Employers are collateral damage in a common hiring scam. These scammers can harm prospective hires and damage your company reputation.

BY EMILY MCCRARY-RUIZ-ESPARZA, FREELANCE WRITER

Photos: Getty Images

Jenny Battershell knows when her employer, Goodwin Recruiting, has been hit with another hiring scam. As the director of marketing, she monitors site traffic, and when a new scam rears its head, visits jump upwards of 1,500 percent. Then comes the deluge of texts and emails from job seekers asking if the cold messages they’ve received from Goodwin recruiters—via text, WhatsApp, or LinkedIn—are legitimate.

It happened about 10 times in the past year, says Battershell. Though it’s unclear why scammers are repeatedly hitting Goodwin, she says the attacks have occurred more frequently as the company’s profile grows. The agency has more than doubled its LinkedIn followers since 2022. Today, it has more than 192,000.

Here’s how it works: Scammers invent an identity or swipe one from a real recruiter who works for a legitimate company, then cold-contact potential hires to entice them with job opportunities, often ones with flexible hours and high pay.........

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