People are looking for a change or a new job more than ever since the pandemic. As a result, the number of job adverts posted online is the highest since before the pandemic by over 150% (according to the ONS).
However, many cybercriminals are taking advantage of this increased activity and are creating fake job postings. These fake adverts aim to trick you into revealing personal/financial details or handing over money for phoney services.
As shown by the ,Office for National Statistics, there are more vacancies in the United Kingdom than ever before - ending the year with over 1 million. Such an increase in vacancies has flooded the market with job postings in various sectors.
Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the hot job market and injecting job listings that look like the original job posting. ,ZScaler has found that attackers scrape and reuse the contents of actual job postings to convince applicants the post is legitimate.
Some scams can gather personal information from a prospective applicant, asking for critical information like name, date of birth, address, and national insurance numbers, which they can use to impersonate you and commit other offences. In addition, personal information could be used for any number of nefarious purposes, such as taking over victims' accounts, opening new financial statements or using the victims' identities for other scams.
More sophisticated scams take it even further. For example, once a person applies to a fake job listing, the attacker will reach out via a source such as LinkedIn and start a seemingly realistic application process, gathering more personal information from victims as they go. The next stage is an attacker conducting false interviews or asking for money for an initial training package or starter kit.
Employment scams are a growing problem:
This is a significant issue on an international scale.
To protect yourselves from these risks, you should look out for these red flags:
Best practices while searching for a new job include:
To avoid falling victim to employment scams, it is essential to be vigilant and confirm job postings' authenticity before engaging with them.
Talk to us about ,Security Awareness Training and our ,Digital Footprint Assessment for a more in-depth understanding of cybercrime prevention.
As businesses continue to expand and grow, the need for new employees also increases. Unfortunately, with this comes the risk of cybercrime and fake job postings that can compromise a company's reputation and finances.
Here are three key ways businesses can protect themselves when recruiting new employees:
By following these three steps, businesses can help protect themselves and their potential employees from cyber threats and reduce the risk of cybercrime. Companies can also stay vigilant and educate themselves about the latest scams and how to avoid them.
,Become a member of the Cyber Resilience Centre today to learn more about the latest scams, security updates and guidance for SMEs.
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