Job hunting during a pandemic has proven to be much harder than in normal times. Threat actors are using phony job advertisements with the motive to steal your identity and use it to commit scams.
One of the methods scammers employ to tempt people is by advertising unusually generous pay. One such example is of Airport shuttle driver vacancy in which scammers are offering a job that involves picking up passengers for 35 hours a week at an appealing weekly pay rate that works out to more than $100,000 a year.
But in reality, airports aren't really offering six-figure salaries for shuttle drivers. Instead, the fake ads are scammers’ latest attempt to steal people’s identities and use them to commit fraud, according to recent warnings from the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, and cybersecurity firms that monitor such cyber frauds.
The U.S. Secret Service responsible for investigating financial crimes, also acknowledged that it has noticed a “marked increase” in phony job ads seeking to steal people’s personal data, often with the motive of filing fake unemployment insurance claims.
“These fraudsters, they’re like a virus. They continue to mutate. This particular mutation is an emerging threat,” said Haywood Talcove, chief executive of the government division of LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
Earlier this year in March, LexisNexis discovered around 2,900 ads offering unusually generous pay, using suspicious email domains and requiring that one verify one’s identity upfront. The total of these fake job scams surged to 18,400 by July, and then to 36,350 as of this month. Talcove said these figures are based on a small sample of job ads and that the real number is likely much higher.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly 2.9% of total workers in America quit their jobs in August which is an all-time-high. Meanwhile, huge numbers of laid-off workers are still seeking out work, making for a historic churn in the labor market. In 2020, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center data showed 16,012 people were victims of employment scams.
Some scammers recreate companies’ hiring websites to trick people. One such fake job application site uses Spirit Airlines’ photos, text, font, and color code. The fake site asks applicants to upload a copy of both sides of their driver’s license at the outset of the process and sends them an email seeking more information from a web address that resembles Spirit’s, with an extra “i” (spiiritairline.com).
Last week, the FBI issued an alert regarding phony websites that scammers design to resemble the state unemployment websites of Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. Fraudsters use the sites to steal victims’ private details, according to the FBI.
To mitigate the risks, the FBI recommends people search the company by its name only. If multiple websites with similar names pop up, that may suggest the job listing is fake. Also, companies typically ask for bank account information after hiring applicants, not before. The FBI is also requesting people to never provide bank details to an employer and to only reveal personal details after verifying the firm's identity.
