I'd like to share with you my concerns, about the circulation of personal information on the internet and why internet surfers should consider reading the terms of agreement before using an internet employment service even in Switzerland ( This is where Jobup.ch raised my concerns ) !

The Jobup.ch issue :

Initially before I say anything I'd like to tell you why I gave Jobup.ch my trust and used it for looking for employment. It is one of the only websites in Swiss romande to offer reasonable student Jobs. Thanks to their website I managed to obtain an interview with a large multinational in the canton of Vaud. A undated problem for university students is the lack of student job in this area compared to the Swiss German parts,who seem to be more concerned about their younger generation. I have seen many more more student job offers in Zurich. I'm asking myself how I'm going to afford my next university course fees.


Two days ago, I applied for a Job “mystery shopper” in the student offers.
The job offer consisted on making a secret evaluation and commenting about costumer experience after doing some shopping or going to a restaurant in the Vaud region. In other words the employer would pay the shopping or restaurant experience in exchange of feedback. On the job offer I noticed the employer was located in London which I found to be unusual, seeing an employer located outside of Switzerland on jobup, but at the time I believed the offer was genuine because I trusted Jobup. Since I speak English and the local language this job sounded reasonable. I sent my CV along with a motivational letter. 

Later on I went back on to the jobup website, to find two other job offers with the same content but one of them had a different address and company name. I looked up the given address's and then realized that I was the victim of a scam, both were residential address's, I had realized this after viewing street view pictures with google maps. Because I was blinded by the trust I gave Jobup and my desire to find a interesting part time job, I didn't use my full prof logical thinking and now some vital information concerning myself has been given away to strangers with unknown intent. This something I would never do, I don't have a Facebook account with my full name or any entry's on google.

Yesterday I noticed the job offers had been taken down, so I decided to give Jobup a phone call. They informed that other students were also concerned the offer was a scam. That job offer was posted on the website for more than 24 hours before it was taken down. Which probably gave time to lot of other students to fall victim and get their personal data stolen.

Jobup was very unhelpful on the phone mentioning simply that they are not going to take any criminal proceedings against them or even find out who they are. They simply would somehow stopped them from coming back. They told me “we hope nothing bad will come out from the lose of your information”, they took my name and phone number they have yet to called me back. What they should have done, is tell me if these scammers could do anything with my information and reassure me !!!!??? I did not have the impression that they had any idea of what is identity theft is in the UK and could not care less about the loss of my personal information to exterior sources.


According to : http://www.iprofile.org/Career-Advice/Secure-Your-CV/

“Our personal CV is arguably one of the most important documents we own. It is our own personal shop window to the world of work, a place where we can promote our expertise and achievements to secure our dream jobs, pursue our desired careers and demand the kind of salaries we feel we deserve. “

“ID fraud is one of the most serious issues facing people today. 100,000 people in the UK are victims of ID theft each year and one of the ways criminals can acquire people's personal details is by stealing information held on their CV.”

Why didn't they check out this Fictional employer, especially when they are located abroad ? I could now come to the conclusion that jobup has a poor infrastructure ( no identity check of an unknown employer ! ) or they simply don't wont to get extra employees to do the checks simply for financial reasons. I wonder what kind of information the scammers obtained will being inscribed as employer on the website. Jobup.ch's comment 
“we hope nothing bad will come out from the lose of your information” is probably the most unprofessional thing I have ever heard. I can't believe they claim to be number one.

My CV had my full name, my address , my phone number and a picture, my date of birth, My nationality. Are they're really any risks ? I'm I over reacting ? Anyone I should contact ?