Wanted: Swindlers’ assistants

just when many people have lost their jobs and are vulnerable to exploitation.

The volume of schemes has been turbocharged partly by criminals going after enticing pots of money from the U.S. government — specifically, the benefit programs that were set up to help people and businesses hurt by the pandemic-induced economic downturn, authorities said.

In total, online human resources schemes where criminals pose as potential employers have soared 295% from a year ago, while schemes used for money laundering have skyrocketed by 609%, according to security firm ZeroFox.

Many people who perpetrate these frauds are based overseas, authorities said, so they need to move the money to their home country. Banks and authorities have made it harder to launder money through traditional financial channels in recent years.

Alma Sardas, 21, had been furloughed from her job at a hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, this spring when she saw a listing on jobs site ZipRecruiter advertising a work-from-home position as a “virtual assistant” to a businessman in Hong Kong.

Sardas sat through a formal interview and spoke with a man who called himself Hermann Ziegler, who said he would be her boss. Once she was hired, she was sent a check for $4,590 to deposit into her bank account. She was told to use some of the money for her expenses and to send the rest from her account to her new employer’s vendors.

Sardas became skeptical about why the money would need to go through her bank account and called local police. They explained that she had almost been caught in a classic moneylaundering scheme.

“You make yourself so sincere and these people just take advantage of it,” she said, adding that she had shredded the check and reported the incident to ZipRecruiter, and the posting was removed.

WES FRAZER/THE NEW YORK TIMES Jobless because of the pandemic, Denise Newton accidentally became what is known in security circles as a money mule.