Job seekers have been warned to be careful about sending their
CVs to potential employers' websites or online recruitment
agencies.
An experiment involving a fake website lured 107 people into
submitting their CVs. The CVs contained information that left
individuals vulnerable to identity theft.
Of the CVs received,
61
contained enough information to apply for a credit card, reports
the BBC.
The experiment was staged during national identity fraud
prevention week, which took place earlier this month.
It involved the police, the Information Assurance Advisory
Council (IAAC), and online CV provider iProfile setting up a
website for a bogus company called Denis Atlas.
This fake firm placed an advert in a national newspaper for a
job as an office manager. It invited people to apply by sending in
their CVs to the website.
The site attracted 107 people for the job, although a quick
search of the website would have shown that it was in fact a fake
operation, said the IAAC.
"Many people are happy to send in their CVs 'blind' without
thinking about the consequences if their information fell into the
wrong hands," the IAAC told the BBC.
The CVs submitted contained an average of eight different pieces
of information that might have been useful to an identity
fraudster.
The most common ones were full address and date of birth. One
application even included a passport and national insurance
number.
The most useful items of information for fraudsters, which
should be omitted from an online CV, are date of birth, marital
status and place of birth.
The Denis Atlas
website explains to visitors its modus operandi. It says, "If
you have arrived at this website it probably means you're
researching a job advert we placed for the company Denis Atlas.
Firstly, we have to tell you that both the company Denis Atlas and
the job we advertised don't exist.
"We wanted to find out how many people would respond to a job
advert without first checking out the details of the company, to
ensure it is a reputable organisation, since very little is known
about this at present. That's why we placed the advert and we've
found that many people have sent their CVs without doing proper
checks beforehand - you are one of the people who clearly decided
to check the company out first, well done!
More on online CV fraud:
Stamping out the fraudsters >>