Job Seeker Smiled at a Job Offer Text... Then Woke Up to This the Next Day

It was from a mid-sized company that many people would recognize by name. The qualifications matched his background, and the pay looked decent.
After being rejected by several companies, A submitted his resume with high hopes. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on the 31st, A received a call a few days later from someone claiming to be the company’s HR manager.
The caller said, "You have passed the document screening, and we would like to conduct a video interview. " He sent a messenger ID and said, "Please contact me on KakaoTalk to arrange the interview schedule." Thinking that companies sometimes do use messengers for hiring, A added the account without much suspicion.When A contacted the person on KakaoTalk, the caller instructed him to install a video interview program.
The person then sent an internet link along with a how-to video and explained, "Because of security settings, you need to lift some restrictions on your phone to connect properly." The caller also asked him to send the interview code shown on the screen after installation.This time, A did exactly as instructed because he did not want to miss the opportunity.
During the app installation process, unfamiliar permission pop-ups appeared several times, but he did not think much of them.But early the next morning, his phone began acting strangely.The screen suddenly froze, apps became slow to open, and black screens kept appearing.When he checked his banking app in growing anxiety, A was stunned.
There were overseas card payments he had never made, along with a string of small payments and transfers.It turned out that the app A had installed was not a video interview program, but malware that could remotely control his phone.The job posting was also fake, posted by someone impersonating the company, and A ended up losing several million won.The FSS advised people to be suspicious whenever a hiring process seems different from normal procedures.It explained that recruiters do not usually send text messages to personal phones or try to move conversations to mobile messengers during the hiring process.An FSS official said, "If someone claiming to be a recruiter tries to get you to install a suspicious app through an internet link under the pretext of a video interview, you should never comply." "By signing up for services such as credit transaction blocking and mobile phone identity theft prevention, you can help prevent fraud losses caused by identity theft," the official emphasized.
Some people lose not only money, but their lives, because of a single phone call.Some people lose not only money, but their lives, because of a single phone call.
zoom@fnnews.com Lee Jumi Reporter