{"id":413588,"date":"2026-04-27T18:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/413588\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:01:10","slug":"how-ai-job-scams-are-destroying-peoples-hopes-job-hunting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/413588\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI job scams are destroying people\u2019s hopes | Job hunting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence isn\u2019t just being used by scammers to promise fake roles and trick job-seekers, it is becoming increasingly prevalent in responses and screening processes for real jobs (AI job scams are booming \u2013 and I was fooled by one. Here is how to avoid them, 21 April<\/a>). Not only are good people losing out on jobs, but\u00a0companies are losing out on better candidates.<\/p>\n

As a prospect researcher, identifying potential donors for organisations, I\u2019m aware of the benefits with which AI can support my work, but I will only use it when there are no more tools at my disposal. With 20 years of experience, I can generate a report with insight that only a human being can provide. It\u2019s what my employers rely on me to do.<\/p>\n

Having been made redundant last year, I have sent out nearly 200 applications, and I quickly began to recognise a pattern of automated responses, some of which had nothing to do with my application and which were confusing and offensive. Most of them weren\u2019t even signed off by HR. An extreme case was receiving a rejection on the sole ground that I\u2019d used AI to write my CV \u2013 which was definitely not the case. I contacted the HR department and they apologised \u2013 confessing that they themselves had used AI to scan the CVs and cover letters received. The irony defeats me. Surely AI shouldn\u2019t be used so carelessly so as to ruin the hopes of people and companies? People have families to feed.
Sasha Cooklin
Tunbridge Wells, Kent<\/p>\n

Victoria Turk\u2019s article is a timely reminder of the expansion of online fraud and how AI will make them harder to spot. False adverts targeting citizens is only part of the picture \u2013 online fraud targeting migrant workers seeking opportunities in the UK, which turn out to be false adverts for nonexistent jobs, is increasing.<\/p>\n

The article advises that \u201cIf you\u2019re unsure about a company, you can research it by looking it up on Companies House\u201d. Good advice, but here\u2019s the problem: in work that I have undertaken for the International Organization for Migration, focused on raising awareness to prevent migrant workers falling for online scams in the UK, the scammers have used the identities of UK companies, whether active or have ceased trading.<\/p>\n

Faced with such documents, applicants rarely take steps to check the ad and contact the actual company. Even if they attempted to do so, it is more difficult if the only contact is the registered office address, with no website or other method of contact. While trying to contact the firm and simultaneously under pressure by the fraudster with the threat that others may secure the vacancy, the worker will not wait, will assume it is legitimate and become a victim of fraud.
Darryl Dixon
Nottingham<\/p>\n

Minor self-published authors like me are getting flooded with similar scams, where executives in publishing or TV arts shows profess to be fascinated by \u201cyour unique storytelling\u201d. The executives named are real people and you can Google them. The main giveaway is that the ones praising you always seem to be writing from a Gmail address rather than a company one.<\/p>\n

A related scam is fanmail from established authors who \u201cfound you on Facebook\u201d and are desperate to know about your writing process. I\u2019ve had \u201cIan McEwan\u201d, \u201cKen Follett\u201d and \u201cColleen Hoover\u201d gushing over my work. When \u201cAgatha Christie\u201d joined in, I smelled a rat.
Niall Leonard
Ealing, London<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence isn\u2019t just being used by scammers to promise fake roles and trick job-seekers, it is becoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":["post-413588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}