Disguised as employers, the fraudsters lure job seekers with fake job advertisements. They advertise flexible working hours, the best earning potential, home office options with little effort and don't expect any special qualifications or certificates.
Your goal is the personal data of interested parties, especially banking information. In this way, the fraudsters try to cleverly integrate the applicants into their money laundering system.
Job advertisements that lead to crime
The first step is to ask applicants to open a new bank account under the guise of verifying their details. The applicant is then instructed to forward a payment received from the fraudsters to other, mostly foreign, accounts for “test purposes”. So that job seekers play along and don't become skeptical, they are allowed to keep part of the transfer amount as "wages". This makes the applicant himself a criminal and threatens prosecution on suspicion of money laundering. In other cases, applicants provide their existing bank account. The principle remains the same.
As if that weren't enough, some fraudsters use other data such as name, birthday, picture, etc. to steal the victim's identity in the next step. In the name of the applicants, the fraudsters offer goods on the Internet that do not even exist, collect the money and never deliver the paid goods. Here too, the applicant faces criminal charges on suspicion of fraud.
“Fake job advertisements appear serious at first glance and can hardly be distinguished from real job offers. Don't be blinded! In general, do not share sensitive information with strangers on the Internet.”
Laura-Christin Brinkmann, press spokeswoman for the Osnabrück Police Department
In order to counteract this, the “State and Federal Police Crime Prevention Department” placed its own false job advertisements on eBay. If the applicants' interest is aroused, they will be warned about such false job advertisements in the ad text and will receive tips on how they can protect themselves from online fraudsters.
The police give the following tips:
- Do not share sensitive information with strangers online
- Be skeptical about contact purely via email or messenger service.
Reputable companies rarely only communicate in writing. - Do not open new accounts at the request of third parties
- Check whether the hiring company or job agency really exists; Is the work assignment serious, sensible and logical?
- Listen to your gut feeling; the more tempting an offer is, the more suspicious you should be.
- Report it!
- In an emergency, dial 110 (Germany) or 133 (Austria)!
Source: Press portal
This might also be of interest: Telephone fraud – victims were confronted with personal data
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