70,000 jobseekers fall victim to job scams every month (UK)

http://www.recruitmentgrapevine.com/article/2015-10-27-70000-jobseekers-fall-victim-to-job-scams-every-month?

27 Oct 2015

More and more candidates are falling victim to job scams, the recruitment industry’s counter-fraud forum warns.

SAFERjobs is a voluntary organisation that combats and raises awareness of criminal behaviour affecting the recruitment sector.

The organisation is now warning that the number of job scams is on the rise.

Keith Rosser is the Chair at SAFERjobs. He says: “In 2008 around 150 people were coming to us each month for advice, that’s now soared to 70,000.

Rosser suggests that there are three scams that recruiters should be aware that their candidates may fall victim to.

Advance fee scams

These are scams where the fraudsters ask for money to do things like write CVs or carry out security and police checks. Other fee scams may see victims sign up for expansive training programmes that don’t exist.

Premium rate phone scams

In some cases, candidates are told to call a specific number for a job interview. The victims are then put on hold for a long period. Other cases see the fraudsters actually conducting a long interview which could end up causing the victim hundreds of pounds.

Money laundering scams

These scams involve the victims thinking they are being employed to work from home. In reality, they are being used to launder money by buying office equipment and ship it to specific addresses. They could also be asked to send cheques, not knowing that they are committing a crime

Beware also of the risk of falling victim to identity theft in these situations.