Edmonton Police Service (EPS) seizes three web domains in online job scam

During the first half of 2019, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) received 93 reports of online employment scams, a total overall loss of $240,925.83.

You certainly have got lots of emails and phone calls of people trying to scam you, but this time, scammers are going as far as taking advantage of Alberta’s bad economy to use a job offer to scam people.

After becoming aware of an increase in reported employment scams involving fake job ads posted on the job sharing site Indeed.com, the EPS Cyber Crimes Unit has seized three Canadian web domains as part of an ongoing investigation.

This is the second time the Cyber Crimes Unit has seized  web domains, which not only helps encourage complainants to come forward, but also prevents future victimization.

“In this particular scam, the suspects had copied a legitimate business’ website, replaced phones numbers with their own and were hosting these sites under .ca domains,” says Det. Phil Hawkins, with EPS Cyber Crimes Unit. “Once we became aware of this, we seized all three websites.”

“Within hours of the seized domain notice appearing, we had already received a call from someone who was in the process of being scammed,” says Det. Hawkins. “The complainant visited the website to check that the job offer he was pursuing was linked to a real company, and saw our notice there.”

In the typical employment scam, victims are led to believe they are applying for a real job. The hiring process appears legitimate, complete with professional-looking correspondence, including email signatures linking to websites that appear to be authentic. After being “hired,” the victims are often given a “cash advance” by the suspects, and later instructed to transfer all or part of the cash into bitcoin or another account.

Fake cheque “cash advance” sent to job seeker in employment scam

Letter sent to job seeker in employment scam

Notice that appears on website seized by EPS Cyber Crimes

Cyber Crimes detectives note that employment scams are becoming increasingly common, and may take various forms. Some scams have been known to use real local companies as a front for their employment scam without the knowledge of the company.  One such scam came to light when Yardstick Technologies, a local IT company, discovered that their logo and company email address were being used in a job posting for an administrative assistant.

“Because the scammer was extremely aggressive and persistent, attempting to push applicants through the process as quickly as possible, many applicants felt it was out of character coming from a company like ours, and reached out to us to see if we were actually hiring for the position,”  says Nicole Hewson, Corporate Services Manager for Yardstick Technologies Inc. “Thankfully we were able to catch this scam early and report it immediately to EPS, to whom I was able to direct all potential victims.”

Online employment websites and social media platforms are aware of these scams and continually identify and remove fraudulent profiles and job postings. The EPS also works with financial institutions and job websites to maintain safe environments for users; however, it is important for job seekers to take the time to research the validity of the job offer.

Please see the EPS website for prevention tips and additional online employment scam details.

Anyone who has been a victim of this scam is encouraged to report it to police at 780-423-4567 or come into a police station. If you suspect a job posting or offer is fraudulent, but have not been a victim of the scam, please report it to the hosting website and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.