“I had brought out the champagne, I was very happy because for me it was the perfect position, I projected myself.”
The disappointment was immense for Virginie (first name has been changed), a 30-year-old web worker, who like many others was duped by a real-fake job ad on professional social media. A well-crafted scam that has claimed dozens of victims.
The technology sector knows, as we know, strong tensions in recruitment. There are many job postings on Indeed or LinkedIn.
To attract scammers. The idea? Placing a false ad to obtain highly sensitive personal data from the candidates. How? Usurping the name of a well-known company and its leaders, and taking advantage of the biases of these social networks.
well established scam
The scam is really well established. The scammer posts on various professional social networks an attractive job offer (salary, working conditions), well written using the correct company information (which can be found on trade registration sites) and offering multiple positions.
“I saw this ad on Indeed on November 20th, continues Virginie. I quickly positioned myself because this offer ticked all the boxes for me. I send out CV, portfolio and cover letter. A few days later I get a rather crude email telling me that my candidacy has been selected and that I have been invited to a telephone meeting. Apart from the somewhat familiar tone of the email, I suspect nothing.”
However, the young woman inquires about the company she is recruiting, the names of the managers, everything seems to fit: “nothing suspicious, apart from the general manager’s Gmail address”.
The company that “recruits” is Kwantic, a web agency specializing in particular in the development of mobile applications and user interfaces.
The telephone interview went as planned, “with questions related to the ship, not very technical, rather general. But the person was aware of the market, of the competition. He played the ‘small family business’ card with a friendly, s”. Expressed well, it gives confidence. I told myself that the technical tests would be for later. At no time did I tell myself, it is a scam despite an interview that in the end was quite short ”, continues the mother of the family.
Fake employment contract and gifts
A few days later, that’s the good news, Virginie, like many other people, receives by email a permanent contract to sign, including company information (siret number, share capital, etc.), signed in the name of Benjamin Quéroy, Managing Director at Kwantic.
The letter that accompanies the contract is well written, congratulating the candidate, promising mountains and wonders (such as a MacBook pro computer), and setting up a physical appointment at the company premises to finalize the hiring and “meet the teams”. The icing on the cake, your travel expenses will be reimbursed.
But before that, the company obviously needs personal data such as a photocopy of the identity card, social security number, a RIB to prepare the file of the future recruit. Here is the scam.
“I sent everything and I wasn’t aware of anything until I came across Stéphane’s post,” he continues.
Kwantic (the actual company) realizes something is wrong when receiving calls from people supposedly hired after this announcement requesting additional information. Problem, the agency has never published such an announcement.
“The consequences can be dramatic”
“I was even contacted by a person telling me that he was going to resign from his current position to come to our house. Among these people, some have children, others credits. The consequences can be dramatic,” he explains in BFM Business.
The scammer knows the sector, the usurped company, the needs of the market and knows how to reassure the candidate (usually young, provincial and inexperienced). He indicates “that given the lack of profiles currently on the market, he hires without restrictions and that his profile matches perfectly, and for more junior profiles, internal training will be planned to improve their skills”, continues the manager.
The worst thing is that the thief or thieves give a false appointment to the victims “in their house on their premises. In our case, everyone was invited to come visit us on December 16”, explains Stéphane Cathers.
It is not an isolated case
“In other letters they even gave my personal address, which is that of the company’s headquarters, it’s incredible,” explains the manager. They began to call us candidates, mainly from the provinces. We warned them but we didn’t get everyone. can come for nothing The ads disappeared but from what we saw, at least 130 people applied, 20 contacted me.”
For Stéphane Cathers, this case is not an isolated case. The difference may be in the sophistication of the scam: good information, reassuring telephone exchange, usurped names of well-known people.
“We are trying to notify everyone through social networks of this matter to prevent it from happening again and above all notify that there is no announcement or appointment on December 16,” repeats the businessman.
Meanwhile, the officer filed a lawsuit against X and advises all aggrieved applicants to do the same.
What controls in professional social networks?
Because the risk of exploitation of this personal data is real (opening of a bank account, credit subscription, identity theft…). The problem is that they were transmitted without coercion or piracy.
In any case, this scam raises the question of verification of job advertisements posted on these professional social networks.
I questioned, Indeed indicate to BFM Business “avoir une équipe dedédiée à la qualité de la recherche qui se donne beaucoup de mal pour deployer une variété de techniques afin d’évaluer la pertinencia et la validité des ofres d’emploi. Indeed supprime chaque mois près de 10 million d’offres d’emploi dans le monde qui ne respect pas nos consignes de qualité. policeman”.
In the specific case of this listing, Indeed indicates that it has identified and removed the listings and associated accounts.
LinkedIn, for its part, explains that it uses “technologies including artificial intelligence and teams of experts to find and eliminate fake job offers that do not meet our standards. We encourage our members to report any suspicious job offers to us so that we can We can investigate.” .”
Problem, these controls are arranged after the ad is published. Enough to give scammers enough time to activate their trap before these true or false ads are removed.
Source: BFM TV
