Protecting yourself from recruitment scams

There has been a significant increase in phishing attempts from scammers posing as recruiting professionals. Cybercriminals are continuously adapting their tactics to appear more convincing, often impersonating legitimate entities in their efforts to deceive individuals.

Recently, fake recruitment messages are being sent to individuals across various platforms including WhatsApp, LinkedIn, email and more. These messages, supposedly from a recruiting professional, start a conversation about a potential job opportunity. Those who respond to the message are then asked for personal details.

In today’s quickly evolving digital world, the best way to prevent yourself from being a victim of recruitment scams is to educate yourself and remain vigilant.

What to look for in a fraudulent message:

• Receiving an unexpected message from an unrecognized sender
• A request for money or payment of unusual fees
• Messages purportedly from recruiting professionals via social messaging apps like SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc., or generic personal email accounts like Gmail or iCloud
• Extraordinary job opportunities where you are immediately offered high compensation packages and special benefits
• Requests for unnecessary personal information

What to do if you receive a fraudulent message:

• Do not engage with or respond to the sender
• Do not click on any links or attachments included in the message
• Do not share any personal information with someone you do not know
• Report the message as spam or phishing by using the platform’s “report” feature and block the sender
• If you receive an email or communication from an individual you suspect of impersonating Spencer Stuart employees, please do not hesitate to contact our Service Desk Team at servicedesk@SpencerStuart.com so that we can monitor these phishing activities.

It is not Spencer Stuart’s practice to have initial outreach with either candidates or prospective employees through WhatsApp and our firm would never request any type of payment via social messaging platforms. We recommend that you continue to stay cautious and follow best practices for online security.