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A warning about a job advert..

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Hi

 

I am the real director of the real recruitment company whose identity the fraudster has hijacked so can confirm that it is a con, a very sophisticated one as you are taken through a recruitment process via email, approved (funny that) and then sent a contract signed by my doppelganger with our company details on. As we exist, people check us out and see that everything appears legit.

If you know anyone else who has been conned please let me know and I will let you have my details to send info too as we are putting a case together to support the police investigation. It looks like there were at least 50 adverts out there with up to 15 applicants per advert. could be looking at a £500K swindle.

The fraudster even had the cheek to reply back to me when I told him we were on to him and to stop using my name.

 

Quite an intriguing response.

You're admitting that you've been hiacked : on a personal ID level, or through your company? Either way, a worrying insight into how secure or otherwise your email server systems are.

What I don't see is the actual purpose behind the scam : the email address was shown as being Ian.******@jobsworth.eu, so unless this is false/yours that's been intercepted, it's you who would end up with scores of CVs.

If that's the case, what good does it do the villain?

Thankfully the initial response from the bad guy is so obviously a wrong 'un, I can't see many folk having been taken in by it....

At least you've had the bottle to "come clean" about it, which is more than the "#1 Job Site" have done : their attitude seems to be "you're on your own, pal..."

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no we havent been hacked but it is quite easy to appropriate a real company directors name, company address (which are both publicaly available at companies house) and then make up a false (but similar) email address to correspond with people, too easy by the looks of it. All correspondence through that email was with the scammer and he went to the trouble to write back to people and pretend to interview them for the role.

I wouldn't have had any idea this was going on until people started calling up wondering why "I" hadnt returned their calls or supplied them with goods to sell on ebay.

Unfortunately job boards operate under a buyer beware system so this sort of thing is going to happen again again that's why I have spent the past 48 hours tracking down the job adverts in my name and any reference to them to inform people it is a scam. Some poor people have been completely taken in but luckily no one seems to have gone that final stage and forked out any money to the scammer.

If we can make spread the word it will hopefully make it harder for the scammer to do it again under a different guise.

My advice to anyone reading this is to always call a recruitment company (or anyone offering this sort of deal) on a landline and speak to them. It isnt foolproof but makes it that much harder for the average scammer to get away with it.

Hope that helps?

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Agreed - it's a worrying development from what you say.

As you're probably aware, most Job Centres now advocate the use of search engines for claimants seeking work, and in fact furnish/recommend a list of the "top ten" sites (whether officially or not, I don't know) on which to register.

In this case, Reed.co.uk were taken in as well - doesn't their organisation have a responsibility to verify the legitimacy of positions before they are placed on their site?

What it boils down to is that the scammer - for whatever purpose - now has umpteen full CVs, bearing names, adresses, phone numbers and work history - perfect ammo for ID theft.

 

Incidentally, Reed's advice - contained in their cold, matter-of-fact email - was to contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or visit their website for advice http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

I decided to report it last night, using their website. It's in the form of a multiple question/one answer job, and as far as I can see, the only use of it would be purely statistical. At no point does it allow any "real" details....

Hopefully, the phone service is better, but that too may be a "press 1 for this, 2 for that" format.

 

Amusingly, Reed's email states "You can learn more about the safety measures in place on reed.co.uk and read tips and information on how to spot and avoid some of the most common internet security threats, including so-called phishing scams, by visiting our security centre"

 

It's a shame that they don't check a few things first themselves!

 

A very awkward situation for you and your company to find yourselves in : I hope you eventually have success in solving the problem.

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thanks Riffraff

I didnt think of the ID theft the scammer could perform with the CVs as was initially concerned with making sure the ads were down and all victims were aware of the scam. That is a very good point and I will make everyone we are aware of aware of the potential for ID theft.

Cheers for pointing that out

 

BTW if you do call the digital fraud number you do get through to someone who will take down details. It is an initial admin exercise but I believe that the more people who report the scam the more chance there is of it being investigated.

 

FYI I have also registered this on the BBC watchdog website

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Coincidence?

Just had two "out of area" phone calls - i.e. number withheld - on the home phone....and we're ex-directory.

 

---------- Post added 19-12-2014 at 23:04 ----------

 

thanks Riffraff

I didnt think of the ID theft the scammer could perform with the CVs as was initially concerned with making sure the ads were down and all victims were aware of the scam. That is a very good point and I will make everyone we are aware of aware of the potential for ID theft.

Cheers for pointing that out

 

BTW if you do call the digital fraud number you do get through to someone who will take down details. It is an initial admin exercise but I believe that the more people who report the scam the more chance there is of it being investigated.

 

FYI I have also registered this on the BBC watchdog website

 

Hate to tell you this, Ian, but....

 

http://www.jobs-north.co.uk/jobs/office-administration/united-kingdom/scotland/aberdeenshire/aberdeen/ebay-sales-administrator-working-from-home-lja-10233267

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