Scammers Target Job Seekers
06 January 2012 by Scunny Independent News
Its the new year, and with it comes a new online scam, targeting the nations many job seekers.
"Phising" scams have always targeted those people who are in need, and have in the past usually tried to hone in on people short of cash by promising commissions on money exchanges, inheritances from long lost relatives or the good old postal scam of winning a competition and having to pay packaging on a prize.
"Phishing" is a social engineering technique developed by hackers years ago and used initially over the phone to gain personal information from a victim. Modern day Phishing is carried out via telephone, email, web sites and social media.
In the last couple of weeks I've noticed the development of a new kind of Phising Scam designed to steal personal information allowing organised criminal gangs to "clone" people's individual details or impersonate them in order to carry out financial transactions.
What's very worrying is that these scam's are moving rapidly with the times, and focusing on peoples needs and vulnerabilities. With unemployment at an all time high, and further cuts planned, scammers are now actively targeting job seekers with lucrative offers of employment usually abroad. I've received several emails in the last week, many of which have not yet been identified by Hotmail as a scam, which offer employment opportunities either working remotely on line, or indeed with generous relocation packages to the USA.
Again, those most in need of work are more likely to respond to these solicitations, and as work becomes harder to find people will be more likely to reply to and / or investigate these offers.
One which came through earlier today seems to specifically target users of Yahoo Messenger services, telling them they've been selected for an online interview and to get in touch with a certain account.
Another "offer" I've received was for a range of semi-skilled positions and job opportunities which would be mailed to me once I'd provided a significant amount of personal background information which would allow certain standard security questions used by a lot of banks etc to be compromised.
Again this was not spotted by anti virus / scamming software and got through to my inbox.
When looking for work on line there are lots of well established and reputable recruitment companies and agencies, so I'd always be very sceptical of any unsolicited offers of employment and would look carefully at what information was being requested and why.
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