Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion

iProfile, an online CV company, recently conducted an experiment to see how many job seekers are unwittingly exposing themselves to identity theft.

They posted a fake job advertisement for the company ‘Denis Atlas,’ an anagram of “steal an “id.” Then they hired former fraudster Bob Turney, a reformed identity thief who now aids in keeping consumers better-informed about fraud vulnerability, to inspect the content of the resumes for vulnerability pockets.

If the job seekers had simply googled the company before applying, they would have seen that the whole project was a ruse. Instead, in one week, 107 resumes were sent to the fake listing. Turney said that of the 107, over half contained enough personal information for an ID theft to occur.

Turney said, “While many people now routinely shred things like bank statements and utility bills, they still seem happy to send their CVs to complete strangers. They need to realize just how easy it is to use the information in a CV to set up a bank account or to take out a credit card fraudulently.”

According to iProfile, a criminal only needs just three out of fifteen key pieces of information to commit identity theft, including date of birth, address, passport numbers, and detailed references.

Rick Bacon, CEO of iProfile, said that job seekers need to host their resume securely on their Internet by using a reputable provider instead of aimlessly emailing resumes to unverified sources.

“There are many people who just place their CV online in an unsecured manner, for example by setting up their own simple web page,” Bacon said. “We’d caution against this as it can expose them to identity fraud. Stick to the established providers who invest in security and processes to protect your information online.”

Here’s some simple ways job seekers can protect themselves against identity theft:

*Verify that the company who is posting is legitimate
*Be cautious when accessing personal information on public computers
*Shred old copies of your resume
*Use a phone-masking service to protect your personal number.
*Do not include DOB, marital status, or place of birth on your resume