Identity crimes were on the wane last year, but job scams were on the rise, according to new data from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).
The group’s 2023 report, the 18th it has put out, shows a 118% increase in the number of job scams carried out through websites—most often LinkedIn and other job platforms. On the whole, though, the ITRC said there was a 16-point drop in the number of reported identity crimes.
“In 2023 and continuing into early 2024, we saw an increase in identity thieves creating phony job postings on legitimate networking and job search sites, enticing victims to apply for jobs,” the report said. “The bad actors created professional-looking LinkedIn profiles, or profiles on job sites, with live websites for phony businesses, or impersonated legitimate companies and used a fake name or a former employee’s name to set up interviews.”
Once they’d hooked victims, they moved the interview process off of the original platform to email, text, or video conferencing and had people fill out “paperwork” that included sensitive information, including their Social Security number and driver’s license number. Once they supplied that data, the scam employer vanished.
While job scams saw the biggest gains percentage-wise, they were only the second-biggest type of scam the ITRC reported, making up just 9% of the total. Google Voice scams continued to top the list by a commanding margin, making up 60% of the reported scams last year.
The overall number of victims, the group said, was lower, but more people reported they had been the victim of multiple identity theft attempts or identity misuses.
“The information gleaned from speaking with victims and curious consumers seeking prevention information—coupled with data from other ITRC and public reports—show an environment where bad actors are more effective, efficient and successful in launching attacks. The result is fewer victims (or at least fewer victim reports), but the impact on individuals and businesses is arguably more damaging,” Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said in the report.
Identity thieves, the group said, are getting better at looking and sounding “legitimate” in their mining efforts, likely due to the assistance of artificial intelligence. That’s making them bolder about how they misuse the stolen identity, opening new lines of credit and other accounts.
Some 62% of the total victims were between the ages of 25 and 64. Seniors, 65 and older, accounted for 30%.