JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Scams come in many forms: phone calls, credit card skimmers and a more recent trend — phony online job postings.
In a 2023 study done by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the amount of cases where people are applying for fake jobs are up by 118%.
The reason? GuidePoint Security, a software company, says it's because of the growing demand for remote jobs.
Scammers are taking advantage of people wanting to work from home by using AI to copy job postings from company websites, but asking for personal information in the initial application.
“Your social security number, your driver's license number, bank account information, which is crazy," said Jean-Paul Bergeaux, the federal CTO of GudiePoint Security. "But, sometimes you'll see these scammers, they'll put those requests early on. Don't give that information. You should not need to give that information until you have some interviews and you start moving towards actually getting a job."
To avoid falling victim to a job posting scam, experts suggest to go through an in-person or on-camera interview before handing out confidential information.
"What I tell people to look for is if they're trying to keep you away from a video chat or in-person, if it's a job that actually has an office, [that's] local, pushing for a local in-person conversation is the best that way you know what's going on," Bergeaux said. "But, if you can't, then definitely [do] a video conference."
In addition, Bergdeaux adds to double check if the listing is posted on a trusted website like LinkedIn or Indeed.