Exercise Caution Against Potential Scams

What is recruitment fraud?

Recruitment fraud is a type of scam where individuals or organisations falsely represent themselves as legitimate employers to deceive job seekers. These fraudulent entities may create fake job listings, impersonate recruiters, or pretend to represent a well-known company with the aim of obtaining personal or financial information from applicants.

 

What exactly do they do?

The fraud may take various forms, including:

• Fake Job Postings: Advertisements and messages for jobs that don't actually exist, often listed on reputable job search websites, FaceBook or sent via email.
• Unsolicited Offers: Fraudsters may reach out to targets unexpectedly, offering a job without a formal application or interview process.
• Phishing: Emails or messages designed to trick individuals into providing sensitive information like social security numbers, bank account details, or passwords.
• Upfront Payments: Some fraudsters may ask for money upfront, purportedly for training, background checks, or supplies.
• Identity Theft: Personal data gathered from applications could be used for identity theft or other forms of financial fraud.
• Fraudulent Contracts: Fake employment contracts may be sent to the victim, sometimes even featuring the logo and name of a reputable company.
• Impersonation: Fraudsters may pose as well-known recruiters or HR professionals, complete with fake LinkedIn profiles and other social media accounts.
• Nonexistent Offices: Addresses provided may be fake or unrelated to any actual office location of the purported company.
• Contact by text message: Platforms such as Telegram or WhatsApp may be used for initial communications about job opportunities or other topics.

 

How can we avoid it?

Recognising recruitment fraud involves a cautious and thorough approach to any job opportunity. Some tips for avoiding such fraud include:

• Verifying the recruiter's email address, especially if it doesn't come from a corporate domain.
• Checking the legitimacy of the job offer through official company channels.
• Never sharing sensitive information unless you've verified the legitimacy of the request.
• Being wary of offers that seem "too good to be true."
• Conducting a comprehensive research on the company and the people involved. We recommend you do so using this link.
• Being cautious of any requests for upfront payments or fees.
• By being vigilant and cautious, job seekers can better protect themselves against recruitment fraud.

   

Our pledge

We wish to clarify that although Rigby has staff based in several countries, we will never initiate contact through platforms such as Telegram or WhatsApp. Nor will we ever request financial information in our initial correspondence or engage in any of the other behaviours outlined above.

 

If in doubt, please contact us.

Should you have any reservations about the authenticity of any message you receive, we urge you to reach out to us right away, either via email at contact@rigby.ch or by telephone at +41 43 883 03 79.

 

Update - Monday October 30, 2023

We have been in touch with the Swiss National Cyber Security Centre (ncsc.ch) about this issue.

They are aware of the problem. They tell us the scam with fake job offers is currently circulating in large numbers. Unfortunately, the names of Swiss recruitment agencies are also being misused in order to make the job offers appear trustworthy.

They have published a weekly review on this topic:

https://www.ncsc.admin.ch/ncsc/de/home/aktuell/im-fokus/2023/wochenrueckblick_35.html

The scam lies somewhere between a fake job offer and an investment scam. In the cases reported to the NCSC, victims received a job offer to write online reviews or test apps. They were asked to pay a sum of money before they could do the 'job'.

The NCSC's investigations are ongoing.