Michelle was looking for a task, and Rock Island Canton, IL, was hiring. She was excited when she got an email, sent through recruiting site, Indeed, inviting her for an interview. But before she could schedule the interview, the recruiter needed but a few things.

For the side by side step, delight email me the following information directly to [redacted]

ane - The photos of your Identification Card or Driver'due south License - Front and Backsides
2 - A movie of your confront (Selfie)
three - The last four digits of your social security

Please brand sure that you have:

- - fastened all three photos

- - pics are not blurred

- - pics have a more than 800kb each size

- - all four ID'south corners are visible (not trimmed)

- - all text is clearly readable

I'll be waiting for your bulletin with all the required photos. After that, I'll brand a quick check of your background and assign you time.

There is part of that that makes a flake of sense--companies do run groundwork checks. Just, Michelle felt uneasy and asked the question is this a scam?

The answer. Yes.

A recruiter doesn't need any of this information before an interview. Even after an interview, they don't need a selfie, re-create of your driver'south license, or your last four digits of your social security number. If they are running a credit report, they need your whole social security number, and you lot have to sign a release for them to run the check.

Run similar the wind from this.

What Happened?

Jim Snider, from Stone Island County, confirmed that this was a scam and did not originate from his part. He said, via email:

Cheers for your message.

The recruiter, [redacted]  or [redacted] does not stand for Rock Island Canton.  We have been in contact today with a  representative of Indeed.com and they have advised us of a breach in their arrangement that allowed the above entity to communicate directly with job applicants to gain their personal information.  And then obviously, this breach did non originate on our end.

An Indeed spokeswoman, on the other hand, countered:

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 countersign utilize - there was no security breach at Indeed. Our Risk Operations squad identified the compromise immediately and took advisable action on the employer account. Nosotros encourage task seekers to review our Guidelines for Safety Job Search.

Any happened, this scam creative person figured out a manner to breach the system and set out to observe task hunters as victims.

People who are desperate for a job may take risks that others will not. Thankfully, Michelle recognized the problem and didn't provide the information.

And, as always, if you see a sketchy job posting, or get a creepy letter from a "recruiter,"  take a screenshot and send me the link at EvilHRLady@gmail.com.