It was stated that scam artists can pose as legitimate business's or recruiters, meanwhile "download all the resumes they want... doing virtually whatever they see fit with the information."
A legitimate company or Recruiter, as well as others with less than honorable intentions, know what little effort is required to "qualify" as one who can review and download resumes.
Sometimes to "qualify" all one needs is a few minutes to complete an on-line form; then have the resources to purchase the right to download resumes. Sure, they may have to provide basic business contact information, but that is very easy to "create."
There are other resume sources that scam artists can use as tools, all the while posing as a business or recruiter to gain access to your sensitive information. This is known as resume broadcasting via the Internet. It's becoming a big business.
Just within the past few months some of the best known job boards have jumped on this bandwagon.
Do these services actually distribute your resume ?
Yes they do. Your credentials and private information may be disbursed all over the world too !
It's your decision, but this may not be a good idea.
In all fairness to the resume distribution services and job boards, while it is their ultimate objective to make money, they are in turn providing the exposure you requested. Unfortunately, there are people gaining access to and finding ways ways to misuse this data.
We know that some of the resume distribution services do claim to have safeguards in place to protect their customers. That still is no guarantee that your privacy is not at risk. A scam artist can create a business identity and appear legitimate in well under an hour.
Often, one associates identity theft with credit card transactions. That is not entirely the case. There are other potential hazards. The Atlanta Journal also reported in the article that at worst "on-line resumes can also provide people with a starting point to steal (your) personal information."
Did you know this information could be used as a means of manufacturing "Identification Creation" for forged documents such as birth certificates, passports, driver licenses, etc. ?
On January 23, 2004 CNN ran a story that stated, "according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, identity theft is at an all time high. Crimes known to have been committed were reported to be at 216,000 just in 2003. That figure has leaped 33% as apposed to 2002."
The actual number of felonies committed to date is not known but believed to be significantly higher. As of this update in December 2004, we're now hearing of federal tax returns that have been filed with stolen identities.
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