Scammers posing as Spire employees targeting job seekers, FBI investigating

ST. LOUIS – “It started a few weeks ago with a phone call to the corporate security team. We had a job seeker that had one of those too good to be true opportunities and wanted to validate whether the opportunity and the job offer were legit,” Spire’s Patrick Christie said.

Since then, Christie says the company has identified some two-dozen people targeted by this particular scam, and the number is growing.

“(With) safety and integrity being two core values for Spire, we jumped on that immediately and started involving our corporate security team, local law enforcement, and the FBI to try and get a better sense of what was going on,” he added.

The scammers are using popular online job boards to target job seekers who’ve made their resumes and contact information public.

“The scammer (is) essentially proactively reaching out to them with an opportunity, some information about the data entry or customer service job and offering an interview. That interview is virtual through Microsoft Teams. 100-percent chat, there’s no face-to-face, no voice-to-ear communication,” he said.

Victims are offered jobs on the spot by the scammers. Subsequent emails contain fictitious offer letters, payroll tax forms and other correspondence aimed at obtaining personal information.

“We know an individual provided credit card information to the scammer to purchase some technology. We know that folks are making copies of their driver’s license and social security cards so unfortunately folks have gone way down the rabbit hole with it,” Christie said. “We’re working individually at both the federal and the local law enforcement level with each victim to try and put the pieces back together.”

Spire shared these emails with us. Suspicious scam victims contacting the real Spire, asking questions about the hiring process. One of the victims shared a screenshot of their chat with a scammer, who was offering up a fake name and picture on a fake ID card.

Interestingly, Christie says the victims who’ve come forward so far aren’t from the St. Louis area or any other Spire service territory. But there are victims in California, New Mexico, and Canada.

While authorities work to track down the scammers, anyone looking to legitimately work for Spire should start on the company’s career site.

“We’re never going to reach out to you from a Gmail account. It’s always going to be a Spire asset. We’re not going to ask you for credit card information, we’re not going to ask you for some of the personal things that we’re seeing,” Christie added.

If you believe you’re victim of this scam you’re urged to contact law enforcement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.