Job Hunting’s Newest Wrinkle: Scams

Today, even strong candidates say they’re waiting forever to find jobs in certain sectors. But now, many of them are suddenly getting offers—from identity thieves posing as recruiters or hiring managers. 

Faux job ads are spreading at an alarming rate, fueled by AI that allows criminals to easily whip up believable job descriptions and accompanying disinformation, such as fake recruiter profiles on social media. Candidates are tricked into supplying key personal information that enables scammers to commit identity theft. “That job ad is not the lottery ticket it appears to be,” says David Vied, global sector leader for medical devices and diagnostics at Korn Ferry.

To be sure, fraudulent job ads are as old as classified ads. But the timing of these scams is particularly unfortunate, for candidates and firms alike. New technology has upended the job-hunting and hiring processes, with candidates using AI to post hundreds of applications at once. Overwhelmed firms say even their own AI filtering systems can‘t always sift out the best candidates. 

All this is exacerbated by the scope of recent job-ad fraud, which is hard to understate. LinkedIn says it shut down over 86 million fake accounts last year. The FTC has announced that losses from fraudulent ads rose by 25% in 2023, to $491 million. A new report by McAfee suggests that the problem is only growing in both size and intensity: As with the email scams that loop in unsuspecting recipients to send cash, the number of scammers involved is enormous. “If there’s a network like this, someone will take advantage of it,” says consumer and culture expert Alma Derricks, senior client partner at Korn Ferry. 

The scams are aimed at workers at all levels, from CEOs to part-time hourly employees, though entry-level and contract jobs seem to be particularly hard-hit. “Scams do tend to appeal to more junior or less sophisticated job seekers—it’s a big issue for the targeted populations,” says Dennis Deans, vice president of global human resources at Korn Ferry. 

Prospective employers are advised to build trust with candidates by posting ads on multiple reputable online locations, including their own company website and paid job sites, says Vied. Many scammers do neither, instead posting free or very low-cost job ads, or contacting unsuspecting individuals via text or email—communications tools that do not require face-to-face interaction. 

Experts recommend a solution for both employers and employees that has echoes of 1962, 1972, and 1982: good old-fashioned networking. Real-time discussions with recruiters can calm jittery applicants by offering the kinds of in-person or online exchanges that scammers can’t replicate. Candidates can also reach out to their own networks. Longtime recruiters say that these professional networks, along with a candidate’s word-of-mouth reputation, are extremely helpful to their recruiting efforts. “It’s interesting that despite all the technological advances, we’re being tossed back to the way we used to job hunt, through friends or friends of friends,” says Derricks.  

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