What You Can Get Besides a Job by Posting Your Resume on Line

Hundreds of thousands of people use the internet everyday to assist them in locating a job and hopefully a career. In the hopes of finding the perfect job employment assistance websites such as Careerbuilder.com; Monster.com and Yahoo HotJobs, just to name a few, are accessed every day. People post their resume on their personal website; they submit to recruiting companies, employment services, and prospective employment business sites as well as in some cases use their college's employment assistance program.

Others post employment information, curriculum vita, resume, on line through their employer such as a university; their business or medical clinic homepages to assure prospective clients, students and patients of their qualifications. But how safe is this practice?

Online fraud is one of the most common sources of identity theft according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Privacy advocates, Better Business Bureaus and Employment professionals state that job boards are the biggest source of information for identity thieves. While prospective employers maybe looking for a specific profile, so are prospective identity thieves.

Don't think that identity theft can happen to you, just for posting your resume online?

"Jim" responded to an email request from an individual identifying himself as a human resource specialist with a leading company in his field. He did some cursory research, and it appeared to be legitimate, so he went ahead and responded with additional information, such as a more complete copy of his resume, including references and reference contact information, his date of birth and social security number, supposedly provided in order to complete a background check. A week later he called the telephone number listed, and it had been disconnected. He called the company direct and found that no one by the name he provided ever worked there, and that they company never requests personal information until they are made an offer.