With the recent economic downturn and a high unemployment rate, the identity theft crimes targeting job seekers is up by 345% or so. Out of all Identity Theft cases filed with the FTC in 2008, 15% of them were employment related.

This is, perhaps, one of the easiest ways to steal someone’s information. People are always looking for jobs or new careers. With so many different job sites and resources available on the Internet to the job seekers, it is sometimes difficult to recognize scams. The scammers hack into major job boards, or they create “dummy” job boards with a sole purpose of collecting information and selling it on the “underground” market, or they post fake job occupancies on the well –known job sites, or they pose as a background check company. Therefore, the job seekers need to take every precaution to avoid getting trapped by the scammers.

As a recruiter, I get plenty of resumes and sometimes I just have to shake my head. I come across resumes that have Social Security Numbers, date of birth, height, weight and other identifying information. Identity Theft is a serious crime that could result in a financial ruin, criminal charges and, in some instances, murders. Take steps to avoid this crime by protecting your information. When looking for employment, consider the following:

• Never include your Social Security number and other sensitive information on your resume.

• Never provide anyone with your Social Security number prior a face-to-face interview.

• Conduct a thorough research on the company you are applying to. It is very easy to set up a website these days, so make sure the company has history on the web.

• A lot of companies ask for an application through their website-look for those “https” sites; they provide some security.

• Consider setting up a separate email account for your job searching and do not store any emails with sensitive information in that account.

• Although they are a lot of legitimate employment opportunities overseas, avoid the ones from Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria or other third world countries.

• Do not fall victim to “work-at-home” scams. You can read my article “Avoid The “Work-At-Home” Scams” and learn more about the most common ones.

I do not want anyone to be paranoid all the time. I am asking people to take precaution. It is easier to prevent ID theft than fight it. It is a huge inconvenience in my life, so take it from a real life identity theft victim.