'I lost my savings after a job interview scam'
Job seekers, especially Gen Z, are being targeted with fake, booby-trapped recruitment apps.
Jobseekers are being urged to stay alert as scammers increasingly target people on job listings websites, tricking them into downloading fake interview tools.
One victim was contacted on LinkedIn by a bogus recruiter and invited into a job interview process, then downloaded what appeared to be a routine document that was actually malicious software.
Within hours, hackers had emptied his cryptocurrency accounts, taking £18,000 in savings before vanishing.
“It’s a horrible feeling to be out a substantial amount - something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” said the victim, who asked to remain anonymous.
Professional recruitment platforms LinkedIn and Indeed have both warned in recent months about a rise in job scams.
- “Younger professionals face the highest exposure to scams (32%), yet nearly a third (32%) admit to ignoring red flags due to a competitive job market.”
When the BBC contacted the company, it said that in a crowded and competitive job market, “many young people feel they can’t afford to be skeptical... because they feel opportunities are so scarce”.
The victim, who lost their savings after being hacked, had handed in his notice and had made it clear on LinkedIn that he was looking for a new job.
A fake recruiter sent a possible job offer and arranged a video call about the role before asking him to complete a standard technical assessment using instructions in a Google Sheet document.
But the document had been infected with malicious software.
After finishing the task, the candidate went to bed and woke up to find his online wallets emptied of his savings.
“I wiped my computer and changed all my passwords and was exhausted emotionally and mentally drained,” he said.
“I felt a mixture of disbelief and anger - at the hackers and at myself. I was also confused until I figured out how they had got me.”
Cyber-security researcher Charlie Kelly from Have I Been Squatted analysed how the attack operated and said the latest wave of recruitment scams was difficult to detect.
“This wasn’t a badly written email with a suspicious attachment - this person was walked through what looked like a real job interview, on real Google pages, behind a real Google login, and the software they were asked to install was digitally signed like any legitimate app.”
Criminals are exploiting the pressure and excitement of job interviews to lure people into downloading booby-trapped mobile applications such as a fake Indeed Interview app or one called MyInterview.
According to cyber-security company Malwarebytes, fake recruiters use prompts such as: “Complete your interview by installing the Indeed app” or “salary agreement available after app installation”.
Once downloaded, the malicious apps let hackers access private data for extortion or for use in financial attacks.
“Interviewing through Indeed's platform happens entirely in a browser and never requires downloading a special app,” the company recently posted online.
“Any message asking a job seeker to download an app to participate in an interview is not legitimate.”