Thieves target Monster.com users

[unhappycamper]

Source: LA Times

Hundreds of thousands of job seekers are at risk of being ripped off through a sophisticated scheme concocted by Internet criminals who have penetrated the resume database at Monster.com, one of the nation's largest recruitment websites.

Using e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other personal information harvested from the job-hunting site, the crooks are posing as potential employers or as Monster.com itself in a bid to hustle the victims' bank account numbers and passwords.

The scheme came to light this week after a major computer security firm, Symantec Corp., reported on its website that it had found a hoard of 1.6 million personal records stolen from Monster.com on a computer in Ukraine.

By Wednesday, Monster.com had posted a warning on its online "security center" that scam artists were sending bogus job offers to its users in an effort to get their bank information.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-monster23aug23,0,4615171.story?coll=la-home-center

[YOY]

1. It takes a special kind of scum to steal from the unemployed

n/t

[Blue_Tires]

30. +1

monster is worthless anyways...i've been a member on and off for almost seven years and not one job interview has come through them

[havocmom]

2. K&R - and pleas for more to get this on Greatest Page to warn/remind folks

Just say no to requests for info people just shouldn't be asking for!

[Hepburn]

3. K&R

Hopefully this will make the Greatest Page. I would bet there are DUers who use this employment search service and need to be on the alert.

This is horrible ~~ I hope that they catch the people who did this.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

4. I got a couple of these emails

when I was looking for a job a couple of minths ago. I knew it was a scam and forwarded it on to monster. Never got a reply though.

[Ian David]

5. Monster.com is a shitty and unethical company to begin with. You should avoid them anyway.

1) They allow, condone and facilitate the posting of "business opportunity" ads disguised as "job postings."

2) They allow, condone and facilitate the posting of military recruitment ads disguised as "job postings."

[Hepburn]

8. Wow....

...did not know this. Glad this made the Greatest Page ~~ even if Monster was not having this problem, those are two good reasons to stay away from their service. Thanks for the info.

[Ian David]

9. FYI: I have no problem with the military putting HONEST recruitment ads on Monster.com

Or, for that matter, with HONEST "business opportunity" ads, either.

But Monster.com allows them to put DISGUISED "business opportunity" and recruitment ads on their site.

If you want to advertise positions for entry-level radar and communications engineer jobs, then you should have to identify yourself as The U.S. Navy. And it is a significant omission not to mention in your ad that there is a mandatory 4-year (minimum) service commitment, that you will not hire gay people, and that you may be required to kill people.

When do they plan on telling you that you joined The Navy?

Before or after the haircut?

[drm604]

22. Does Monster know these ads are disguised?

Does Monster know that these are disguised ads? I'm certainly not going to engage in any knee jerk defense of Monster but to be fair are they really able to do a thorough vetting of every employer?

I have gotten legitimate interviews and legitimate employment through Monster and I think that, for the most part, they are on the up and up. I don't think that they would want to ruin their reputation by knowingly running misleading employment ads.

That said, they need to greatly improve their security! And maybe they do need to look a little more closely at who's placing the employment ads.

And people need to think more about the information they give out. No one gets my Social Security number until I've actually been hired and am sitting in HR filling out the forms.

[Donnachaidh]

26. So does the MSM -- ever see those *order our CD's* ads on Countdown?

You've probably seen them, the ones that give a website with an outlandish url like 74makeMoney.com? Those are ads for Herbalife distributors. They say *hurry to order this while it's still a free service*. And all those folks who claim to be making 10 or 20 thousand a MONTH. Yeah riiiight.

[ceile]

28. They do identify themselves when it's military.

I see them all the time. They do advertise for "entry level" or "musicians for band" and they are always identifed as Army or Navy.

[Ian David]

33. They didn't used to. n/t

[SayWhatYo]

17. I find craigslist.org is the best place to look for jobs...

All those big sites suck anyways...

[rfranklin]

6. Monster.com should be responsible for all losses incurred...

There is a Republican mindset these days that you can take all the profits you want, but when it comes to being accountable, it's "I can't recall," or "It's not my job!" This culture of responsiblity dodging has got to stop!

[Wednesdays]

12. Oh, but you KNEW the risks when you signed up at Monster.com

So it's YOUR fault and YOUR responsibility if something goes wrong.

:sarcasm:

:puke:

[Seedersandleechers]

7. Do I have this right?

A potential employer contacts you for a possible job and you give them your account number and password..:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

And this worked?

[Ian David]

10. I read the article, and it is MUCH more sophisticated than that.

I think just about ANYONE can be fooled by this.

[Matariki]

15. A little bit - but still easliy avoided

The first ought to be very suspicious to anyone thinking about taking a job like that. Anyone asking for bank account information should be treated with a great deal of suspicion.

The second method is avoided with a good virus protection program.


<snip>

"At least three types of follow-up e-mails were sent to the job seekers, according to researchers at Symantec. One of the e-mails purports to come from an employer looking to fill a job facilitating money transfers and asks applicants to supply their own bank account information. Symantec said accounts would almost certainly be drained.

Two other e-mails appear to come from Monster.com itself and ask recipients to download an automated Monster Job Seeker Tool. Clicking on that link can download a program known as a keylogger into a victim's computer, giving the con artists access to financial account numbers and passwords. It can also download what's known as ransomware -- a program that encrypts the user's files and allows renewed access only for a fee."

[Aviation Pro]

11. A few years ago....

...I completely eradicated my Monster account because of the proliferation of scam job offers from desparate Amway distributors and their scumbagish ilk. Monster needs to implement a quality control program on their employer database and scrub all the "own your own business" shitstains.

[Ian David]

21. I complained to Monster.com and they're cool with it.

So long as once you go to the webpage of the company trying to sell you a "business opportunity", that the company's webpage makes it clear that you're about to be hosed.

Monster.com sees absolutely no need for the ads to be clearly identified, so long as the advertisers checks keep clearing.

[Jack_Dawson]

23. Agree 1000%

TheLadders.com is a lot better of a site. Of course, it's $30/month.

[samsingh]

13. K & R

it's very easy to fall for these scams

[Matariki]

14. Potential employer asking for bank info?

Over the internet?

gotta be a bit dense to fall for that.

[SayWhatYo]

18. Well, it might be done like this...

You apply for a job and they do some sort of phone interview and then send you the hiring papers you would usually expect. Now, I'm not too sure about the bank account stuff, I mean I suppose it would make sense in the case of setting direct deposit. You might think it's uncommon for companies to hire based solely on a phone interview, but I know for a fact that a lot of IT companies do that for short term projects. I've done it more than a few times to make some extra cash. Of course it's always wise to look up the company before sending any information...

[Highway61]

16. Here is an administration that watches EVERYTHING

and is clothed in secrecy. Where is the FBI??? CIA??? NSA??? Watching who will show up at the next protest march? What the opposing candidates are up to? Meanwhile the IRS looses thousands of citizen's SS# ...the VA was hacked as well ...on and on we go down the road. Makes you wonder if "big brother" is really the ones doing all this hacking. Meanwhile we're fed the ole "guess who's in rehab this week"....and the sheeple remain complacent....wtf:

[NYC]

32. Chronology of Data Breaches.

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm


TOTAL number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches 159,550,898

[MannyGoldstein]

19. I May Have Been Targeted!

I had a "headhunter" call me yesterday based on my posting on Monster - among other things, he wanted my Social Security number, which is bizarre, so I told him to go away.

He called back and asked if he could have just the last four digits of my SS#. Again, I told him to screw.

I sent an email to Monster yesterday telling them about this.

Fortunately, the most personal thing on Monster is your name, address, and email - stuff anyone can get off of the web anyway.

[underpants]

20. Do NOT GIVE ANYONE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION

In case you hadn't gotten the message already. :silly:

[superconnected]

24. I think this scam has been going on a while.

I remember an email from at least 3 years ago wanting my credit card info for a potential job from there so this scam must have been going on for quite some time.

[MindPilot]

25. Had a friend nailed by this a couple weeks ago.

He got an email about an opening in San Diego. He lives in San Francisco, but is looking to move to SD. He called. The guy wanted his SSN, and kept calling back several times a day until my friend finally gave in. Yeah, I told him it was a very stupid thing to do and he'd better start freezing his credit right effing now.

[Donnachaidh]

27. when would ANY business ask someone for their bank information?

Any breathing individual should know NOT to give out that information to a prospective job!

[CraftyGal]

29. I have my resume on Monster.ca and I have received these emails as well.

I hadn't connected it though to this until now. I have never given out any real personal identification to anyone. The Canadian government has advised to NEVER give out out Social Insurance Number. We only are to give that out once we have the job. I have deleted anything that asked for banking information. I also have the fraud emails for all the major banks, so when I receive phishing emails, I automatically send them to the perspective banks.

I have even asked TrogL to do this when he receives them.

Crafty

[entanglement]

31. In this age of easy and cheap encryption, why do .coms store personal data as plain text?