The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

“A candidate was going to resign”: how scammers trapped 130 people with a fake recruitment

2022-12-13T13:34:58.718Z


TESTIMONIALS - A hundred candidates applied for a fake job offer. Thinking they were engaged, they delivered their personal data to a usurper. If the scam has been discovered, the case is not yet over.


For the past ten days, Stéphane, at the head of Kwantic, an e-commerce start-up of the name, has spent several hours on the phone with around twenty candidates who claim to have been hired by his company.

Yet neither he nor his partner have offered a job offer recently.

Indeed, a scammer usurped the identity of his company and “hired” a hundred candidates.

In all, 130 people, who thought they were applying for a real offer, had a fake telephone interview with a scammer.

A number of them even received a proposal for a permanent contract.

To finalize

the "hiring"

, the candidates sent personal data, such as their bank details, photocopy of passport and Social Security number.

Information now in the possession of the usurper.

Among the victims, Aurélie*, in her thirties and mother of a five-month-old little boy, was alerted by chance coming across a publication by Stéphane, after he himself was contacted by a victim who wanted more information. on false recruitment.

Since then, around twenty people have joined the business manager.

A hundred other people, unidentified, are still in the wild and do not have, a priori, any information concerning this scam.

A credible interview

Aurélie, and other candidates with whom Stéphane spoke, applied on the Indeed platform, which has not yet responded to our requests.

A UX-designer position was offered on a permanent contract for 3,200 euros per month, working remotely and with a computer provided.

"

The offer was rather attractive but they explained that there was a large demand in this sector

", explains Stéphane.

Once the application has been sent, Aurélie receives an email from the scammer, who pretends to be Benjamin, Stéphane's partner.

They agree to a telephone interview.

Read alsoScams, tax exile ... How Bercy intends to end the jungle of influencers

In all, the discussion lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes for the other candidates.

Twelve for Aurélie.

Nothing seems suspicious to her: the interlocutor seems to have mastered her subject, especially when she mentions the competitor for whom she worked;

the questions are quite banal: "

Why you and not someone else?"

», «

what are your qualities?

», «

your motivation on a scale of 1 to 10?

»... When she finishes the interview, she thinks she has passed it hands down.

A fictitious appointment to sign the CDI

Aurélie then receives a job offer: “

I am happy to inform you that you will no longer be able to rest from January 5, 2023

”.

Marion and Sarah, also candidates, receive a similar email.

The scammer did not bother to change the turns of phrase: “

I am personally betting on your candidacy

”;

"

I want to put my trust in you

."

Impossible at that time for the victims to notice the deception.

Attached is the open-ended contract, which must be signed during a meeting scheduled at the company's headquarters, on December 16, 2022 in Paris, for some;

at the head office in Bordeaux - which happens to be Stéphane's personal address -, on December 21, 2022, for others.

"

With this appointment, the scammer was surely trying to make the offer even more credible

", analyzes Stéphane.

In fact, the subterfuge works.

Aurélie, delighted, makes her arrangements: she organizes to look after her five-month-old little boy, books a train ticket to Paris and a parking lot.

The email sent to one of the candidates.

Personal picture.

Personal data, object of the scam

At the end of the email, there is what the scammer is looking for: a request concerning the candidate's personal data.

"

In the event of acceptance by us, you will send the list of the following documents as soon as possible: a proof of address of less than three months, a bank details in your name, your Social Security certificate, a scan of your valid identity document (in 600 DPI resolution)

”, it is written.

Aurélie, like the other candidates, runs.

Unfortunately, we still have a hundred people who are not aware of the scam, and who are likely to go to the meeting

 ”.

Stéphane, co-founder at Kwantic Agence Web.

Stéphane noticed the deception when a former candidate, who had applied six months earlier for a real job, sent him a message, disappointed not to have been contacted again: "At the time, we told him

that we had no positions available.

So she contacted us again when she found the new offer on Indeed

”.

He then publishes a message on LinkedIn to alert as many people as possible.

It was by falling on this post that Aurélie realized that she was concerned.

Stéphane still expects to have to welcome other scammed candidates on December 16 at his company's headquarters, and on December 21, in front of his home in Bordeaux: "Unfortunately, we

still have around a hundred people who are not unaware of the scam, and who are likely to go to the meeting.

One of the candidates was even going to resign from her job

.

Today, he still does not know why his company was chosen or who is behind the scam.

He filed a complaint at a police station.

A meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 15, the day before one of the false meetings.

Contacted by

Le Figaro

, the national police have not yet responded to our requests.

Advice from Pôle emploi to protect yourself

This scam is not new.

Pôle Emploi has also already paid the price when it opened its platform in 2012. Since then, the administration has taken action.

She explains to Le

Figaro

that she has implemented algorithms and artificial intelligence for detecting offers or searching for suspicious profiles, as well as certifications when creating and accessing recruiter/individual employer accounts.

Its advisers are also trained to better identify suspicious offers, and regular awareness campaigns are conducted with candidates and recruiters.

With the cyber-malicious site, Pôle emploi has created a section dedicated to recruitment-related risks for both candidates and recruiters.

Here are some tips to guard against it:

Pôle emploi advice during recruitment

Beware of an offer that is too attractive, even out of the ordinary;

ads that contain spelling mistakes or that ask to reply to a “

public

” email address;

never give a recruiter your personal data until you have met him;

do not pay any money to a potential employer;

Make sure of the legal existence (SIRET) of the company behind the job offer;

be vigilant when a recruiter contacts you at an atypical time;

pay attention to what the recruiter says...

What can we do with the data?

As part of these scams, the scammer often seeks to extort money from candidates or steal personal information, such as bank details or Social Security numbers.

These can be used fraudulently or resold on the “dark web”.

Depending on its nature and its potential use, the cost of acquiring the data will be higher or lower.

*Name has been changed.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-12-13

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-10T05:14:04.555Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.