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A Dunedin woman, who has been out of work since June, says the struggle of looking for work has been made much tougher by scammers.
The 61-year-old, who has requested not to be identified, lost almost $7000 to a fake job, which claimed to be a customer service classified online accommodation review role.
A day after she applied, she was phoned by a support person, set up on the review platform and connected to the internal messaging system.
"It all seemed legitimate and the people I was talking to were very helpful," she said. "I had to pay the equivalent of US$65 that I would get back to verify my identity with the details I'd already given them."
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She did get that money back, plus $200 for reviews she had already done, but "recharge" requests began to pop up in the platform, and she was required to create and top up a cryptocurrency wallet to retain access to the platform.
"I got six 'recharge' screens on one day for bigger amounts each time and paid some, then asked them if I could get it back. They didn't have much to say, but when I worked out how to get into the wallet, it was gone."
She is still looking for work.
"I've now been out of work since June and have had to rely on my partner. I've got a mortgage to pay and everything, and I've worked from home in my three previous roles, but there are just so many people applying for every job that you don't even get an interview."
Westpac has released new data that shows she is not alone. Jobseekers not only face a challenging labour market at the moment, but they are being targeted in a surge of scam activity.
The bank has had 50 percent more job-scam cases reported in the six months to the end of August than in the same period a year earlier. One-hundred-and-10 customers were scammed an average of $1685.
Westpac fraud and scams intelligence manager Jessica Channing said many job hunters could not afford to lose that money.
"The risk of job scams is not just financial loss, but identity theft, when victims hand over personal details and documents, because they think it is a legitimate job opportunity, which enables the scammers to commit further fraud against them," she said.
"Getting caught up in financial crime can be incredibly distressing and we work hard to help affected customers, including referring them to IDCARE for specialist support."
She said scammers were capitalising on people who were desperate to find a work. Anyone who thought they had been scammed should contact their bank as soon as possible.
"All scams are prevalent at the moment in general and scammers will always find a way in so if they know that people are looking for jobs, they'll definitely take advantage of that."
She said people should do what they could to ensure every job they applied for was legitimate.
"Be wary of any online ad that involves you paying to secure an interview, or an enticing offer that comes out of the blue on social media, by text or through a messaging app.
"Unfortunately, we expect to see this type of scam - where the victim applies for a job and is asked to pay fees to secure it, or make purchases that they believe will be refunded, which gives access to their personal and bank details - to continue as long as competition for jobs remains high."
In some cases, scammers impersonate recruitment agencies.
Shay Peters, chief executive of recruitment firm Robert Walters in Australia and New Zealand, said he had seen a spike in the number of scammers this year. Some pretend to work for his company.
"Our name is fairly well known," he said. "Only recently, I've had personal contacts reach out to me, saying they've been contacted by Robert Walters for some quite senior level roles in New Zealand.
"I've had to let them know it's not actually us, because it looks legit."
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