There are more and more “sophisticated” recruitment scams on LinkedIn. According to the Financial Times, scammers are taking advantage of the democratization of telecommuting and job cuts in the technology sector to pose as recruiters, and thus obtain personal and financial information from job seekers on Microsoft’s professional social networks.
The British business and financial daily reports that last month, cybersecurity firm Zscaler exposed a scam targeting a dozen US companies, including enterprise software firm Zuora, software developer Intellectsoft and Zscaler itself. Scammers have created “look-alike” websites with job postings similar to those of these companies.
They then reached out to job applicants via LinkedIn direct messaging, urging them to provide personal information before conducting remote interviews via Skype. Some would have gone so far as to ask for money for computer equipment or training from third parties, which the candidates were never reimbursed, advances the Financial Times.
Artificial intelligence, a new threat
These scams are being facilitated by the development of artificial intelligence, which poses a new threat. In particular, scammers use deepfakes to create fake profile photos. LinkedIn also has its own artificial intelligence to detect fake profile photos, says the Financial Times. ChatGPT, which can generate text, is another potential tool.
According to the British newspaper, the amount job seekers lose to employment-related scams is increasing in the United States. It would have increased from $209 million for 105,000 scams in 2021 to $367.4 million for 92,000 employment and business scams in 2022.
An upward trend that is explained by the development of teleworking, according to experts. Fraudsters can now make fake hires only remotely, bypassing the face-to-face interview. Recent layoffs in the tech sector provide another key explanation, experts say.
Source: BFM TV
