How job seekers can avoid getting scammed out of millions

Employees are taught to be vigilant at work when it comes to cybersecurity threats that could put their employer at risk. Increasingly, however, cyber threats are expanding beyond businesses and targeting job seekers, too. 

From fake listings and unofficial job boards to unsolicited emails, scammers are taking creative approaches when it comes to setting their traps. Just like the unwelcome spam calls we've become accustomed to ignoring on our cell phones, networks of job scammers take a similar approach: cast a wide net, contact people at random, and hope someone bites. 

Too often, someone does: Americans have already lost more than $68M to job scams this year alone, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

"A lot of these [fake offers] are too good to be true — especially now," says Paul Laudanski, head of threat intelligence at software company Tessian. "Coming out of the pandemic, there are a lot of companies asking their employees to return to the office,  so a lot of these scams are offering positions where applicants can not only work from home, but for fewer hours and for a lot of money." 

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Recently, job scams have become incredibly intricate, often linking back to fake company websites that look like the real deal — targeted "interviewees" may even be asked to participate in Zoom interviews with real people in fake positions. Once a phony job offer is made, targets are often asked to "onboard" via a fake human resource management program, turning over their bank account information in order to receive promised paychecks. 

"The scammers during these types of scams send a check to the victim to cash, and then forward the money elsewhere," Laudanski says. "The check is fraudulent, and oftentimes doesn't fund the victim's account. Hence, the victim has lost their own money, thinking they were depositing a real check." Oftentimes, he points out, that leaves the victim burdened with repaying the sum they tried to cash, as well as with additional fees.

As check deposits are often closely monitored — especially if the money is coming from or going overseas — issuing fake checks isn't always easy. That's driven these organized scams to coerce "employees" to receive their payments via gift cards of cryptocurrency, making it nearly impossible to track. By the time the victim realizes the payment is fake, there's nothing to recover.  

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From an outside perspective, it may sound difficult to fall for one of these schemes. But at a time when financial and workplace tensions are high, people's emotions are often in the driver's seat — and criminals are betting on an emotional response. 

"It plays on people's hopes," Laudanski says. "I've seen situations where you have struggling single parents that want  to be home with their kids, and make more than what they're currently making. Employees that have been losing their jobs are  in compromised situations, and the scammers are playing off those [struggles] from a social perspective."

To avoid getting swept up in one of these deceptions, job seekers should consider what kind of salary a position typically calls for, or what kind of responsibilities the jobs they're applying for demand of them. If a job listing isn't in line with their research, they should steer clear. The kind of language used in job listings or emails should also always be considered. If it sounds informal, unprofessional or is littered with errors, it's likely not a real recruiter. 

"As soon as employees recognize something they need to immediately reach out to those associations or to those entities," Laudanski says. "If someone has sent money from their bank, then they need to contact their bank and tell them it's fraud and try and work with the bank to claw back that money if they can."