Scammers are spoofing major companies to extract personal information from unwitting jobseekers, an online security firm has warned.
Fraudsters are using artificial intelligence to create fake websites imitating brands such as Meta, Disney, Coca-Cola and Spotify, which say that they are hiring.
They then manufacture online application processes to fool people into entering their personal details and social media logins, a report by NordVPN found.
AI is making the scam more convincing, as it can remove the usual ‘tells’ such as poor spelling and grammar in emails or webpages that look ‘off’.
Hacked social media accounts and personal information can be a gateway to other types of fraud, including scams that try to trick your family and friends into handing over cash, NordVPN warned.
Your personal information can also be used to take out loans on your behalf or even gain access to your bank accounts.
Pictured: a fake website purporting to be social media giant Meta where the victim can put in their social media password
Lloyds Bank logged a 237 per cent rise in job scams last year, increasing fears that these may not be amateur phishing attempts but rather scalable operations.
These scammers have ‘weaponised hope’ to trick their targets amid a rise in joblessness in Britain, according to AI expert Mitali Deypurkaystha.
She says: ‘Gen Z candidates now send an average of 24 job applications before landing a role, compared to 12 for Gen X and 11 for Baby Boomers. Scammers know desperation leads to defences being dropped.
‘These fake Meta and Spotify job offers are so dangerous because they weaponise hope at the exact moment young people are exhausted, anxious and willing to trust strangers just to get a foot on the career ladder.’
As online-only recruitment processes are now commonplace, Deypurkaystha says younger job hunters may be more easily fooled.
‘We’ve spent years teaching people not to click suspicious links, yet modern recruitment now expects applicants to hand over personal information, open unfamiliar websites and respond quickly to opportunities from people they’ve never met,’ she adds.
‘Today’s young people are fighting through hundreds of applications with little feedback, and that imbalance of power makes it far easier for AI-powered scammers to turn ambition into a trap.’
Unemployment rose to its highest rate in nearly five years at the end of 2025. More than 5 per cent were jobless in the three months to December.
Convincing: Some fake websites, this this one spoofing Disney, can look like the genuine article because they are made by AI
But young people are bearing the brunt of the pain – with more than 16 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds unemployed, the highest it’s been in more than 10 years.
More than 400,000 young people claim disability benefits, known as Personal Independence Payments – many for mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN, told news agency Newspage: ‘Periods of economic uncertainty often create the perfect conditions for scams like this.
‘When more people are actively looking for work, there is understandably more trust placed in recruitment messages and job opportunities.
‘What makes this campaign particularly dangerous is how convincing it is. From the branding to the job listings, everything is designed to replicate a real hiring process, making it much harder for people to spot the warning signs.’
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What can you do to avoid being scammed?
If you receive a cold email from a company about a job opening, it might be fake. Make sure you check the email address that it came from carefully, and compare it to the firm’s genuine website name.
You can usually cross-reference any job postings online with recruitment websites and the ‘careers’ section of the company’s official website.
Try to do this before applying in order to verify the posting.
Debbie Porter, managing director at Destination Digital Marketing, said: ‘Generally speaking, any email that comes from a huge brand like Meta, Disney, Coca-Cola or Spotify telling you that you are perfect for a job they have in mind is going to be fake.
‘Unless you are at the absolute top of your career, chances are that these brands would not be headhunting like this. Deflating for your ego perhaps, but at least your accounts will remain safe.’
She added: ‘I’ve noticed that most of these scam emails are coming from a ‘no-reply’ Xero email address – Xero is a piece of accounting software, so a first sense-check would be to ask yourself why Xero is emailing you about a job at Facebook that you would be perfect for.’
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