Monster.com warns of ID theft

Paul Roberts, IDG News Service   Today’s Top Stories    or  Other Careers Stories  

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February 28, 2003 (IDG News Service) -- Responding to a growing problem, online job site Monster.com is warning new and existing users about phony job listings that are being used to steal personal information from job seekers. The company has posted a warning on its Web site that says, in part: "Regrettably, from time to time, false job listings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers."
The message goes on to warn users not to provide prospective employers with any information that isn't pertinent to the job opening. Social security numbers, credit card numbers and personal information not related to one's work history shouldn't be disclosed, the statement said.
Monster.com sent a copy of the message to each of its users in an e-mail message that was received yesterday, according to The Associated Press. In addition, an e-mail message to new Monster.com users also contains a warning to "always be safe when searching for a job." A link to the company's statement regarding identity theft is provided.
Online job hunting message boards such as Monster.com, a subsidiary of New York-based TMP Worldwide Inc., and Careerbuilder.com have come under scrutiny in the past for poorly protecting the personal information of those who post resumes on the sites.
In a Feb. 19 letter to U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy J. Muris, the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse asked the agency to act on a number of alleged abuses, including the sale of job seekers' e-mail addresses, registration data and resumes and the resale of resumes and resume information to employers, bogus recruiters and start-up job sites.
The letter's authors, including Pam Dixon, a research fellow with the Denver-based Privacy Foundation, recommended that the FTC look in to reforming, and even regulating the job-search industry to better protect the privacy of job seekers.
Careerbuilder.com, which is run by Chicago-based Careerbuilder Inc., said that it had already taken measures to protect the privacy of its users. The company's Web site offers tips to job seekers to protect themselves, according to company spokeswoman Jennifer Sullivan.
That list of tips, which is almost identical to the list provided by Monster.com, has been posted on the Careerbuilder.com site at least since December, Sullivan said.
Careerbuilder.com also offers a number of posting options, ranging from ones that offer low security and high visibility to anonymous and private posting options that prevent personal contact information from being disclosed or retrieved using searches, Sullivan said.
In addition to its posted warning, the company is looking to provide additional measures to protect job seekers, Sullivan said. She couldn't provide details or say when the new measures might be ready.
Sullivan said she wasn't aware of any complaints about identity theft resulting from a bogus job posting on Careerbuilder.com, but she didn't rule out that such thefts might have occurred.
Careerbuilder is owned jointly by Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder Inc. and Tribune Co.

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