ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS -- Scammers are hijacking online job postings and it's happening in Rock Island County. This scam is through a popular job search site called Indeed.com. The site is used by companies to advertise job openings and also by people to search for their next career move.
According to Rock Island County Administrator, Jim Snider, scammers accessed resumes and contact information for people who applied for a job with Rock Island County.
Those applicants then got an email from a fake Rock Island County HR representative.
According to Joe Kettering, a man who received the fake email, it asks for a copy of a driver's license, photos of the applicant, and the last four digits of your social security number. The email also instructs the applicant to send all the information to a different email that does not mention the county in the name.
The Rock Island County Administrator, Jim Snider, says these emails are not from them and the positions posted aren't even available anymore.
"Anyone who contacts you and wants your personal information, whether it be credit card information, drivers license information, pictures or whatever, that's obviously a dead giveaway," Snider said.
Snider says they became aware of the problem after getting calls from job applicants. He says the county never asks for personal information over email.
Rock Island County de-activated their Indeed.com account. You can visit their website directly for any job openings.
In a statement from Indeed.com, Pr Manager Kristen Gehring said "Account security is of utmost importance to Indeed and something that we diligently monitor. Account holders are responsible for use of their password. Our investigation into this particular account showed evidence of compromise due to unauthorized password use - there was no security breach at Indeed. Our Risk Operations team identified the compromise immediately and took appropriate action on the employer account. We encourage job seekers to review our Guidelines for Safe Job Search."