How to Spot a Fake Job Listing
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Here's your Money Briefing for Friday, September 10th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal.
How widespread are fake job listings and who reports them?
Employers struggling to fill positions are flooding online job sites with help-wanted ads. But lurking among those thousands of legitimate job postings are not-so-legitimate ads placed by fraudsters.
They just kind of spatter the world of job boards with these ads that kind of seem real. It's kind of low-hanging fruit. I mean, when I started out looking at this, I thought it would be really sophisticated, but it just isn't.
So how can you tell if a job ad is fake, and what can happen if you fall prey to this kind of a scam? WSJ contributor Heidi Mitchell has been looking into this, and she'll join us to talk about it. That's after the break.
This podcast is brought to you by ReliaQuest. Cyber criminals are constantly attacking. They want your data. They want your identity. They want your innovation. ReliaQuest fortifies your business with agentic defense, AI that detects, contains, and eliminates cyber threats in minutes. It helps your security team move faster at the work that matters most to protect the business now and delivers insights to help them predict what's next. ReliaQuest, agentic defense for the enterprise. Learn more at ReliaQuest.com. That's R-E-L-I-A-Q-U-E-S-T.com.
If you're on the hunt for a job, beware. Fraudsters are on the prowl as well.
Which job types do fraudsters target and how do they post ads?
WSJ contributor Heidi Mitchell has been tracking the growing problem of job seekers being victimized by fraudulent help-wanted ads, and she's here to talk about it. Heidi, thank you for being with us. Oh, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure. So, Heidi, how widespread is this problem? How many people have been affected by these fake job postings?
So the FBI has said that there were 16,000 victims who reported this into them. But the Better Business Bureau says that the figures are probably much higher because there's a little bit of shame in admitting that you were scammed by these fraudsters. So a lot of people just don't report. So the estimates are that they're just much higher than 16,000.
And do these fake ads show up for all kinds of jobs or are there particular areas that the fraudsters focus on?
They don't necessarily have a particular focus. They just kind of spatter the world of job boards with these ads that kind of seem real. It's kind of low hanging fruit. I mean, when I started out looking at this, I thought it would be really sophisticated, but it just isn't.
Okay, I want to get a better sense of how this scam actually works. You spoke to a 27-year-old woman who was duped by a fake ad, supposedly for the Humane Society, and it cost her dearly. Can you take us through her experience?
Yeah, so typically the Better Business Bureau says that about $1,000 is lost per victim, but this woman I spoke to is not unusual, and she lost $7,000 by going through this whole process. She was looking for a job. online. She'd posted her resume to all of the job boards. And she's 27, so she's used to contacting people via text. And so on her resume is her cell phone number. And so the Humane Society reached out to her and said, hey, we have this great job. It's in Seattle. She's in New Jersey. Why don't you get on Telegram?
How did one job-seeker get scammed pretending to be the Humane Society?
You can talk to this person. She even looked this person up. He was on their board. And they did all of the back and forth thing. The interviews were done on text through this Telegram app. And that is a red flag right there. But you know, it kind of feels like a normal place in this work from home world that we're working in.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:40
2
How widespread are fake job listings and who reports them?
0:40–1:57
3
Which job types do fraudsters target and how do they post ads?
1:57–3:38
4
How did one job-seeker get scammed pretending to be the Humane Society?
3:38–6:05
5
What tactics do scammers use after hiring to steal money?
6:05–8:06
6
Why do job-seekers fall for fake listings and what vulnerabilities are exploited?
8:06–9:12
Speakers
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