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In 2023, it was reported that 98% of workers desire remote work. While there are many perks to working remotely, including freedom and flexibility, there must also be a conversation about the dark sides of remote work, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), job and employment agency scams tripled between 2020 and 2024, with the amount that consumers lost to these types of scams increasing from $90 million to $501 million during the time period. In a survey of 1,000 hiring managers in the U.S., 17% indicated they had interviewed deepfake AI candidates "equipped with lip-synced video and synthetic voices."
Jolissa Skow learned about career identity theft firsthand. In a now viral LinkedIn post, Skow shared her experience. "In June, I found out that someone was pretending to be me in order to work as a contractor for an upstanding company. She was writing for them. She used my name. My portfolio. My bio. Photos of me. My writing samples. She even had my home address listed as her own. And she'd been doing this since 2023. Her writing was good enough so as not to create any suspicions," Skow explained in the post.
In an interview about the ordeal, Skow shared how she felt when she first found out what had happened. "My first feeling was definitely anger, mixed with disbelief that something like this was possible, laced with regret for not keeping a closer eye on the situation." In a follow-up LinkedIn post, Skow explained that there were red flags that she overlooked, sharing that in early 2024, she received a 1099-NEC tax form for writing an article she had no recollection of. "I found out that it wasn't, in fact, a one-time occurrence when I was tagged in a post on LinkedIn about being a wonderful coworker...at a company I've never worked with, and by someone I've never met. I'm so thankful for that post, otherwise I don't know how long it would've taken for me to find out."
Kourtney Hayes, who is a cybersecurity leader at Amazon Web Services, explained how easy these types of impersonations are. "People assume impersonators must be highly technical, but most aren't. What makes this easy is how much information we willingly put online. Bios, headshots, resumes, and writing samples are all public by design. The other factor is today's remote culture. We build trust through email, Slack, and documents, where good writing and a polished portfolio can make someone appear legitimate. Because 'camera-off' meetings are so normal in a lot of places, people rarely question it. The myth is that technology makes impersonation difficult; the truth is, our everyday digital habits make it easy."
When Skow learned she was being impersonated, she reached out to the company to get things rectified. "The CEO replied almost immediately," she explained. "I think his mind was just as blown as mine. He immediately scheduled a call with me so we could meet via video call and discuss the situation." As far as she knows, the career identity thief had been working under her name since the summer of 2023. Skow did take action, submitting a compliant with IC3, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is the FBI's system for reporting online crime and fraud. "When you submit any complaint, it basically tells you that internet crime is so rampant, they quite possibly won't be contacting you to investigate further."
Skow has learned a lot from the situation and decided to share her story to protect others from the career identity theft that she experienced. "Definitely conduct regular searchers of your name. I realize this must be much harder for anyone with a more common name, but you might try searching your name with what you do, like 'Jolissa Skow writer' to see if there are bios out there you don't know about." She recommends that if you suspect you're being impersonated, it's important to conduct your own investigation and reach out the owner of the company.
In an email, computer networking and security researcher and Columbia University professor Steven M. Bellovin shared what employers can do to prevent career identity theft. "If you're dealing with an employee as opposed to a contractor, and the person is purportedly in the U.S., the 'know your customer' laws that banks have to follow gives you decent assurance of the person's name, etc. If they're located abroad, that may not work." Employers must know and understand what career identity theft is to create safeguards to combat it. Employees should take steps to keep themselves safe online, especially now, when these types of scams will become more prevalent. Research suggests that women, non-white groups, and elderly populations may be more likely to be victims of cybercrimes.
"Search yourself regularly," Hayes suggests. "Don't just Google your name. Search unique lines from your bio or job title. Create a source of truth. Keep an up-to-date LinkedIn, personal website, or company profile so there's a clear reference for the real you. Protect your work. Writers can embed metadata in documents, designers can watermark samples, and attaching your domain email to shared files makes them harder to repurpose. Encourage verification. Let people know, 'I only send contracts from this email,' or 'You can always message me directly on LinkedIn to confirm.' These aren't perfect barriers, but they add friction for impersonators and bad actors and make it easier to prove authenticity later."