Recruiting Scams – What they look like and how to protect your organization

Sadly, scams intended to lure unsuspecting victims to part with either their money or their personal information are increasing. We’ve all seen the “Nigeria Prince” scam or some other version of this scam. During my 20-plus years in HR, I’ve seen numerous scams attempting to access employees’ personal information. More recently, the tactics have involved payroll scams with scammers posing as employees asking to change employee direct deposit accounts

Over the past couple of years, though, there has been an increase in recruiting scams, which have become a serious issue for many organizations and job seekers. The people who develop these schemes are smart and dangerous and even more creative in their approaches with the advent of artificial intelligence. These new recruiting scams not only tarnish the reputation of hiring organizations but also harm job seekers who may have stopped their searches thinking that they have found the job that they were looking for. It is important to recognize the impact of these scams and for organizations to develop and implement strategies to prevent them while striving to maintain trust and operational integrity.

Understanding Recruiting Scams

These scams typically involve people (scammers/fraudsters) who pose as legitimate recruiters or as representatives of an organization and attempt to deceive active job seekers. Their goal is to obtain personal information, sensitive data, or money from unsuspecting people or even organizations. The most common tactics used by these criminals include sending phishing emails, creating fake job postings on job boards, or impersonating recruiters on social media sites. Just this week, a scammer extended an offer to a candidate for a job we were, indeed, in fact, recruiting for and asked for banking information to facilitate onboarding activities. Just this week a scammer extended an offer to a candidate for a job we were in fact recruiting for and asked for banking information to facilitate onboarding activities.  They had lifted a logo from our website and set up a fake email with a domain that appeared to belong to Insource. This all appears legitimate to job seekers and many organizations as well.

Reputational impacts to your organization from these scams

1. Damage to the reputation of the organization

• These types of scams can severely damage an organization’s reputation. People who have been taken in by these types of scams may feel that the organization is at fault for the scam and post their experience on the internet, or they may vent their frustrations with family and friends. All these actions can negatively impact the organization’s reputation.

1. Potential Talent Avoidance

• These types of scams can lead to qualified candidates avoiding organizations that appear to pose a security risk. This can create a serious problem for the organization’s growth.

Possible legal issues or compliance complications

• An organization may encounter legal issues associated with these types of scams if the scammers are able to exploit their brand name to conduct other fraudulent activities. This may also lead government regulators to look more closely at the organization’s data security and recruiting practices.

How These Scams Impact Job Seekers

Potential Theft of Data

• These scams are designed to steal/collect data from individuals. The goal is to collect sensitive personal information that can be used to create identity theft and additional fraudulent acts.

Financial Difficulties/Losses

• Victims of these scams often lose money (whether it’s a small amount or a large amount is immaterial). They may be asked to pay fake fees for job applications and background checks or to make deposits or purchases of equipment for positions that do not exist.

Emotional Distress

• Individuals who fall victim to these scams can feel everything from anger to embarrassment, rage to anxiety, and a loss of confidence in themselves for being taken in by these scams. No one wants to admit that they fell victim to any type of scam, and this victimization may stop individuals from pursuing future opportunities out of fear of it happening to them again.

What Can Be Done to Prevent Potential Recruiting Scams

Prevention is the key to everything, but how do you protect yourself or your organization from this type of scam? Below is a list of things that organizations can do to protect themselves:

1. Clearly post Job Opportunities and Hiring Practices
   • Ensure that the hiring practices of the organization are clearly spelled out on the job posting and company website so that all potential candidates are aware of them and include an alert about the prevalence of scams and importance of verifying recruiter credibility.
   • Make sure that all job postings are on approved social media/job boards as well as the company website. This will provide candidates with a better sense of security, potential recourse and help protect the organization’s reputation.
2. Make Sure that the Organization’s Cybersecurity is Strong.
   • Begin by monitoring the internet for any unauthorized use of the company’s logo, name, or branding. This can be difficult, but it is important that the organization make every effort to do this. The most effective way to do this is through the use of brand protection software, which allows the organization to set up scheduled scans across the internet using several different tools like advanced image recognition technology, social listening platforms and google alerts.
   • Ensure that employees use secure communication channels to interact with potential candidates about open positions.
3. Employee Education/Training
   • Ensure that employees receive the proper training on cybersecurity and how to protect themselves and the organization.
   • Train the HR and recruiting personnel on how to recognize these scams and how to report suspected fraudulent activities and respond.
4. Encourage job seekers to ensure that Job Postings are Valid
   • Check the online job boards and social media on a regular basis to ensure that the postings for your organization are legitimate and that they are accurate.
   • Only use platforms that you know and trust and make every effort to thoroughly vet the job boards and social media accounts that you use. Verify the validity of a recruiter you suspect may be a bad actor.
5. Try to Educate Job Seekers on the Potential of Scams
   • Create a platform that provides tips on how to avoid recruiting scams. Advise them on how to identify potential scams by looking for requests for payment, verifying the identity of recruiters associated with the posting, and checking the email domain.
6. Provide Candidates with a Clear Way to Report Potential Scams
   • Provide a way for potential job candidates to easily verify your job postings or for them to report potential scams.
   • Once you receive a report of a potential scam, investigate it as quickly and thoroughly as possible, work quickly to address the issue, and put processes in place to prevent future occurrences.

In Conclusion

As you can see these recruiting scams can have devastating effects on organizations and job seekers. If organizations take simple proactive measures, they can effectively protect their reputation; they can build trust among job candidates, and create a better, safer hiring experience for everyone involved. It is important that organizations build an effective strategy against recruitment fraud to maintain their standing and reputation in the business world.

For more information about how to protect your organization, contact us today at 781-235-1490 or insource@insourceservices.com.