A couple of weeks ago there was an article about how Talent Zoo (a US based job board) had discovered a new trend emerging among stolen credit card information. The article stated “People with fraudulent credit cards are now attempting to purchase resume access and job postings through job board sites in an attempt to gain more people’s information and steal their identities.” The article said that these scams seem to have originated in Nigeria, Malaysia and surrounding areas.
This is something that I’ve also been talking with UK CV databases about for a while.
I contacted a number of CV databases to see if they wanted to talk about how this affects their business. Kevin Drinkwater at Agency Central was happy to share some of the processes they go through to ensure security of data:
- Firstly, every candidate who registers has to indicate whether their details can be viewed by a) employers, b) agencies, c) both. Recruiters who sign up are then identified as an employer or agency, thus ensuring that candidates are only seen by the type of audience with which they are happy (and I am amazed that this is not a standard practice of all CV Banks, as candidates could be seen by their current employer)
- When a candidate registers, they are sent an authentication e-Mail and we show the recruiter whether the candidates e-Mail address has been authenticated or not
- We don’t take online credit card bookings, which means that we check all credit cards issued and credit check all customer before granting access
- Our system alerts us to any unusually high download activity
Kevin also said that, so far, they have experienced no instances that have given them cause for concern.
When I spoke with Craig Bines, Sales & Marketing Director of JobsGroup.net he said that all their clients are pre screened and assessed before any access to the database is given. For niche industries that’s not such a problem. However, sites like Monster must have dozens of new clients signing up each week. JobsGroup.net also remind candidates that they shouldn’t provide bank account details when applying for a job.
Lee Biggins at CV Library recounted that they have seen, and successfully foiled, a completely different scam – individuals using candidate information gained from CV databases to launder money. These scams can be incredibly complex and are set up meticulously. The scammer will fake up a recruitment business and using stolen credit cards try to gain access to CV databases. They will then contact “vulnerable” individuals and attempt to use their bank details to launder money. These scams mostly originate in Russia. Whilst CV Library have put processes in place which ensure there is no way these people can access their database, Lee has asked that I don’t reveal these processes in the public domain. However, if you run a job board or CV database and are worried about misuse of candidate information maybe he’ll share them over a lunch (if you pick up the tab!)
If you want to know more about scammers (and specifically the Nigerian scams) visit 419 Eater
