The Guardian and other sources have reported evidence of scammers preying on beleaguered job hunters by posing as recruiters and offering CV re-writes for a fee.

Fake job ads are netting CVs and the candidate then gets a call saying they are an “ideal fit” for the job but the CV needs to be tidied up before it can get sent on to the company. There is also usually a promise that the upgraded CV will result in an interview. The recruiter then recommends someone to revise the CV for fees ranging from £99 to around £350.

Of course the job doesn’t exist and, whilst CVs do appear to be getting a makeover, there is no interview – candidates are told the post was filled internally or withdrawn at the last minute. After a month or so, the web site comes down and a new one goes up in its place for the whole sham to start all over again.

Good recuitment consultants will help you refine and develop your CV, or make suggestions as to how it can be improved, but be highly suspicious of anyone who wants to take money off you – especially if it’s mid-process and they’re tempting you with the possibility of an interview to follow.

There are many good specialist CV services out there, some from a recruitment background, some are professional writers. If you’re going to use one (and I’d argue that the best person to write your CV is you), look for one that’s completely independent of any recruitment organisation – and do your own research. A personal recommendation is always far better than a Google search.

One of the most widely reported scams is a website called employeruk.com  It looks very plausible, but DON’T SUBMIT ANY DETAILS, IT’S A FAKE!

There are also reports of the mainstream job sites like Monster and totaljobs.com being hit by scammers registering as recruiters and skimming personal details off CVs for identity theft crimes. The Guardian article reports of a controlled experiment to see how much personal information gullible job searchers would offer up. It’s estimated that criminals need just three out of 15 key pieces of information to commit identity fraud – the average CV received as part of the experiment contained eight items.

Some tips to avoid the scams:

• If it looks too good to be true, it probably is
• Avoid any recruitment sites with just 0845, 0844 or mobile numbers – they could be anywhere. Avoid recruiters with webmail addresses like Yahoo! and hotmail. Look for a bricks and mortar address and research the company if you’ve not heard of it before
• Be very suspicious of any recruitment consultant asking you for money – in a bone fide agency it’s the employer who pays their fee
• On your CV, do not include your date of birth, place of birth, middle names or marital status – it’s irrelevant for a job application and grist to the mill for identity fraudsters
• Be wary of including your full postal address in CVs being uploaded into job portals, your general location such as a town or city should suffice.

It’s appalling that people are exploiting job searchers for money, and also sometimes committing identity fraud with unsuspecting job applicants. Don’t get caught out.