Heroes in Business - Experian Identity Report with Kathleen Peters, Employment Scams On the Rise

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Experian Identity Report with Kathleen Peters, Employment Scams On the Rise. Kathleen Peters is the Chief Innovation Officer for the Experian Decision Analytics business in North America. She chats with David Cogan Host of the Heroes Show and Founder of Eliances entrepreneur community about the dangers of employment scams including five emerging fraud predictions that businesses and consumers should be aware of this year. www.Experian.com

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. Yes, and you know what? It's the Experian Identity Report on the Alliances Hero Show. about the game-changing impact of identity and the need to use reliable data to make confident decisions that safely accelerate customer engagement. And this week we're joined again by Kathleen Peters.

She is the Chief Innovation Officer for Experian's decision analytics business in North America. Now Experian recently launched its 2023 Future of Fraud Forecast, a report that shares five emerging fraud predictions that businesses and consumers should be aware of this year. Now, Kathleen, we're really looking forward to learning about how consumers can protect themselves from the growing threat of employment scams. We're talking about employment scams. So with that, talk to us about experience 2023 future of fraud forecast predicted as a rise

in employment scams. What do these type of scams look like? Yeah, thanks, David. We're in our third year of releasing this forecast. And this year, we're actually predicting a rise in three different types three of these scams allow fraudsters to really prey on consumers who think that they're speaking with or performing a task for an employer or a future employer. Very interesting. Now, the thing is, is you had mentioned a little bit in last week's interview in regards to texts and stuff. So how does the fake texts from the boss scam work? What does it look like? And I mean, how are they even able to do this? Yeah, so this scam, David, occurs when an employee receives a text message from someone identifying as their boss. And so I've actually seen this scam firsthand. The fraudster who is pretending to be the boss reaches out and they usually say that they're

with clients or they're in a noisy environment and so they're unable to speak live at the moment. And so the fake boss may ask the employee to please perform a financial transaction like wiring some money because it needs to be done urgently. But that might cause some red flags. And I think a lot of us aren't really authorized maybe to make those kinds of transactions. So instead, the fraudster posing as the boss will ask the employee oftentimes to go out and purchase some gift cards, will ask the employee oftentimes to go out and purchase some gift cards. Get those gift cards, text me the numbers and codes because I need them, because I'm with a client.

But fraudsters really like gift cards because they operate a lot like cash. They are instantly redeemable, non-refundable, and really not very traceable. So whether the employee has used personal funds or a corporate credit card to purchase these gift cards, they end up being a victim of fraud and those funds are lost. Amazing of what's going on and how people are even able to think this up to be able to do. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Now, what about this too? This is very interesting. Fake job postings and mule schemes work. How do those, how does that take place? Yeah, so let me start with the fake job postings. So the fake job postings are a threat anytime, but they seem to be especially effective and prevalent during times when many people are searching for work or they're facing economic pressures. The fake job posting scam is really primarily an identity

theft scam. And this scam occurs when a fraudster will post a fake remote job opportunity on a typical job board site. The job site may be very real, but the job posting is not. So the fraud is designed to lure consumers into applying for the job. And as they apply for the job, they'll provide details, personal details, like your social security number, date of birth, additional information on the fake employment application. But the job isn't real. The job never materializes. And the fraudsters are using that information to commit identity theft. And fraudsters are clever. We've seen where they may even set up a separate website, a landing page, so that if you decide to search on this company,

you'll land on a homepage that looks nice and make you think that the company is legitimate. We really encourage job seekers to do some homework, do some additional checks, and find out whether the business that you're applying to really is legitimate, especially if it's asking you to provide a lot of personal information.

Right, and I want to definitely expand on that because again, you're watching, listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. Make sure that you go to alliances.com, that's E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com. Click on radio and also be able to listen to past interviews with our weekly Experian part. So make sure you go to Experian, E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com because again, we have with us Kathleen Peters, Chief Innovation Officer for Experian's Decision Analytics in North America. Once again, go to Experian.com, E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com. So Kathleen, what steps though, now a little bit deeper,

can consumers take to ensure that they do not fall victim to one of these employment scams? What can they do? Yeah, so one thing that consumers can do, and I'm really glad you asked this question, because this is one of the reasons that we do this annual fraud forecast and these predictions. We want people to be able to be aware that these things are happening so they can prepare and protect themselves. So when it comes to these fake text messages, for example, or these fake job postings, consumers should be really thoughtful when receiving communications. Know who is sending the information. And if you get a request that seems unusual or a little bit out of place,

ask yourself, does this make sense? Does it sound any alarms? If you get an unusual text message from someone who says they are your boss, reach out to them at a known phone number or an email address, some other way to confirm if they are the ones who sent you this message. And if it turns out they are not, be sure to alert your security department that this is happening. When communicating with someone new or someone you don't know, like when you're seeking a new job, just again, watch for those suspicious requests. Like an employer may be asking you for too much personal information or even prepayment for some training or prepayment for supplies or a laptop. They may ask you to purchase those and have it shipped because they're going to load it up for you. Before you share your personal information or make these purchases or even share your personal bank information for the upcoming direct deposit

of your payroll for this new job, verify that that employer is legitimate. You have a right to ask these questions and trustworthy businesses will respect and be patient with these kinds of requests. This is excellent information. Now we've got time for a little bit more here. What else do you want to share with us about this? Well, one of our other predictions is really talking about mule schemes. And so I want to talk about that for just a minute, too.

Consumers can fall prey to these mule scheme scams as well. One way that that fraud can occur is when people sign up for work from home types of jobs. is when people sign up for work-from-home types of jobs. When they do this, you may unintentionally be acting as a reshipper of stolen goods or even moving stolen money, stolen funds through your personal bank account on behalf of fraudsters, thinking that this is an easy work-from-home job that you can do on the side. The scary thing about these ones too is that these not only put consumers potentially in financial trouble, but could also lead to

legal trouble. So this is something really to be aware of, know the employer, and think twice about what you're being asked to do. And I think I want to leave people with just a couple things too. If you own a business, if. If you own a business, if you're part of a business, review your current processes and fraud mitigation techniques. Make sure you educate your employees. And as for the employees, you may want to check twice if you ever get that message from the boss asking you to buy a bunch of gift cards. Right, right. Great, great, great information. Well, this has been the Experian Identity Report with Kathleen Peters, Chief Innovation Officer for Experian's Decision Analytics business in North America. Make sure that you go to Experian.com, E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com. This has been David Kogan with the Alliances Hero Show. So make sure to go to alliances.com, E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com. Click on radio to listen to past broadcasts with Experian. Thank you so much again, Kathleen. We appreciate you being here and sharing such valuable information. Pleasure to be with you. Thank you.