Despite the global economic slowdown, India witnessed a high number of new jobs in the country during the first quarter of 2010. With the job market looking positive, job sites seem to have benefited with more users accessing their websites.

Below is a screenshot of a phishing website that takes advantage of the brand of a popular Indian job site:

The increased number of candidates seeking jobs in India has led to the launch of phishing attacks on Indian job sites. The phishing page in the above example is asking for potential employers’ login credentials. The phishing website was created on servers located in the Netherlands. The credentials consist of a username and password as well as the employer’s email ID and password. After stealing these credentials, fraudsters send targeted spam messages to the employers. The spam message states that the employer is required to pay an amount to upgrade or continue his access of particular recruitment solutions. The link provided to make the payment leads to a phishing page that asks for confidential information such as credit card numbers, pin number, etc. Attackers also masquerade as the employer to send spam containing fake job opportunities to job seeking candidates—an action that means the attackers are always seeking financial gain.

Internet users are advised to follow best practices to avoid phishing attacks. Here are some basic tips for avoiding online scams:

  • Do not click on suspicious links in email messages.
  • Check the URL of the website and make sure that it belongs to the brand.
  • Type the domain name of your brand’s website directly into your browser’s address bar rather than following any link.
  • Frequently update your security software.