By Sunny Saurabh, Co-Founder and CEO of Interviewer.AI
From banking to telecommunications, fraud poses a serious threat to various industries and their consumers, costing billions of dollars each year. These days, scammers have a different target: human resources (HR).
In a bid to exploit recent trends in remote work, fraudsters are stealing people’s identities and preparing fake resumes to apply for remote jobs. Additionally, they use deepfake technology to create realistic media and hide their identities during the video interview process.
The problem has become so pervasive that even authorities have stepped in to inform businesses. For example, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued a warning about an increase in the use of deepfakes and stolen personally identifiable information (PII) to apply for work-from-home positions.
A Bengaluru-based IT company has experienced a situation like this firsthand. The team held online interviews and decided to hire a candidate. Interestingly, the new recruit refused to turn on the camera during video calls. When the company finally met with the employee, they realized that he was not the person who had come forward during the interviews.
So why is it vital for companies to nip these situations in the bud, and how can organizations decide if their candidate is a fake or a future team member? Let’s explore.
Why preventing fraud in the virtual recruitment process should be a priority
Online job interviews offer companies many advantages; however, when poorly executed or poorly planned, the virtual hiring process can leave room for exploitation.
Take interview assessments, for example. Job applicants can ask someone else to take their language, coding, or cognitive tests or hire subject matter experts to impersonate them in interviews. This can cause recruiters to hire the wrong person for a position, with serious consequences. On average, a bad hiring decision can cost at least 30% of an employee’s first-year salary.
Moreover, some “job seekers” do not have their eyes set on a job. Instead, they go one step further, wanting to access company credentials and steal valuable customer and customer information. A malicious cyberattack could easily turn into a PR killer, especially for organizations dealing with critical personal data, such as financial institutions, healthcare providers, and government entities. The good news is that for every problem, there is a solution.
Designing anti-cheat assessment strategies, such as disabling copy-paste and imposing a time limit, can allow companies to find a better candidate for an open position while reducing time and effort. money spent on recruiting. And when companies can identify these fraudsters during the hiring process, they can protect their reputation from the negative impact of data breaches and avoid losing more than 80% of their customers.
The nuts and bolts to make sure bogus job seekers don’t come into your business
More than 60% of employees are opting to work remotely, which means the return to traditional face-to-face job interviews to combat fraud could put off talented candidates. Instead, start by improving your online identification methods.
During the Great Resignation, companies may feel compelled to recruit quickly to complete projects and maintain strong relationships with their customers. But it’s better to take your time now, so as not to regret it later.
A popular way to do identity verification is to combine the application cycle with an asynchronous video interview where applicants record their video responses to automated interview questions presented to them with time limits. This not only helps in obtaining verifiable recordings of voice signatures and facial features, but also helps in understanding the candidate’s interests, motivations, and desire to join the company.
Another effective way to mitigate the risk of fraud is to train employees to detect voice spoofing and fake deep voice technology. For example, lip movements that sound like bad lip sync or hearing a sneeze without seeing it happening on screen are strong indicators that your candidate might not be who you think they are.
Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools can work wonders when detecting fraud in the recruitment process. That’s because this technology uses algorithms to understand data points from responses, including facial expressions, body language, gestures, voice, cultural fit, and personality. In this way, AI can help organizations provide critical video interview insights, allowing them to make more informed hiring decisions.
The bottom line is that remote jobs have opened up a plethora of opportunities not only for job seekers and employers, but also for scammers. Therefore, preventing fraud during the online hiring process should be a top priority for companies of all sizes who want to build a high-performing team, protect their legacy and customers, and achieve big results in their industry.
