Resumes Can Trigger Identity Theft

New searches show that with the onset of job hunting online, a new way for identity thieves to procure your personal information has been born. Many online identity thieves have started setting up fake operations posing as recruiters and other companies looking to hire in order to squeeze personal information from job applicants.

What’s the reason for this? People are being far too quick to add personal details into their resume. According to BBC News, a recent experiment was executed where a fake company was constructed and put out a newspaper advertisement for an office manager. Out of the 107 resumes they received, a whopping 61 (57%) came back with enough personal information to apply for a credit card. Below are some of the sensitive personal items that they found on the applicants’ CV’s.

[Note: Some of these sound a little out there. However, if they have to come out say not to put your SSN on your resume, someone must be doing it.]

• Date of birth
• Marital status
• Place of birth
• Social Security Number
• Passport ID Number
• Full address

The main culprit is putting your full address on your resume, which many people (including myself) have done. Luckily that piece of information alone is not enough for someone to steal your identity. Although, if you want to play if safe, you could always just put your city and state of residence instead of listing your full address. There really isn’t a reason that an employer would need to have your full address during the interview process, unless they were running a background check and then they would need your date of birth and possibly your social security number as well.

The best way to combat this type of online identity theft is to do a quick search for the company if you’re not already familiar with them. Most of the time a quick Google search will bring up message boards with other people questioning the validity of these hiring entities. And if other people are concerned about its being legit, that’s a pretty good indicator that they’re on the brink of illegitimacy and you should cut your losses. There are safe ways to conduct job searches online, but a level of caution is always necessary. Don’t be too generous with your information. You never know who’s on the receiving end.

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