State police share tips on how to prevent phishing-related new hire scams

Channel 11 has told you about work-from-home scams, fake job posts and other ways thieves can prey on those looking for a new opportunity.

“It’s really tough with this whole online market just to start this job application, right? You’re no longer dropping off resumes, you’re submitting everything online. So that gives somewhat of a more benefit factor to the scammers because they can put up fake job listings, etc,” said Trooper Rocco Gagliardi with Pennsylvania State Police.

But job scams don’t stop there. State police are also seeing reports of new hires at a legitimate company getting taken advantage of by scammers on the outside after they start in their new role.

“So if I’m the scammer, the only thing I’m doing is watching that as a big corporation is hiring this entry-level position. Once that goes away, I know they have filled it. I can go on your employee directory and find out exactly who that new hire is – ‘Oh, this guy or girl was not on this page last week.’ It has their name, their contact phone number, the email address for the company,” Gagliardi said.

Scammers might even create an email address that looks similar to the company’s, targeting that new hire and pressuring them into sharing information. Gagliardi says it’s important to crosscheck suspicious emails with your HR Department so you don’t become a victim to any phishing scams.

“‘Hey, I got this email about buying gift cards for the team. Is that something we do?’ Maybe it is. But if you don’t ask and they say that’s not legitimate, we don’t do that here, you’re going to save yourself a couple hundred dollars,” Gagliardi said.

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