True Stories
Not taking care of your CV can land you on the wrong side of the law
Caroline Coats, a company director from Montpellier, was in Birmingham doing some Christmas shopping when she was arrested after visiting her bank to get some money out. In less than an hour she was in a cell and questioned by police through the night. Why? Because she had been the unwitting victim of internet fraud after posting her CV on a jobs website.
"I had been waiting in the bank for about 20 minutes when I saw four policemen come in. They came over to me and said: 'We are going to read you your rights and you will have to come to the police station with us.' I looked behind me, thinking they were talking to someone else. I was handcuffed and locked in a dirty cell. They took my keys and went to my house, collecting every bit of paper and all my computers."
Caroline's ordeal started because she had accepted a job with a fake German firm called GMI Auto after sending her CV to Onqjobs, an internet recruitment site.
As a fluent German speaker she accepted a position as Senior Payments Product Manager and she saw no reason to distrust them - Onqjobs was run by a reputable agency and the man who said he worked for GMI Auto seemed credible. He said the company didn't have a UK office and wanted someone to collect money from small retail customers who found it inconvenient to pay invoices in another country.
The so-called retail company had a website, a telephone number and even asked for references, though Caroline didn't get round to sending them. She forwarded the payments to GMI Auto without knowing it was a front for Ukrainian gangsters, who had hacked into a customer's bank account in Somerset and transferred £3,000 to her. As a result she lost £14,000 of her own savings through the scam.
Caroline was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and released without charge. "With the benefit of hindsight, I know I was naïve and far too trusting but I'm sure I'm not the only one to be conned."
She has now given up work to create a website giving information about cyber crime in a bid to stop other innocent people from falling prey. It takes steps to ensure jobseekers don't unknowingly put themselves at risk by sending their CV out without taking the necessary precautions first. To find out more information visit www.cyberfraud.org.uk.
To see the full article, go to http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article5161151.ece
Other news articles linked to ID theft:
"Job seekers' sensitive information stolen in Monster.com security breach"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6956349.stm
"ID theft committed using Facebook"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/03/nface103.xml