Hi to everyone, especially to the bleary-eyed editors and social media managers who had to stay up late to cover the Met Gala carpet last night. I know all too well that rough Tuesday morning slog from my Condé days. 

Speaking of Condé Nast, as Anna Wintour and co. were schmoozing at the $100,000-a-ticket Met Gala, La Fronde learned exclusively that the company has been dealing with an elaborate scam targeting its recruiters. 

If you’re job hunting right now this is a story you should read. We all know the usual signs (sketchy-looking text messages from fake recruiters, requests for personal information or payment upfront, etc.), but this is a much more sophisticated scheme that’s so far been unreported. 

Our lead story is usually only for paid members but I’m making this one free to everyone. It just wouldn’t feel right to gatekeep this kind of information, and I want to be mindful of people who don’t have a job and can’t afford a membership right now. 

Besides our lead story, we’ve also got intel on New York Magazine’s potential sale and a new hot reader take in our I Said What I Said column. If someone forwarded you this email, you can sign up to get La Fronde in your inbox here. Or, if you’re already a free reader and want to upgrade, you can do that here.

And if you have a tip or feedback for me, just reply to this email. 

Now let’s get to it.

xoxo,

Stephanie

If the job market wasn't already hell on earth, a new level has been unlocked: scammers are impersonating real recruiters to trick job seekers into handing over personal information — and the way they're doing it is far more sophisticated than we’re used to.

Vanessa Salvaggio, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Condé Nast, says she and her boss are victims of this scam. The mess started three weeks ago, when Vanessa began getting an avalanche of messages from complete strangers on LinkedIn saying they'd received an email from her about open jobs at Condé.

"I'm on maternity leave right now and pretty much since I went out, [I] have been getting multiple LinkedIn messages a day from random people letting me know that they received an email from me and wanted to confirm it's actually from me because it seemed off," Vanessa told me. "At this point, probably like 40+ people have reached out to me about this, which is so crazy!"

At first glance, the email looks legit. The display name shows Vanessa's real Condé email address and the messages are hyper-personalized to each candidate — the person's real name, current job title, place of employment, even their past experience, with a detailed explanation of why they'd be a great fit. These are not the vague, typo-ridden emails we know are common red flags. These look like they were written by a real person who actually did their homework.

The messages include a photo of Vanessa, her social handles and a forged digital signature that mirrors her own. The scammers did not ask for any personal information upfront. Vanessa said they were targeting candidates for multiple jobs at the company, without naming specific roles.

Condé has opened an investigation into the scam, Vanessa said, but she hasn’t gotten any updates yet. I reached out to Condé for comment but have not yet heard back.

Sadly, this type of scheme isn't just isolated to Condé. I also spoke with Tania González, who was targeted in a similar way. A couple of weeks ago, she received an email from someone posing as a recruiter from a major global hotel chain — the company asked to remain unnamed, as did the recruiter whose identity was used. Like the Condé emails, it had a real recruiter's email address in the display name, very specific details about Tania's audience and social media background, and no upfront request for personal information.

Tania exchanged several emails with the fake recruiter before an alarm went off: The scammer referred her to a contact who could supposedly guarantee her a job — but only if she sent over her portfolio and a statement of purpose within 24 hours.

"This was really the last straw, so I DMed the recruiter [on LinkedIn] and she confirmed it wasn't her," Tania said. "Now I'm going to forward her the email so her IT department takes steps and I will report her email to Google and block [the address]."

These are not amateur schemes by any means. It’s not clear that these scams are connected, but looking at what both Tania and Vanessa described, there are some interesting patterns that I was able to piece together:

The display name was fabricated. Every one of these emails showed a real recruiter's address in the display name, but the actual sending address was a Gmail account. You wouldn’t know unless you clicked the dropped down arrow under the “from” section to see where the note actually came from.

The ‘recruiters’ teased multiple roles at once. In Vanessa's case, the scammers dangled open jobs without specifying them. In Tania's, they listed three specific roles she was supposedly qualified for that were not listed on the company’s career page. Recruiters reach out about unlisted jobs all the time, so that’s not necessarily a red flag. But it’s the sheer number of jobs offered at once that warrants a bit more digging.

A photo in the signature. The fake emails all included a real headshot of the recruiters. It's not unheard of to have a picture in your email signature, but it does give off the impression that the scam recruiter is trying to make the email appear more legitimate.

And if anything else, trust your gut and verify. If something feels off, DM the recruiter directly and ask if the email came from them. That's exactly what the people in Vanessa's network did — and it's how Tania was able to confirm that she was getting scammed.

Have you been targeted by a similar scam? First, I’m sorry to hear that. But also, I want to hear from you — reply to this email or send a confidential tip to my Signal: @itsstephwill.94.