Internet scams seem to be a fact of life these days. Barely a week goes by without most of us receiving an increasingly convincing-looking text message or email trying to coax us to click on a link or perform some sort of action that will ultimately leave us vulnerable.
From scammers seeking personal information for identity theft reasons or to get access to your bank account, the number of scam types is also increasing. We’re far beyond the halcyon days of poorly-spelled messages purporting to be from impoverished royalty who need you to wire them some cash.
Now, scams such as “hi mum” or “hi dad” are on the rise. These can seem genuine because the fraudster is sending a message pretending to be the child of the recipient, explaining that they’ve lost their phone and need help. What parent wouldn’t jump?
Other insidious scams involve romance stings, which can often rinse the recipients of huge amounts of money. These are also known as “pig butchering” scams, and involve a scammer forging a connection or a relationship with the person they want to defraud.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ”Romance scammers create fake profiles on dating sites and apps or contact you through popular social media sites like Instagram or Facebook. The scammers strike up a relationship with you to build up trust, sometimes talking or chatting several times a day. Then, they make up a story and ask for money.”
And it works. The FTC said that in 2022, 70,000 Americans fell victim to online romance scams with a price tag of $1.3 billion lost.
New data from payment app Revolut indicates that many scams originate on Meta platforms with 62% of all scams reported to it having come from one of the tech behemoth’s platforms. Facebook had fraud volumes (39%) which were more than double that of WhatsApp (18%), for example.
And now, in addition to the sprawling proliferation of code verification, inheritance and malware scams, is another con that’s on the rise.
Job scammers, whose primary aim is identity theft, are targeting job seekers, and according to McAfee, the anti-virus providers, “the people behind job scams want the same old things. They want your money, and they want your personal info for identity theft. In some cases, they want you to launder money or pass along bad checks, all under the guise of signing up for onboard training and materials”.
Korn Ferry data agrees. “Faux job ads are spreading at an alarming rate, fueled by AI that allows criminals to easily whip up believable job descriptions and accompanying disinformation, such as fake recruiter profiles on social media. Candidates are tricked into supplying key personal information that enables scammers to commit identity theft.”
It is becoming such an issue that LinkedIn shut down over 86 million fake accounts in 2023, with more than 90% identified at registration, and the rest caught through manual investigations.
The FTC says losses from fraudulent ads still rose by a quarter in 2023, up to $491 million, and data from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) identified a 118% jump in reported scams in 2023 over 2022.
How to spot a job scam
Read all job ads carefully––if they seem to be missing relevant information such as company details, this can be a red flag you shouldn’t ignore.
Or, if you’ve gotten a response from a recruiter, is the process moving unusually fast, or is the only contact you have with the recruiter via text or online chat? Both of these can mean the job isn’t real, and the goal is to get your personal information.
If you’re asked to provide your Social Security or tax ID number before you’ve been made an official offer and have signed a contract, run. Take the same tactic if you’re asked for your banking details at any point before an official offer of employment is made.
And of course, if you’re ever asked to pay a fee or transfer money, this is a clear indication that the job ad is a scam and should be avoided at all costs.
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