Fraud Alert

Updated November 2020

Occasionally, we hear of individuals and organizations offering false employment opportunities in the name of International Medical Corps, or of individuals claiming to be employed by or connected to International Medical Corps requesting money under the guise of a work-related need. We’ve even seen scams where people send fraudulent emails and text messages claiming to offer money from International Medical Corps in the form of financial “relief packages” or debit cards.

This is fraudulent activity and not authorized by International Medical Corps nor its affiliates International Medical Corps UK or International Medical Corps Croatia.

Please be advised that:

• All email communications from International Medical Corps will be sent from an address ending in @internationalmedicalcorps.org or internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk. Sometimes scammers will use an address very close to these—for example, with an extra letter inserted—so read the address carefully.
• International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK will not ask job applicants to send information to an address other than one ending in @internationalmedicalcorps.org, @internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk. or @internationalmedicalcorps.hr.
• International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK do not outsource any part of their employee or consultant recruitment process to any organization or agency. We do not refer you to third-party websites or ask that you complete any type of psychometric testing.
• All positions for which International Medical Corps is currently recruiting are posted on http://careers.internationalmedicalcorps.org/ or https://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk/jobs.
• International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK do not conduct job interviews via email or instant messaging.
• International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK never ask job applicants for a fee, payment or other monetary transaction.
• International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK employees whom you have never met in person will not ask that money be routed to a personal account to help with various work-related needs.

International Medical Corps and its affiliates take misuse of their names and logos extremely seriously, and we will work with the appropriate legal authorities to identify and address any such fraudulent schemes. International Medical Corps and International Medical Corps UK will not be responsible for any loss, monetary or otherwise, that may result from these fraudulent schemes. By making you aware of this, we hope to avoid—and ultimately stop—individuals from becoming victims of scams using International Medical Corps’ and International Medical Corps UK’s names.

If you are contacted by someone you suspect may not be appropriately representing International Medical Corps, please contact us at recruitmentfraud@internationalmedicalcorps.org or via other methods listed at https://internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk/contact.

More information on how to recognize and report phishing and other online or text-based scams can be found on the Federal Trade Commission website.

Learn more about recruitment fraud and impostor scams below.

What Is Recruitment Fraud?

Recruitment fraud is a sophisticated fraud offering fictitious job opportunities via various means, including legitimate online services, bogus websites and unsolicited emails. These offers—which falsely claim to be from International Medical Corps or International Medical Corps UK, or to relate to real job opportunities with either entity—are intended to obtain personal data and/or payment from unsuspecting individuals.

How to Identify Recruitment Fraud

Perpetrators often ask recipients to complete bogus recruitment documents, such as application forms, terms and conditions of employment, or visa forms. The International Medical Corps or International Medical Corps UK names and logos are often featured (without authority) on the documentation. Signs of fraud include the following:

• The email does not come from an official internationalmedicalcorps.org or internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk email address, and instead may be from an unrelated—but possibly similar-looking—domain or free email service.
• The email message may be unprofessional in its wording, spelling and grammar.
• There is an early request for personal information, such as address, date of birth, CV, passport details or banking details.
• Candidates are requested to contact other companies and/or individuals, such as lawyers, bank officials, travel agencies, courier companies or visa/immigration processing agencies.
• The offer of employment includes requests for payment of fees, whether up front or later in the recruitment or onboarding process.
• The perpetrators may offer to pay a percentage of the fees requested and ask the candidate to pay the remaining amount.
• There is an insistence on urgency for the applicant to act on the correspondence received.

What Should I Do?

DO:

• Save messages from the perpetrator for further investigation if necessary.
• Save the original subject line, as well as the complete headers and complete message content.
• Send an email to recruitmentfraud@internationalmedicalcorps.org to advise us of this activity. This email should include the following three items:
  1. The original email.
  2. The original subject line. Please do not change or modify the subject line of the message you received.
  3. The complete email headers. Email headers contain a detailed record of the specific route that an email takes through the internet when it is sent to you.
• If you come across what you believe is a fraudulent online job posting for International Medical Corps or International Medical Corps UK, please take a screenshot and/or forward the link to recruitmentfraud@internationalmedicalcorps.org.
• International Medical Corps will not be responsible for any loss, monetary or otherwise, that may result from these fraudulent schemes, but you might consider reporting the fraud to your local law enforcement, as well as any financial institution involved in any monetary transactions made at the request of the scammers.

DO NOT:

• Respond to unsolicited business propositions and/or offers of employment from people with whom you are unfamiliar.
• Disclose your personal or financial details to anyone you do not know.
• Send any money. International Medical Corps does not ask for money transfers or payments of any kind from applicants to secure a job, either as an employee or consultant.
• Engage in further communication if you believe the communication may be fraudulent.
• Click on any links in the email, open any attachments to the message, or reply to or contact the senders in any way.

What Is an Impostor Scam?

Those who run this kind of scam may create fake profiles on networking or dating sites and/or contact their targets through popular networking and social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. The scammers strike up a relationship with their targets to build trust, sometimes texting or talking several times a day. Then, the scammer makes up an emergency situation and asks their target for money, gifts or information that enables access to bank accounts.

How to Identify an Impostor Scam

If the scammer is posing as an International Medical Corps or International Medical Corps UK employee, it is likely that they will pretend to work as a doctor, nurse or other critically needed position in an active conflict zone or other remote location. They may reach out to their target via message on a networking or dating site and quickly move the conversation to personal phone calls, texts and/or emails.

• The scammer will often say they are living, working or traveling outside of their home country.
• Despite never having met in person, the scammer will work to gain the target’s trust over days or weeks, sometimes even sending stolen photos and/or fraudulent documents to bolster their story.
• Eventually, the impostor will invent an emergency that requires assistance with some fictitious work-related need, such as moving or travel expenses, medical supplies, storage of valuables or payment to secure their safety.
• The impostor may even send “official” emails that do not come from an internationalmedicalcorps.org or internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk email address, and instead may be from an unrelated—but possibly similar-looking—domain or free email service.
• The impostor will often ask the target to pay by wiring money, via reload cards like MoneyPak or gift cards from vendors like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes or Steam.

What Should I Do?

• Stop communicating with the person immediately.
• Send an email to recruitmentfraud@internationalmedicalcorps.org to advise us of this activity. If you have been communicating via email, this message should include the following three items:
  1. The original email.
  2. The original subject line. Please do not change or modify the subject line of the message you received.
  3. The complete email headers. Email headers contain a detailed record of the specific route that an email takes through the internet when it is sent to you.
• Notify the website or app where you met the impostor.
• Other avenues for reporting a scam include through econsumer.gov, an initiative of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network.
• If you come across what you believe is a fraudulent online profile of a person posing as an employee of International Medical Corps or International Medical Corps UK, please take a screenshot and/or forward the link to recruitmentfraud@internationalmedicalcorps.org.
• International Medical Corps will not be responsible for any loss, monetary or otherwise, that may result from these fraudulent schemes, but you might consider reporting the fraud to your local law enforcement, as well as any financial institution involved in any monetary transactions made at the request of the impostor.