Police issue advisory to public to be aware of fake job offer scams

In recent years, many people have applied for jobs online through recruitment websites or hiring emails. Unfortunately, cybercriminals will take advantage of this to create social engineering scams with fake job postings and recruitment messages. These scams can be a form of social engineering and phishing. Anyone is susceptible to job offer scams. So, it’s important to learn how to identify them and protect yourself.

Fake Job Postings

Cybercriminals will set up fake job postings on recruitment websites, such as LinkedIn. To start this scam, cybercriminals will make an anonymous account and create fake job postings for a real organization. The job postings will look legitimate, but they will actually lead you to a malicious website. This website will prompt you to enter personally identifiable information, such as your name, email address, and phone number. Cybercriminals can then use this information to try to steal even more sensitive information from you.

Fake Recruitment Messages

Cybercriminals will send you fake recruitment messages through email or through a job recruitment website, such as LinkedIn. With this scam, cybercriminals will hack into real email addresses and pose as recruiters from an organization. Then, they will send you an email or a message from a job recruitment site. These messages will look legitimate, with details about the job and a link to apply. When you click this link, you’ll be redirected to a malicious website that steals your personal information.

What Can I Do to Stay Safe?

Follow the tips below to stay safe from fake job offer scams:

·         When you receive an email, stop and look for red flags. For example, watch out for emails sent outside of business hours and emails containing multiple spelling or grammatical errors.

·         Avoid applying for a job on a recruitment website’s platform. Instead, look up the organization’s official website and find its careers page.

·         Cybercriminals could also use this scam to target people in a specific organization. Be sure to follow your organization’s specific guidelines when applying for internal positions.

Stop, look, and think. Don’t be fooled by the scammers.