Fake Job Ads Stealing Identities and Money

A spate of malicious advertisements have recently appeared in newspapers and on job seeking sites. These ads look like legitimate offers for employment, and can easily deceive unwary individuals.

Criminals are targeting popular job seeking services like Seek.com.au, jobsearch.gov.au, and Gumtree.com.au, with advertisements claiming to be from reputable companies and job seeking agencies. This is designed to gain the users trust, and encourage them to send through personal details.

Once an individual applies for this job (often by submitting a curriculum vitae) the malicious individual will often start up a conversation via email. During this conversation, the scammer will often confirm that the CV has been received, submitted to the relevant companies or departments, and finally that the person who submitted the resume has been successfully accepted and will likely request financial details for pay and tax, driver license and passport details, and other additional information. With these details in hand, malicious individuals can quickly and easily commit identity fraud, skim/empty a bank account, or use the individual who was applying for the job for money laundering.

Unitech Solutions encourages jobseekers to be vigilant when applying for work. Job advertisements should always be checked for spelling or grammatical errors, Australian contact information like phone number and office location (more than a .com.au at the end of an email address), as well as double checking that the business who is advertising the job is legitimate via the Australian Business Register.