Warning About Employment & Identity Theft
It's getting creepy for many applicants to look for legitimate work when identity thieves are lurking on the internet and even on sites like LinkedIn. Sending you text invitations for remote work with fake job postings, fake HR Departments, fake numbers that cannot be traced or a recycled number from a person who isn't linked to any company.
I don't have a profile on LinkedIn, but I was able to track and take down one scammer pretending to be a recruiter there months ago. Mostly those are criminals trying to set you up with fake jobs and trick you into signing fake contracts or asking you to send copies of your SSN and IDs.
Many scammers in fact are making fake accounts using the names of real companies. I encountered one several months ago using the name of a big Corporation like Dell and HP. When you see the domain they have letters, hyphens or dots in places where the real domain doesn't have it. Examples of those fake domains are: dellcorp.com or dell.corp or Hp-corp.com etc (All fake domains) Do not open or click the links because you may get a virus or a phishing attack in attempt to track your online activities or Smishing.
Most of the Smishing attacks I have received this year are from India and using the .io domain and I have tracked others from country codes in Hong Kong (+852), Ukraine (+380), the UK (+44), India (+91) and Iran (+98). To mention a few.
One way to spot the scammer is that they would not contact you via email using an email from the real company's domain. They would text you first and offer you to reply to their Gmail account or some fake email with a fake domain, they would quickly offer you to set up an interview via Zoom.
DON'T, Do Not Get on Camera with them; because you don't know who they are and what motives they have. They may use the video recording for other malicious purposes including using your face to forge IDs, create AI fakes or AI ransoms or simply frame you for other illicit acts.
My advice is don't fall victim of criminals and report them immediately https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams.
If you live in the same area of the company, you can ask for their physical address, a Corporate phone number and you can request an email to confirm they are in fact employees of the company. Very often scammers would claim they work remotely so you may get a call from someone in another state or country. They're more likely either getting paid by someone to pose as recruiters or pretending to be recruiters if you cannot trace them to a legitimate company.
Also be aware, most recruiters who have offices in the same place where you live would not waste their time asking you for a remote interview because most serious companies want to see you in person to validate Your Identity as an applicant rather than having you on camera to verify if you are a real candidate. Also serious and professional companies would send you an email first to request more information about your time and availability for an interview instead of sending a random employee to contact you via text from their "personal cellphone" with some fictitious name. That's a red flag and you need to proceed with caution and be suspicious of that interview request. You can reply and request an email first with their contact information. Do Not click any links sent via text with requests to send copies of your IDs or physical address.
Worst case scenario if the office is remote, when in doubt call the company's main number and ask them to verify if they have an employee with the name they provided and request them to transfer you to their extension to leave them a voice mail. They should call you back from the company's number not their cellphone.
If you're unable to verify the employer is legitimate.... please report them because you're protecting yourself in case they got your email, phone number and home address. Also that keeps the rest of us safe too. Those fake companies are usually taken down by the FBI, District Attorneys and Law Enforcement, because they're likely committing many crimes not just Identity Theft.
Stay safe and Happy Job Hunting!
