Job scams powered by ChatGPT could try to rob you. How to protect yourself

March 31, 2023

`Job scams powered by ChatGPT could try to rob you. How to protect yourself`

Business

Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

‘ZDNET Recommends’: What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET’s editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Home Business

Job scams powered by ChatGPT could try to rob you. How to protect yourself

As layoffs have caused people to look for jobs, scammers are using AI chatbots to create fake listings to steal money and data. Don’t miss these safety tips.

Written by Jada Jones, Associate Editor on

Reviewed by Amy Lieu

office-workers — Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

The tech and digital media industry has been hit hard with recent layoffs. And simultaneously, further advancements in generative AI have allowed scammers to target desperate workers looking for a job.

You can find job scams on career sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. But sometimes, scammers will contact people searching for jobs to lure them into clicking malicious links and sharing sensitive personal information.

These scammers, posing as employers or recruiters, can be great at making their profiles look legitimate. But there are a few clues and preventative actions you can take to ensure your identity doesn’t get stolen in your job search.

Also: Ghost jobs are haunting job sites. Here’s how to spot them

How to spot a job scam

1. Check for unrealistic promises

First, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

If someone promises that you can make thousands of dollars a month working a suspiciously easy job with very few hours, it’s probably a scam. Unrealistic job descriptions will usually be vague and general, while an actual job posting will have a detailed, succinct description of job responsibilities and expectations.

Fake recruiters will also ask you very early on to provide them with a payment method. They will usually say you’re paying for a laptop or the laptop’s shipping, so you’ll need to provide your bank information for them to deposit your reimbursement funds.

Also: How to flawlessly answer the ‘Tell me about yourself’ interview question

Refrain from giving them your bank information, as they will wipe out your account, and it can be a headache to deal with your bank to retrieve your money. Sometimes, these scammers will ask for other personal information like your social security number, bank verification number, or credit card information.

In past years, it could be pretty easy to spot a job scam, as a telltale sign would be that a job post was written with poor grammar. Misspellings and numerous grammatical errors are bright red indicators that a job listing is a scam.

But as generative AI becomes more advanced, chatbots like ChatGPT can be leveraged to write impressively accurate job descriptions. If a job scammer uses AI to write a job description, you’ll have to pay closer attention to the recruiter’s identity to determine if the listing is fake.

Screenshot of ChatGPT writing a job listing for a tech journalist — ChatGPT wrote an accurate and professional-looking job ad for a technology journalist.

Screenshot by Jada Jones/ZDNET

2. Verify the job recruiter’s identity

First, check the email address that a recruiter is contacting you with. If it appears to be a personal email or a misspelled one, then that is a red flag. Recruiters should contact you from a company email address.

If a fake recruiter contacts you on a site like LinkedIn or Indeed, do your research to ensure they work at the company that’s hiring. Check their connections to ensure they know other people working at the company. If they have few connections or none are linked to the hiring company, remain skeptical of the job offer.

Also:What is phishing? Everything you need to know to protect against scam emails — and worse

If a scammer is particularly thorough, then look up the company they are advertising for online. Check to ensure the company is legitimate and see if other people online can say anything about working for that company.

Here is an example of a job scam. — A 2023 Better Business Bureau study shows an example of a job posting scam that asks for your bank account information.

Better Business Bureau

3. Protect yourself if you’ve been scammed

If you think you’ve been scammed by a job application online, you should immediately stop communicating with the suspected scammer. If you gave the suspected scammer access to your bank account or credit card, you should immediately call your bank and close all of your accounts there.

If you gave a scammer your social security number or credit card information, then freeze your credit and contact the credit bureau. Then, report the job listing if it’s on a site like LinkedIn or Indeed.

Also: What the ‘new automation’ means for technology careers

In addition, you can file a phony job report with the Federal Trade Commission or one through the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker.

Finally, contact your local police department and file a police report.

But most importantly, if a fraudulent job listing has scammed you, don’t give up hope in your job search because there are still legitimate jobs out there.