3.9.2003

Latest ID theft scam: Fake job listings

Why There Are Job Fairies...

"From: monster_info@route.monster.com
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 05:02
Subject: Important Information About Using Monster

Dear Monster Member,

This is a critical service message regarding your use of Monster:

Regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers. The placement of such false job postings is a violation of the Monster Terms of Use and may also be a criminal violation of federal and/or state law.

Monster is dedicated to stopping this abuse and providing the safest possible environment for you to search and apply to jobs and manage your career.

Here are some important tips to use when dealing with prospective employers:
* Do not give your social security number, even if they suggest that it is for a "routine background check."
* Do not provide credit card or bank numbers, or engage in any monetary transactions.
* Do not provide any non-work related personal information (i.e. social security number, eye color, marital status etc.) over the phone or online.
* Be cautious when dealing with contacts outside of your own country.
* Read the article, "Protect Your Personal Info." here: http://resume.monster.com/dosanddonts/personalinfo/

If you see a questionable job posting or site activity, please report the suspected fraud to Monster at reportfraud@monster.com.

If you think you have been a victim of fraud, immediately report the committed fraud to your local police and contact Monster at reportfraud@monster.com, so steps can be taken for your safety.

Regards,
Monster Seeker Support"

But it's been going on a lot longer than this. On the Dealing With Recruiters page, there is a section dealing with this issue, which Shocking Pink experienced in July 2001 on the nationjob.com career site. Her account:

"There was a recruiting agency out there with a name that sounded like a law firm. Very impressive sounding. And they had many job ads out on one of the decent sized job boards (but not the biggest). They were offering ridiculously low prices for some of these jobs, but were somewhat reasonable on others. So, I sent in a couple of resumes. I got an e-mail about two weeks later saying that they were holding interviews in Paris. They would pay you a per diem when you arrived at the airport, but in order to ensure that you did take the flight that they had reserved for you, you would have to put down a $200 deposit. All I got was the e-mail. There was no call from a recruiter, no phone screen, no request for a Word copy of my resume. They said that the screening would be on the first day, and if you made the cut, the offer would be presented to you on the second day. Now, I was recruited that summer by a major software company that was not located in my home state. They did a lot of chatting with me on the phone, and e-mailing back and forth before they booked me on a flight to their office. They did not charge me a deposit, and they offered to reimburse my expenses that I incurred during the trip (which they did, and promptly)."

This smelled like a scam to me, and the reason why was that the protocol has always been that the recruiter finds your resume in the database or you send it in towards a position. Then they call you or e-mail you back. They would take the time to screen you over the phone and then they would invite you down to their office to chat. They would be asking for your references. [Ed.: The software company in question checked out Shocking's references before she even flew out to meet them.] After this, if you were qualified, then they presented you to their client. There were no payments, deposits, anything like that - even if you did have to fly out to somewhere else to meet the hiring manager. The Teal Fairy went through something suspicious like this years ago, only they wanted her to fly out to England. It's OK to deal with out of state recruiters, but you should never have to pay to get a job."

See for yourself. Their e-mail, and the e-mail in response from the job board.

Follow up: What their website currently reads, contact information from Whois.net, another contact information screen shot from Whois, and another database lookup on their domain name, a database lookup on a variant spelling of the name, and their latest enabler in the next scam. The Job Fairies don't share in the domain owner's sense of "humor". When people need work badly enough, there is always the opportunity to get hurt. People like them are why there are sites like this.