A recruiter reaches out. They tell you you’re a good candidate for a senior role or board seat. The opportunity is plausible, but edging into the too-good-to-be-true zone. That’s exactly what happened over a year ago to an operations executive who contacted me. I’m an executive and board résumé writer.

They wrote: “I want to confirm you’re the person I’ve been communicating with about the résumé for [X Hospital]. Could you please verify?”

They followed with: “I’ve been working with a supposed recruiter at [X Hospital] on a position. She asked me to update my résumé and said she’d used you many times. She told me to write to you at [email address] and provided specific wording to use. When I emailed the person posing as you, we had a few back-and-forth emails. I became slightly suspicious and asked to speak on the phone. She never responded after that.”

This executive was smart. They stopped before paying someone who was impersonating me to write their résumé.

Another executive wasn’t as fortunate. They emailed me: “I wanted to verify one point independently. [Jane Doe] originally referred me to you for the Executive Board Advisory profile work. Can you please confirm whether you have a working relationship with Jane?”

I replied: “This is the first time I have heard from you. I don’t know [Jane Doe]. I found one unverified LinkedIn profile for someone with that name in the US.

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