the hiring manager who contacted you is an employee.
— Ms. Mattioli is an editorial assistant at CareerJournal.com.