AI job scams on the rise: Scammers use deepfakes to infiltrate companies

While corporates have adopted remote interviews due to speed and convenience, scammers have also taken advantage of this shift.

There is a growing trend of fraudsters leveraging generative AI to generate convincing resumes and stage fake video interviews, often using real people’s faces or stolen credentials to gain access to company data.

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Cybersecurity expert Boikokobetso Makhetloane explained that the goal is often to sell this data to other companies or competitors.

 "They want to get into inside companies using fake names, fake identity, so they can grab as much data as they can.”

He emphasised that technology is improving daily, making it increasingly difficult to detect these deep fakes.

"It's a new wave of cybercrime that's targeting the hiring process. Job applicants appear in a remote interview, and it looks real, it sounds real, but it's actually not.

"They're running a syndicate, using real people's faces, real people's images to apply for jobs,” he said.

To combat this, Makhetloane recommended using the “three-finger test”, where interviewers ask candidates to hold up three fingers in front of their face.

"If you ask the person on the call to hold up three fingers in front of their face, it basically glitches the camera. It's a simple way to check if you're really talking to a human being."

To listen to Burke in conversation with CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit, click the audio player below: