Identity thieves prey on the unemployed

ORLANDO SENTINEL

ORLANDO, Fla. — With unemployment soaring, identity thieves are increasingly preying on unsuspecting job seekers by stealing personal information and trying to cash in on it.

The scams run the gamut from fake help-wanted ads and job-search services to bogus r sum -posting Web sites, part of a new arsenal of weapons targeting millions of recently unemployed people.

Job-search fraud is one of the fastest-growing segments of identity theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

“There are so many people out there who are desperate to find a job,” said Linda Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit watchdog group based in San Diego. “Unfortunately, identity thieves are taking advantage of people in these uncertain times.”

Whether they are registering with employment agencies, responding to ads, posting r sum s or surfing career sites for work, jobless people too often give up their Social Security numbers and other personal data, experts say.

If it falls into the wrong hands, the results can be disastrous. Identity thieves have used the information to wreak financial havoc, often trashing victims’ credit while using their names to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards, loans, cell phones and utility services.

Most job-search fraud appears to come through bogus help-wanted ads, which have spiked nearly fourfold in the past three years, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, citing numbers from the Association for Payment Clearing Services, a British global financial monitoring agency.

Even some legitimate job-search outlets have been victimized. Earlier this year, Monster.com acknowledged its database was compromised by hackers who captured user IDs, passwords and other information, though not r sum s or other sensitive data.

Monster said it was monitoring the situation but was not aware of any fraud resulting from the security breach. Users were told to change their passwords and delete any unsolicited e-mail asking them to click a link and “confirm” their personal information or download certain software “tools.”

That incident highlights how wary people should be when they use online job-search sites, said Steven Fahlgren, a former Orlando lawyer who now practices in the Jacksonville, Fla., area. He said it especially hit home for him after he used Monster.com to post an ad for a paralegal.

“Almost immediately I was bombarded with e-mail trying to get me to click on ... sites asking for personal information,” he said. “Sorry to say, some people who might be new to the Internet or don’t think about what they are doing will get dragged into those sites.”