AI ETHICS AND REGULATION

“ It’ s not just people’ s personally identifiable information and résumé. It’ s that information for people who are looking for a job at McDonald’ s, people who are eager and waiting for emails back.

“ If you wanted to do some sort of payroll scam, this is a good approach.”

Job seekers are expecting contact from recruiters. They’ re primed to respond quickly to communication about potential jobs – and are ready to hand over sensitive information when asked because that’ s how hiring works.

A fraudster posing as a McDonald’ s recruiter could request bank details for direct deposit, tax information for paperwork, identification documents for background checks. The context gives the scam a built-in plausibility that generic phishing attempts can’ t match.

IBM research identifies employment data as falling within what privacy experts call sensitive domains – areas where the potential for harm demands extra protection. The company’ s recommendations on AI privacy best practices state that data from employment, health, education, criminal justice and personal finance should be subject to heightened security measures and used only in narrowly defined contexts.

146 December 2025