You posted your resume on a job board web site and hoped the ideal employer would read it and offer you that one-in-a-million position. Now, it's weeks later you haven't heard a word. Worse yet, suddenly, it seems your credit cards are maxed out, and it has been months since you charged anything.
You've become a victim of one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States—identity theft. And you can thank your resume for winning you the latest job at hand—getting your identify back.
Identity theft results in millions of lost dollars every year. In 1997, MasterCard reported that 96 percent of its losses were from fraud-totaling $407,000,000. The same year, the U.S. Secret Service made 9,5000 ID theft arrests involving losses of $745,000,000. ID theft is a felony, and the country's top consumer fraud complaint, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Many ID thieves obtain personal information from stealing wallets containing credit cards and other personal information. Some rummage through trash and/or steal mail from home mailboxes. However, the newest ID thief doesn't even have to leave home to pick your pocket—he can do it using his computer.
A recent article online on MSNBC tells the story of "Jim," who responded to a job posting on a large Internet job board. He received an e-mail from someone he though was a human resources director who said that his company was interested, but Jim would have to submit to a background check and requested some very personal information. Jim promptly sent his age, height, weight, Social Security number, bank account numbers, even his mother's maiden name.
After sending the information and not hearing from the HR director, Jim phoned the director, leaving a voice-mail message. When he didn't receive a return phone call, Jim called again—and this time found the phone line had been disconnected and the job listing on the job board had been withdrawn. He called the company's headquarters and was told the man he thought was the HR director did not work there, and that the job posting was a fraud.
"Job seekers have to understand that once their information is on the Internet, it's out to the world," says Mark Mehler, coauthor of CareerXroads, a reference guide to job and resume web sites. "Once you place your resume on a job site, anyone can view it—and use the information."
Online resume data bases are able to use and sell personal information in ways never imagined by applicants, says Pam Dixon of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC). "In the information economy, job seekers' names, e-mail addresses, and resumes have economic value, and this data often comprises a significant source of profit for job-search sites and related businesses," Dixon says. Job seekers should find the businesses—from resume writing services to online job sites—that are genuinely interested in helping job seekers. Avoid those sites focused on making a profit from resumes and contact information data, she advises.
According to the PRC, resume files have been downloaded, used, and/or sold, without the consent of thousands of job seekers. The job board Jim used recently sent an e-mail to millions of its registered job seekers, warning them of the potential abuse of their personal information. The board also posted a warning on its site, advising users that fake job listings have been used to gather and steal personal information.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't use these web sites in your job search, just be careful. The FTC says it's important to find out what happens to the personal information you provide—find out how it will be used and if it will be shared by others.
"We encourage students to use web sites that let them respond to job listings rather than registering with their resume, and having no idea who might have access to their information," Dixon says. "We have featured articles on data base security issues, and cautions students should follow on our web site. And one of our staff members is developing a tutorial for evaluating Internet career resources."
"When posting a resume on job sites, read the privacy statement to see what the rules are," Mehler advises. "On some sites, you can put in some skills and jobs are mailed to you. This way the job seekers are in control—then they can send out a resume to companies of interest."
Internet job-searching dos and don'ts:
- Do read correspondence carefully and look for red flags. The e-mail Jim received was fairly well written, but several sentences were missing words, the company's name was misspelled, and the phony recruiter gave a private e-mail address.
- Do use the Internet to find the company's web site and verify the address, phone number, and other information. Check the career page to see if the job opening is listed.
- Do use an e-mail address you can cancel if you start getting spam e-mail. Yahoo!, Hotmail, Juno, and Netzero all offer free e-mail accounts. Don't use your name in the e-mail address.
- Don't give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers, or bank account numbers, and don't make any monetary transactions.
- Don't give out any personal non-work related information, such as height, weight, or marital status.