Have you applied for a job in BC and never heard back, or maybe you just felt a strange vibe from some listings? Well, it could be that the posting was never legitimate.
Earlier this month, we published a roundup of travel jobs based in BC. One of the jobs listed in the post was for a full-time role with Momenti Travel, a company that curates “bespoke travel experiences.”
A little while after the story was published, we heard from the president and CEO of Momenti Travel, who informed us that the job posting wasn’t real.
Over the last year, police forces around Canada have warned the public to be wary of fake job posts. Indeed, where the fraudulent job listing was posted, has also shared tips on how to avoid being hit by scams or fraudulent job posts. UBC has also shared some information with students, warning them about scams.
This is clearly a widespread issue, with so many agencies putting out the alert.
Momenti CEO Cathy Holler informed us that her company did not post the position on Indeed, which was discovered after receiving emails from people contacting Momenti about the job.
After emailing Indeed, the posting was taken off of the website.
Holler told us that Momenti’s IT security firm looked at the URL in question and confirmed that it was malicious. Holler told us that when folks received communications from the fake Momenti, it told applicants the following:
“For a better experience, please use a phone device. If the link is not clickable, kindly copy and paste it into your phone’s browser.”
Holler thought this could have been an attempt to access data on the phones of people who might have fallen victim to the scam.
“They might have enough information for identity theft to set up bank accounts,” a concerned Holler told Daily Hive.
Holler is also concerned that anyone who interacted with the link and followed any of the steps might have had some of their information compromised.
We also contacted Indeed about Momenti’s concerns.
“Indeed puts job seekers at the heart of everything we do. We have a dedicated Trust and Safety team who go to extraordinary lengths deploying a variety of techniques to assess the suitability and validity of job listings,” an Indeed spokesperson told Daily Hive.
They added that Indeed removes “tens of millions of job listings each month” that don’t meet quality guidelines.
“We encourage job seekers to report any suspicious job advertisements to us, or if they feel it necessary, to make a report to the police.”
Fake job postings have also been a topic of conversation on social media over the last year. One piece of advice that might help you if you’re worried about applying for jobs on Indeed or other similar platforms is to confirm that the job exists by navigating to the company’s careers page or contacting the company directly using the contact information on the company’s website.
Have you fallen victim to a fake job posting? Comment below, or if you’d like to share your story with us, email [email protected].