Asked to Verify Your Identity? New Job Scam Aims to Steal Your Credentials
Home Help Center Asked to Verify Your Identity? New Job Scam Aims to Steal Your Credentials
- The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is seeing a rise in job scams asking you to verify your identity so criminals can steal your personal information and credentials.
- Right now, the ITRC sees a rise in a specific type of employment scam where criminals pose as hiring managers asking people to go through the ID.me verification process. At some point, criminals ask for either driver’s licenses or ID.me login credentials. ID.me is used by many states and employers for identity verification.
- To avoid one of these scams, like the ID.me scam, make sure you know who you are communicating with, and be wary of anyone reaching out to you that you do not know. Also, avoid any unknown messages, don’t click on unknown links and take steps to protect your privacy.
- If you believe you were the victim of a job scam, contact the ITRC toll-free by phone (888.400.5530) or live-chat to speak with an expert advisor. Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is seeing an increase in a handful of different job scams. The latest scam asks you to verify your identity in an effort to steal your information to commit an array of identity crimes. In this particular job scam, fraudsters use social engineering tactics to trick you into sharing your personal information.
ID.me Scam
ITRC expert advisors report seeing a rise in one particular job scam, an ID.me scam, where criminals pose as businesses hiring new employees. They tell people they need to go through the ID.me process for verification (ID.me supports private companies and state agencies for identity verification). Criminals are then asking people for copies of their driver’s licenses and selfies from the victim, or asking the victim to go directly to ID.me to upload their documentation and asking for the ID.me login credentials.
You May Be Asked to Verify Your Identity as Part of a Job Scam
The scam is not strictly targeting ID.me. Scammers are creating fake jobs and asking you to verify your identity in an effort to steal your personally identifiable information (PII), including your credentials, for identity fraud.
It is no surprise identity criminals are looking to steal people’s credentials. While these login credentials are being stolen as part of a job scam, cybercriminals have been focusing on attacks that require credentials to get access to corporate networks for Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams. These attacks require less effort, are largely automated, the risk of getting caught is less and the payouts are much higher than taking over an individuals’ account. In fact, according to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report (IC3), in 2020, the IC3 received 19,369 BEC complaints with adjusted losses of more than $1.8 billion.
Cybercriminals can also use PII like driver’s license numbers and sensitive data from documents to commit many different forms of identity fraud.
What Can You Do?
There are actions to take so you don’t verify your identity with the wrong person.
- Be suspicious of new social media contacts. Sometimes criminals pose as employees and ask you for information to “help verify your identity.” Businesses, including ID.me, do not ask for information this way.
- Know who you are communicating with. Make sure you are communicating with legitimate people, particularly on social media. If someone says they are with a company, go directly to the company to verify the person is with the organization.
- Be wary of job scams. There are many different forms of jobs scams. Criminals may offer you a fake job and ask you to complete an “employment verification” Process. Check out the ITRC’s blog on the rise in job scams and how you can protect yourself.
- Do not respond to any unknown messages or click on unknown links. If you receive a message you are not expecting, ignore it. Reach out to the company the message claims to be from to verify the validity of the message. Do not click on any links, attachments or files in the message because they could be malicious or lead to fraudulent websites.
- Protect your privacy and avoid oversharing. Be careful how much information you share in public areas like Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. Keep your information private, and only share it in trusted places and with people you know. Read the ITRC’s blog with cyber-hygiene tips that can keep you safe.
Contact the ITRC
If someone contacted you to ask you to verify your identity for a job, or if you believe you were a victim of a job scam or ID.me scam, contact us. An ITRC expert advisor can walk you through the next steps to take, and help you create a resolution plan. You can call toll-free at 888.400.5530 or live-chat with an expert advisor on the company website. Just visit www.idtheftcenter.org to get started.
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