Online job search with a blue background. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Fake email addresses. Copycat web sites. Requests for personal information before a job is offered. Interviews conducted only via instant messaging. Promises of salary that are too good to be true. Requests to submit payment to move to the next step of the job search.

These are just a few of the dirty tactics scumbags use to try and scam job seekers, including inexperienced job seekers like recent college grads and entry-level job seekers. The threat is real, and like any online or cyber threat, the people conducting the fraudulent activity are often trying to gather information to steal one’s identity or money.

The team at College Recruiter takes the threat of job search scams and fake job postings seriously, and has implemented a multi-step process that identifies and blocks the vast majority of identity thieves and other scammers from ever posting a job to College Recruiter. In fact, every single job advertisement placed on College Recruiter goes through an in-depth verification process to prove the job posting is legitimate, and all ads are verified through actual contact with a human with the employer posting the job ad – something not every job board can claim.

“Here at College Recruiter, we take these fraudulent attempts very seriously and work daily to ensure all the jobs that are posted on our web site are from verified employers to protect our job seekers from applying, interviewing, and becoming victims of identity theft,” says Dani Bennett, Sales and Client Services Manager at College Recruiter.

In the article Rise of Recruitment Scams Hurt Both Job Seekers and Employers Alike, the team at  global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas identified some recent and unfortunately, popular job search scams. What may be surprising to many is that these scams don’t just target small companies. Here are some examples:

1. Scammers created a false ad for Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations. When a job seeker responded, the person who received the email asked for additional personal information, such as tax files, driver’s license, and birth certificate. Scammers then used this information to open credit cards and bank accounts. The messages from these so-called recruiters sound legitimate. In the Rio Tinto case, the recruitment email included an application with the company’s name and logo.

Remember, anyone can set up a fake web site or email account, for example through free email providers like Gmail, Yahoo!, or Hotmail. College Recruiter, however, will not accept any job postings that use a free email provider to receive job applications.

2. In another incident in Houston, scammers set up an actual interview, via Google hangout, using the name of a reputable company, and then offered a position. The scammers then asked the job seeker to move around large sums of money, in this scenario, up to $3,000. To carry this out, they sent fraudulent checks made out to the job seeker to start a home office, then asked the job seeker to forward that money to a third party vendor.

“Any time a company asks you to pay or hold money for them, you should immediately see red flags,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. “A credible employer would never ask their employees to move money through their personal accounts. That’s why companies have accounting departments.”

3. In July, Shell Oil, one of America’s largest oil and natural gas producers with over 22,000 employees, posted a notice on its careers site warning job seekers that scammers were using the Shell name and logo to recruit for positions.

Besides the obvious problem for job seekers, the toll these scams can take on a company’s reputation is huge, says Challenger. Most employers don’t know these fraudulent job postings are out there until they are contacted by job seekers who have figured out it’s a scam and contacted the legit company directly. By then, the company reputation is already damaged with those job seekers.

“From a recruitment perspective, once a company’s brand has been associated with these fraudulent ads, it may be difficult to attract the talent needed when a position becomes available,” says Challenger.

College Recruiter Founder Steven Rothberg added, “Some job boards, like College Recruiter, have formalized, proactive, anti-fraud measures in place, but many job boards are more reactive and rely upon their users to complain about fraudulent postings before the job board takes any action.”

Not only do cyber criminals post fake job ads, unethical recruiters also post fake job ads, often on sites where they can post free job ads. Why would they do that? To act like they are “well-connected” and have a long list of candidates to choose from. A recruiter may submit these resumes to the employer for which they are hiring for, to show activity – which employers value when working with recruiters – and that they have an active pipeline of candidates, when they have no intentions of responding to, interviewing, or hiring these employees.

How can a job seeker spot a fraudulent job posting, or job search scam? Follow these tips from the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota:

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Fraudulent job postings, left unchecked, can prove truly harmful to college students and recent grads. Recently, an organization calling itself HYDROCK, Inc, LLC, posted fraudulent job postings for college students. Thankfully, the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota received reports about the fraudulent postings and alerted employers, job seekers, and recruitment media companies like College Recruiter about the questionable job postings.

The postings boasted of positions allowing students flexible hours/scheduling “to avoid conflicts between classes or other business.” Unfortunately, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Upon further investigation, that was the case with this posting.

College students and recent grads should be leery of shady job postings. If applicants run across job postings like this (or are approached by companies after posting their resumes online), they should consider the following warning signs that may indicate signs of fraudulence:

• You will receive a check up front, prior to beginning work.
• You will work a minimal number of hours but receive a large income in return.
• You are asked to submit your Social Security number or very sensitive personal information to a company prior to the face-to-face interview and acceptance of the position.
• As part of the position, you will be required to transfer money or reship goods.
• The company claims to be located in another country.
• The position does not list any minimum qualifications for education or experience.
• The job posting contains grammatical, mechanical, or stylistic errors.
• The company claims to have been in business for years, but the website was only recently created.

Faith Rothberg, CEO of College Recruiter, recently discussed the topic of fraudulent job postings with Pete Weddle, the Vice President of TATech. Faith will be moderating a panel discussion at the TATech Industry Congress this weekend, April 16-17, in Orlando, Florida.

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Faith and Pete both believe that if College Recruiter and other recruitment media companies take action to prevent scammers from successfully reaching candidates, they will help make a difference in fighting this ongoing battle against fraudulent job postings.

“At College Recruiter, we believe every student and recent grad deserves to get started in a great career. Having quality job postings is necessary to reaching this goal,” Faith Rothberg states. “We also believe that talent acquisition leaders deserve to have a place to connect with candidates, a place which showcases quality positions they have to offer. This is what College Recruiter offers. College Recruiter’s extensive filtering system ensures that the jobs on our site are quality postings and are limited strictly to those with 0-3 years of experience.”

Need help managing job postings? Reach out to College Recruiter—we’re here to help.

In today’s job board industry, fraudulent job postings are a real threat to both job seekers and talent acquisition professionals. TATech, the Association for Talent Acquisition Solutions, is confronting that threat head-on in various ways.

One of the ways TATech is rising to the challenges posed by fraudulent job postings is by offering solutions to members of the job board industry. At the upcoming TATech Industry Congress event in Orlando, Florida (April 16-17, 2016), College Recruiter’s CEO Faith Rothberg will moderate a panel discussion on this very topic. This article and embedded video, hosted by College Recruiter’s Content Manager, Bethany Wallace, with guests Faith Rothberg and TATech Vice President Pete Weddle, discusses the importance and relevance of Faith’s panel discussion topic, “Fraudulent postings: Why protecting users protects your business.”

If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.

First, Pete Weddle provides viewers who may be unfamiliar with TATech a little background on the organization. TATech, formerly the IAEWS (International Assocation of Employment Websites), has its roots in job boards. It has evolved as the industry has evolved. The association includes almost any organization providing technology and services that help facilitate the talent acquisition process. Collectively, the TATech membership powers over 60,000 sites or applications.

The TATech Industry Congress is the only industry-focused event in 2016. At this event, Faith Rothberg, CEO of College Recruiter, will moderate a panel discussion on a hot topic in the job board industry. The title of Faith Rothberg’s panel discussion is “Fraudulent postings: Why protecting users protects your business.” Faith explains that the panel discussion will cover everything from how fraudulent postings can occur, how businesses can prevent them from occurring, and how business owners/recruiters can keep them to a minimum. The panel will cover criminal intent, technological solutions, and enhancing the candidate experience.

Fraudulent job postings have become more of a problem lately because scammers have figured out ways to automate attacks on job posting sites to steal personal information. This can lead to problems for candidates when searching for jobs online. This can lead to more severe impacts on candidates, including identity theft. Scammers have become highly educated in this process.

Pete Weddle adds that he regularly hears from talent acquisition professionals who are concerned about this problem; he is very excited about hosting this panel discussion at the TATech Industry Congress.

Faith believes that TATech is truly helping the job board industry to better equip themselves to handle this problem through the TRUEad program. TATech created the TRUEad program in response to this issue. It is a centralized place to report fraudulent job postings and to gain awareness about fraudulent job postings.

For more information about the TATech Industry Congress or the TRUEad program, visit the TATech website.

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