Recruitment fraud

Recruitment fraud affects not only job applicants, it can also impact your business.

A particular target as reported by the BBC has been LinkedIn although it is not by any means the only victim.

Primarily targeted at applicants it offered what turned out to be fake job interviews.

The scams work by firstly posting a job then requesting the job seeker click on a link to another website, where they require you to download something and log in and give personal details.

“Another frequent scam is to ask “successful” job applicants to hand over money upfront, with a promise that they’ll be paid back – commonly known as an advance fee scam.”

However, the report says: “LinkedIn says that 99.3% of detected spam and scams are caught by its automated defences, and that 99.6% of detected fake accounts are blocked before members even report them.”

It has introduced a series of new safety features. These include: “About this profile”, which shows when a profile was created and last updated, along with whether the member has a verified a phone number or work email associated with their account.

While obviously jobseekers are advised to be wary of scams, businesses too should be alert to the possibility.