They’re Scamming Job Seekers by Impersonating Us. Here’s What We’re Doing About It.

 
As the Chief Information & Security Officer at Insight Global, I have a front-row seat to cyber threats most people never see. But this one? This one is personal. 

I’ve been personally targeted by LinkedIn recruiting scams. So have several close friends, some of whom came frighteningly close to being defrauded. And every single day, as the leader of information security at a company whose entire mission is putting people to work around the world, I watch fraudsters exploit that same mission. These scammers impersonate our recruiters, fake our branding, and prey on job seekers who are already in a vulnerable place. 

That’s not something I can stay quiet about. And it’s something Insight Global is acting on. 

Let me be direct: these aren’t the “prince from a foreign nation” schemes your parents used to get. Sure, some are still lazy imitations. But many are now professionally designed, psychologically sophisticated, AI-assisted fraud campaigns targeting people who are desperately trying to get back to work. And they are getting better quickly. 

Researchers have documented what many of us in the security community are seeing firsthand: a surge in highly convincing phishing campaigns that weaponize fake job alerts and recruiter outreach. Recent reporting from Fraud Today highlights growing concern among AI and fraud experts that advanced language models can dramatically increase the realism and scale of social engineering attacks.

That same realism is now showing up in employment-related scams, where messages look legitimate, sound human, and exploit urgency and trust at exactly the wrong moment for job seekers. 

Here’s what these scams look like in the wild: 

• Emails and messages that mimic LinkedIn’s branding and formatting almost perfectly 
• Fake domains engineered to look like real LinkedIn URLs (think LinkedIn.digital instead of LinkedIn.com) 
• Real recruiter profiles scraped from LinkedIn, complete with names and photos, paired with email addresses that almost look legitimate (for example: J.Dickson.InsightGBL@gmail.com instead of a real Insight Global address) 
• Messages designed to create urgency: “Apply Now,” “Your application is pending, respond immediately” 
• Hyper-personalized messages that reference your home address, your employer, or your professional connections, all pulled from public data 
• Real company logos and branding alongside fraudulent links, making it nearly impossible to spot the fake at first glance 

I recently received a text message from a scammer impersonating a recruiter at another well-known firm, offering a remote job with two well-known warehouse clubs. Just 30 minutes a day, $250-$500 daily, and a $1,000 bonus after three days. It was absurd on its face. But I know exactly why it works on people who are exhausted, financially stressed, and just want a chance. 

We’re Seeing Dozens of Impersonations Every Month, and We’re Not Ignoring Them 

Here’s something I think is important for our candidates, our clients, and our community to know: Insight Global is not a passive observer in this fight. We are actively tracking and responding to these threats. 

We are currently seeing dozens of impersonations and fraudulent schemes per month that use Insight Global’s name, logo, and recruiter identities. And those are just the ones we catch or that are reported to us. In every case, we take immediate action. 

Our Cybersecurity and Legal teams work in close partnership with our Sales teams to identify and take down fraudulent sites and accounts. We move fast because every hour a fake site stays up is another hour a real person could be victimized. 

But enforcement alone isn’t enough. That’s why we’ve built security training into our candidate- and customer-facing education programs. 

Training Our People So They Can Protect Yours 

Putting people to work around the world is one of our core functions at Insight Global. Because of that, our responsibility goes beyond the placement. We have a responsibility to protect the people who trust us with something as important as their livelihood and career. We also must protect the customers who trust us to find great, 100% real talent. 

Our comprehensive program includes detailed training for every one of our recruiters and account managers. These trainings are specifically focused on security, fraud detection, and reporting. This isn’t generic cybersecurity awareness training. It’s targeted education on exactly these types of scams: how they work, how they evolve, and how our teams can proactively help candidates and clients recognize them. 

We also make sure our candidates understand how Insight Global works with them and our customers, so they can feel confident they’re dealing with a real recruiter, representing a real company, presenting a legitimate opportunity. Here’s what that looks like in practice: 

• Our recruiters communicate from verified Insight Global email addresses, not personal Gmail accounts 
• Recruiters, account managers, and other IG employees are verifiable through our official website and LinkedIn company page 
• Insight Global will never pressure you with artificial urgency or promise unrealistic compensation to force a quick response 
• Any opportunity recruiters present will be specific, transparent, and verifiable 

If you ever receive communication claiming to be from Insight Global and something doesn’t feel right, trust that instinct and reach out to us directly through our official channels to verify. 

What You Can Do Right Now 

Whether you’re an active job seeker, a hiring manager, or just someone on LinkedIn, here’s my honest advice as a CISO who has seen these tactics up close: 

• Verify the domain. If a recruiter’s email doesn’t come from a company domain, be skeptical. 
• Look them up. Real recruiters are findable on the company’s official website and LinkedIn page. 
• Check the URL before you click. Hover over links. Don’t trust what the text says. Trust the actual URL. 
• Pause at urgency. Legitimate opportunities don’t evaporate in 24 hours. Pressure is a red flag. 
• If a recruiter asks for an “application fee,” it is almost certainly a scam. 

And please share this with someone who needs it. A friend who’s job hunting. A family member who’s been struggling to find work. These scams cost people their confidence and their time when they can least afford to lose either. 

This Is Personal, and It’s Professional 

I’ve spent much of my career in cybersecurity. I’ve seen breaches, nation-state actors, and ransomware that shut down companies. But the scams that bother me most right now are the ones targeting people who are just trying to find their next opportunity. It’s predatory in the most cynical way, taking advantage of hope. 

That’s why we’re going to keep fighting these fraudsters. We’ll keep training our people, taking down fake sites, and being transparent with our community about what we’re seeing. 

Because protecting the people we serve is the only way to do this job.

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John Dickson is the Chief Information & Security Officer at Insight Global. He has worked in cybersecurity, IT, and network operations for nearly 30 years.