Testing the audit loophole of BOSS Zhipin: Fake recruitments are over in 3 minutes and resumes are pouring in

From Wei Zexi to job seeker Li Wenxing, the product and mechanism problems of Internet companies have been exposed again, at the cost of another life. Starting from August 2, the Li Wenxing incident continued to ferment. This Northeastern University graduate applied for a job through the Internet recruitment platform BOSS Direct, but was suspected of being scammed by a pyramid scheme in Tianjin and unfortunately died.

But Li Wenxing is not an isolated case. Nandu reporters found that many Internet recruitment platforms have almost no review of information publishers, with extremely low thresholds, and the required business licenses and other certificates can also be forged at low cost through multiple channels and methods.

In an interview with Nandu reporters early yesterday morning, Zhao Peng, founder and CEO of BOSS Zhipin, admitted that the review mechanism "has big problems" - after the company entered a stage of rapid development in 2016, it continued to implement the initial strategy of "only posting one position, and if the information is compliant, it can be posted first; if it does not trigger a report, recruitment can be allowed."

Behind this, it is very likely that the company is running blindly with the help of capital. Founded in 2014, BOSS Direct is regarded as a star company under Shunwei Capital and has received multiple rounds of investment from Shunwei Capital, Capital Today, Gaorong Capital, etc. At the same time, cases similar to Li Wenxing's incident on the BOSS Direct platform have long been exposed on multiple social platforms such as Zhihu and Weibo, but the "audit" problem has been ignored.

Companies involved:

There are loopholes in the audit, but it does not hinder rapid financing

Zhao Peng told the Southern Metropolis Daily that in early 2015, the company was in its early stages, with few users and most recruiters being start-ups or even companies in preparation. To facilitate recruiters, it adopted two strategies, the most important of which was: if a recruiter only posted one position, the company name could be found in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, and there were no obvious problems with the position, it would be posted first. If it did not trigger a user report, no mandatory review would be conducted.

Zhao Peng admitted to the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter that he continued to adopt the above strategy after the company entered a period of rapid development in 2016. "After 2016, there were many large companies on the platform, and most large companies have corporate email accounts, so we adopted corporate email authentication for them."

Zhao Peng said that later, BOSS Zhipin had more engineers and auditors, so it launched a dedicated audit system to conduct "machine + manual" audits and accumulate a large amount of data. The system can establish a multi-dimensional model for identified fake BOSSes and continue to enrich it. "But at this time, we still did not update the strategy of 'only posting one position, the information is compliant, you can post it first; if it does not trigger a report, you can recruit'."

In other words, the review strategy that BOSS Direct Hire decided on in early 2015 was not updated until after the interview by the Nandu reporter (i.e., in the early morning of August 3).

Despite the fact that BOSS Zhipin's audit strategy is lagging behind, its financing is advancing rapidly. Public information shows that BOSS Zhipin is one of the brands of Beijing Huaye Jishi Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huaye Jishi Company"). According to information obtained by Nandu reporters through the business investigation tool "Tianyancha", Huaye Jishi Company has completed rounds A, B, B+, and C of financing so far. The multi-million dollar round of A financing was completed in January 2014 with the participation of Shunwei Capital and Ceyuan Ventures; the most recent round, namely the C round, was completed in September 2016, with a financing amount of 28 million US dollars, and investors included Huaying Capital, Gaorong Capital, Ceyuan Ventures, Heyu Alternative Investment, Today Capital, and Shunwei Capital.

"The incident has not yet been characterized. At present, the platform's screening and management of recruitment company information is the basis and foundation of the incident." Zhang Yi, CEO of iMedia Consulting Group, believes that the root cause of the incident lies in the review stage.

Regarding such an important link, did the investors realize the existence of the problem when they entered, and did they turn a blind eye? Shunwei Capital declined to respond to this question. As of press time, Zhao Peng also did not answer the questions from the Nandu reporter.

At the same time, BOSS Direct, which has received multiple rounds of financing, has also been frantically advertising. Many BOSS Direct ads can be seen in subways in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places. On the other hand, BOSS Direct's data has also continued to rise. According to data provided by third-party agency Analysys, in June this year, BOSS Direct ranked third in the industry with 3.4479 million monthly active users on the recruitment APP list.

Investigation Cases:

Both employers and job seekers have been tricked

Li Wenxing is not an isolated case. Xiaoru (pseudonym) told Nandu reporters that he had previously found a part-time job as a restaurant waiter through a part-time job website. After contacting the restaurant staff through the part-time job website, Xiaoru went to the agreed interview location. At this time, Xiaoru found that the person who contacted him was not the restaurant staff, but a part-time job agency. The other party told him that he had to pay a certain fee before getting a part-time job, and only after paying the fee would he have the opportunity to get a part-time job. "I felt something was wrong at the time, and I ran away quickly." Xiaoru said.

Nandu reporters found that before and after the Li Wenxing incident was exposed, many users on social platforms such as Weibo and Zhihu also exposed experiences similar to Li Wenxing's on BOSS Direct.

In fact, not only individual applicants, but also companies that publish recruitment information through Internet recruitment platforms have expressed "great hurt." A person in charge of a company who does not want to be named, Ms. Chen (pseudonym), told Nandu reporters that her company has 108 user recruitment accounts on the BOSS direct recruitment platform. "There is no main company account. Each person registers an account and writes the company name." Ms. Chen told Nandu reporters that because the company has branches across the country, each company registers one according to its own needs, which has led to the current situation.

What is even more troubling is the negative impact that scammers have brought to Ms. Chen's company through Internet recruitment platforms. "Scammers will use our company's name to post recruitment information, and these scammers will ask applicants to pay fees in the name of training fees, etc." Many people have fallen for this and come to Ms. Chen's company to complain and protect their rights. Ms. Chen and her company are overwhelmed by this. Most of these scammers appear on Internet recruitment platforms such as 58 Recruitment, BOSS Direct Recruitment, and Zhaopin.com, and a few also contact job seekers through text messages.

"I have seen fake company recruitment information on platforms such as 58 Recruitment. These platforms have not dealt with any systematic issues and have actually just let it go." Ms. Chen told Nandu reporters that once a complaint is made, the platform will delete the single piece of information complained by the company, and other false recruitment information will still exist, and there will be no more rigorous review and supervision.

Reporter's test

It is easy to register with a pseudonym and post fake job openings

Why are fake companies and false information so popular on recruitment platforms and can repeatedly commit fraud? An industry insider pointed out to Nandu reporters that the rampant fake recruitment information is an open secret in the industry. This may be due to the fact that many Internet recruitment platforms, including BOSS Zhipin, have almost no auditing. Nandu reporters personally tested it and it was indeed the case.

According to Zhao Peng, since 2015, the strategy adopted by the company has been as follows: only one job posting is posted, and if the company name can be found in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and there are no obvious problems with the job posting, it will be posted first. If it does not trigger user reports, no mandatory review will be conducted.

A reporter from Nandu found through actual testing that with just a mobile phone number, one can successfully register as an employee of a well-known large company and post fictitious job information.

At about 0:00 yesterday morning, a reporter from Nandu registered on BOSS Direct under the pseudonym "Li Xiaobing" and became the HR director of a well-known Internet company in Shenzhen. He also posted a job for a "product manager" in Chengdu, Sichuan. He was accepted in seconds without any information review requirements. He only needed to fill in his mobile phone number and verification code. Within less than 3 minutes after the "product manager" job was posted, the reporter from Nandu began to receive resumes and some job seekers expressed interest.

Soon after, the reporter from Nandu received a promotional message from the BOSS direct recruitment system: You can enjoy a limited-time 8.8% discount on a 1,228 yuan urgent recruitment pass. After purchasing this card, the system will display the top positions and batch match talented people to apply for positions. "The number of job seekers is expected to increase by 6 times." It is worth noting that this is also one of the ways most recruitment platforms make profits.

Regarding this situation, Nandu reporter submitted this question to BOSS Zhipin CEO Zhao Peng for an interview at 1:02 am yesterday. Within a minute, Nandu reporter immediately received a "position removed" notice from BOSS Zhipin APP, stating that Nandu reporter needed to pass identity authentication before posting positions normally. Nandu reporter entered the authentication page and saw that authentication could only be done through corporate email. Apart from this, there is no other authentication method.

You can buy a business license for 100 yuan or even less

In addition to BOSS Direct, many Internet recruitment platforms only need a business license to pass the review, and Nandu reporters found that business licenses can be easily purchased on Taobao and other platforms for around 100 yuan or even less. Ms. Chen also told Nandu reporters that she also needs to upload a business license on 58 and other platforms to pass the review, but it still cannot stop the scammers from wreaking havoc.

58 Group, whose recruitment businesses include 58.com, Ganji.com, ChinaHR.com, and Zhaocaimao, also sent a statement to Southern Metropolis Daily yesterday, saying it will strengthen its recruitment review mechanism and step up efforts to combat fraud and blacklisting. 58 Group said it has recently launched phone privacy protection, brand protection for more than 300 well-known companies, and job search insurance to protect users' job search safety.

Zhao Peng said that BOSS Zhipin has made comprehensive adjustments since the early morning of August 3, and implemented a pre-review and certification process for all recruiters. In the future, based on the current material review, more accurate review and certification measures such as ID card and facial recognition will be adopted.

At 2:54 am yesterday, Zhao Peng sent a message to the Nandu reporter saying, "The strategy is online." However, the Nandu reporter tested it at around 4 pm yesterday and found that the only authentication method was corporate email. The platform did not conduct further review of the Nandu reporter's registered identity as "human resources director of a well-known Internet company in Shenzhen, Guangdong."

Event Progress

Tianjin police investigate suspected drowning death of job seeker

On August 2, the educational media "Ji Mian Dui" published a report that job seeker and Northeastern University graduate Li Wenxing applied for a job through the Internet recruitment platform BOSS Zhipin, and was suspected of being scammed by a pyramid scheme in Tianjin, and unfortunately died before that. According to the latest report of China Youth Online, the public security department of Jinghai District, Tianjin has filed a case to investigate Li Wenxing's mistaken entry into a pyramid scheme organization, and promised to resolutely deal with illegal pyramid schemes that constitute crimes in accordance with the law. The police said that on July 20, with the consent of his family, an autopsy was performed on Li Wenxing's body. After examination, Li Wenxing met the characteristics of drowning before his death. The autopsy results were notified to his family by phone on the same day.

"From a legal perspective, the recruitment platform and the pyramid scheme organization (if the case is finally confirmed) need to be held accountable. But in terms of social responsibility, the school needs to bear some responsibility." Regarding the Li Wenxing incident exposed on August 2, Fang Chaoqiang, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke (Hangzhou) Law Firm, told Nandu reporters that Li Wenxing is already an adult and should be aware of his own behavior.

From the current situation, it seems that Li Wenxing encountered a "fake company" on BOSS Zhipin. In May this year, Li Wenxing received a job offer letter from a person claiming to be an employee of "Beijing Kelan" through BOSS Zhipin, sent through QQ mailbox. On July 14, his body was found in Jinghai District, Tianjin. However, Beijing Kelan responded to the media, saying that the people who contacted Li Wenxing through the BOSS Zhipin platform were not employees of the company, and the company would not issue job offer notices to job seekers through personal mailboxes.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.