how to identify and avoid phishing scams.

Every day, fraudsters launch thousands of phishing attacks through emails or text messages to lure their victims to give their personal information. 

We have noticed that there has been an increase in phishing emails and LinkedIn accounts that fraudulently use Randstad’s brand and information in an attempt to acquire personal details from good online citizens like yourself. 

You can find some useful information on how you can identify, avoid and report these phishing scams.

what is phishing?

Phishing.org defined phishing as, “Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.”

All employees from Randstad Hong Kong will only connect with you via emails from the domain ending with “randstad.com.hk”, or official LinkedIn InMail.

how to detect phishing emails

Phishing activities have also become more sophisticated over the years. Phishing emails and messages look more and more legitimate and most use platforms like Gmail, Facebook and LinkedIn to avoid detection. 

If not careful, online users like yourself may fall victim to identity theft or suffer financial loss. Here are the tell-tale signs of a phishing email.

• The email content looks like it is sent from an organisation but the email address ends with “gmail.com”, “hotmail.com” (or other free email domains)
• The email subject is very generic with little information about the context (e.g. opportunities – Randstad APAC) 
• The email asks you to reply with a CV and phone number to contact you. A CV would include personal details such as your home address, birth date and an image. 

5 ways to protect yourself from phishing and fraud emails

1. check the sender email address

Check the sender’s email address to see whether it is sent from a company’s registered email domain. 

Randstad Hong Kong’s employees will only send emails from our company domain “randstad.com.hk”, and never on  “gmail.com”, “hotmail.com” or other free email domains. 

Some experienced scammers might put a fake email address ending with company’s domain at their email signature to trick you. Always check the sender’s details instead of just looking at the email signature.

2. do not click any links or attachments

If it’s an email that you are not sure about, do not click on any links and attachments. 

There is a high chance that these links will bring you to a forged website and the attachments may contain a virus that is harmful to your computer or smartphone. 

3. call Randstad Hong Kong to ask directly

Call Randstad Hong Kong at +852 2232 3408 to ask if that email sender is one of our employees. 

Do not use the number provided in the email, as it is most probably the scammer’s own number.

4. connect with our live chat team on our website

Randstad live chat is a web service that allows you to chat with our customer service specialists in real-time. You can start a live chat by clicking the blue conversation button at the bottom right corner of our website, and our customer experience agents are happy to help you during our business hours. 

If you are trying to contact us after hours, you can send us a message via our Contact Us page. Our team will get back to you within 24 hours.

5. report the phishing email to us

If you have received a message from us via email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn that you are unsure of, email us at communications@randstad.com.hk to verify. We will be in touch with you within 24 hours.

updates on our legal actions against this incident

31 January 2020 - Our IT team has logged a case with Google Enterprise, Google Consumer, Government Cyber Security and we have handed the matter over to our internal legal to pursue.