Spammers Nowadays Targeting Job Hunters

According to the news published by Blorge on December 28, 2008, spammers are targeting job seekers as their easy victims.

According to security researchers, job hunters are now receiving more unsolicited e-mails than before. Recently, in one incident, John Gembecki of USA is receiving more than 80 junk e-mails, referred to as spam, every day ever since he began searching for a job in July 2008.

Gembecki said that he is convinced that every spam piece is an outcome of the CVs he posted on Monster.com and other recruitment sites, as he opened a Gmail account exclusively for his employment-related e-mails and not for any other purpose, as reported by LoHud on December 28, 2008.

Gembecki explained that he was able to recognize some of the e-mails as job spam because they were obvious and so he deleted them quickly, but he could not do the same with other messages. They required thorough reading because they appeared plausible responses from a genuine employer until every line was carefully read.

Security organization Forrester Research Inc. states that spammers seem to be getting smarter as they are now aiming their junk to particular demographic groups.

Meanwhile, in a new report from Forrester, Chenxi Wang, a security analyst, said that spam attacks were shifting from the general, blanketing technique to socially engineered methods. Spam titled 'Microsoft security updates" were not unusual to find targeted at IT personnel or 'senior prescription drug savings' targeted at retirees, as reported by Blorge on December 28, 2008.

Furthermore, the security researchers said that internet users could be easy victims, especially those who are innocent enough to trust that jobs could be got through net. Internet might make things automatic like sending resumes, saving the cost of post office trips and stamps, but any procedure that doesn't need an actual phone or physical interview, and demands money in return, is likely a scam.

In addition, different from spam relating to Viagra or other well-known topics, job-related spam take advantage of neither craving nor greed, rather it exploits the simple wish to acquire gainful employment.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 1/6/2009