Looking for a job is a stressful and vulnerable time, filled with uncertainty. Unfortunately, scammers and bad actors are taking advantage of this situation, and it came to our attention that a bad actor was, at the time of your Glassdoor post, using our company identity to target job seekers. These scammers posted bogus job descriptions under a profile appearing to be Prime 8’s. Applicants were lured into a series of fake communications with individuals using identities of people on our staff. These scammers even conducted deceptive interviews with unsuspecting candidates and made job offers. As you can imagine, this caused emotional distress and suffering to a number of candidates who were eager to find work and angered us as a legitimate and authentic employer. As a responsible company, we pursued multiple legal and technical avenues to stop this fraud. However, we also want to encourage job seekers to take precautions to protect themselves. Sadly, we’ve learned that this is a common practice and is not limited to just Prime 8 - this is happening to applicants and other companies as well. If you are a job seeker, here are some steps you can take to protect yourself: 1. Before applying for a job that’s posted, do a web search for the company. If you find multiple instances of the company under different top-level domains, this is a sign to keep digging. For example, there might be a contoso.com and a contoso.co. 2. Look for the recruiter's profile on social media. This can help you verify their identity and see if they have a legitimate presence online. Do a web search for the recruiter's name and the name of the company they claim to work for. This can help you find any news articles or online discussions that mention both, which could legitimize their connection and provide additional insights into their reputation and credibility. 3. Research the recruiter or any others who reach out to you from a company about a job. Does their name appear on the company’s website? Look at their LinkedIn profile. Does their experience align with recruiting? Are they connected with other people at the company they work for? You can also use LinkedIn to check for mutual connections and verify the person's email address and phone number. 4. Check all email communications to ensure that the sender’s email matches the company’s domain. For example, if a recruiter claims to work for Contoso, their email address should end in "@contoso.com". If the email address uses a different domain, it’s a red flag. 5. Monitor communications for awkward use of English, poor grammar, or spelling errors. Be on the lookout for unusual phrasing or overly formal language. 6. Contact the company. If you receive any communication that you're unsure about, reach out to the company directly through their website or by phone. We have had several smart job seekers reach out to us to verify communications they’ve received. We want to assure you that we have done everything in our power to protect candidates from these scams. Candidate privacy and security are our top priority, and we'll continue to work hard to keep them safe. By taking these steps, you can protect yourself from potential scams and stay on the lookout for suspicious activities. Wishing you success in your career and job search. If you are interested in exploring future opportunities at Prime 8, please connect through our website at www.prime8consulting.com