Job search scams: red flags and how to verify a job offer

How do job search scams work?

Job search scams use the same channels as honest hiring: job boards, social media, text messages and email. The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers advertise jobs the way real employers do, but what they actually want is your money, your personal information or both. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) describes criminals who copy a real company’s website with a lookalike domain, post openings on popular boards and run fake interviews before making requests.

Most schemes fall into a few patterns. Knowing them lets you recognize a new variation even when the story, company name or job title is unfamiliar.

• Fake check and “equipment” schemes: you receive a check, deposit it and send part of the money to a vendor or back to the “employer.”
• Reshipping: your “job” is to receive packages, repackage them and send them on, often goods bought with stolen cards.
• Pay-to-work: fees for training, certification, starter kits, background checks or a job guarantee.
• Placement and government-job fees: charges for access to jobs, including federal or postal jobs, which are free to apply for.
• Impersonation and data harvesting: a fake recruiter from a real company collects your ID, Social Security number and bank details.

What are the red flags of a fake job offer?

No single sign proves fraud, and polished scams exist. Treat each item below as a reason to stop and verify, and treat any request for money or money movement as a hard stop.

Be especially careful with remote roles and with offers that arrive without an application. The FBI’s New Haven office has warned that students are targeted with unsolicited offers for administrative jobs. Our guide to remote jobs covers how to vet work-from-home listings.

To check a posting or recruiter message against these signs quickly, paste it into the free job scam checker.

• You are asked to pay for anything to get or start the job.
• You are sent a check and told to keep part and forward the rest.
• The pay is high for little work, or the offer comes without a real interview.
• The recruiter uses a personal or lookalike email domain rather than the company’s real one.
• The interview happens only by text or chat, or the video stays off.
• The job appears on a board but not on the employer’s own careers page.
• You are asked for credit card details, or for bank and Social Security numbers before any offer is confirmed.
• You are pressured to act today so you do not have time to check.

Job scams on Indeed, LinkedIn and Microsoft Teams

Scammers work on the same platforms real job seekers use. The Federal Trade Commission reported that the number of job and employment agency scam reports tripled from 2020 to 2024, while reported losses rose from $90 million to $501 million. Each platform has its own warning signs and reporting tools, so learn the ones for the sites you use.

Indeed job scams

Indeed’s help center says you should never have to pay to apply for a job on Indeed, and warns against agreeing to send or receive money for an employer, including cashing checks. It also says Indeed will never offer you a job by phone call, text message, or apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram. Be careful with offers made without an interview, recruiters writing from free email addresses, and offers for a different job from the one you applied to. Report suspicious posts and messages inside Indeed.

LinkedIn job scams and fake recruiters

The FTC describes a pattern that starts with a direct message from a “recruiter” for a well-known company on a site like LinkedIn or Indeed, moves to a virtual interview and an official-looking offer letter, then ends with a fake invoice for equipment or a request for your driver’s license, Social Security or bank account number.

LinkedIn’s help center advises looking for verification badges on profiles, company pages and job posts, cross-checking the role on the company’s own careers page, and being wary of pressure to move the conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram or outside forms. It says never to share your Social Security number, bank details, ID copies or any payment before a legitimate offer. You can report a job as a scam from its job details page.

Microsoft Teams and chat-only interview scams

Some fake recruiters run the whole “interview” as a typed chat in Microsoft Teams or a messaging app. A chat interview is not proof of fraud on its own, but IC3 lists interviews that are not in person or on a secure video call as a warning sign, and Indeed advises caution when someone offers a job after talking only through chat apps.

In Teams, a message from someone outside your organization arrives as a request; Microsoft’s help center explains that you can preview it, then accept it, delete it, or block and report the sender. Confirm the interviewer through the company’s published contacts before you accept.

Job scam scenarios and what to do in each

The scenarios below are invented, but each follows a pattern described by the FTC or the FBI. Notice that the safe response is the same every time: stop, verify through an independent channel and do not send money or sensitive data while you check.

How to verify a recruiter and a job offer

A real company can be impersonated, so finding a company with that name is only the first check. Navigate to the employer through an independently found official website, not the link in the message. Compare the vacancy or job ID and confirm the recruiter through a published company contact. If a staffing agency is involved, verify the agency and its relationship to the vacancy.

A role missing from a careers page calls for a question, not an automatic verdict of fraud. The FTC also suggests searching the company or person’s name with words such as “scam,” “review” or “complaint,” and describing the offer to someone you trust. No complaints does not prove a company is honest, but it gives you time to think.

• Treat copied logos, signed contracts and plausible employee names as claims to verify.
• Do not rely on an HTTPS padlock; the FBI notes criminals can use HTTPS too.
• When you contact a recruiter, see how to message a recruiter for a neutral verification note.

1. Search the company name on its own and check whether more than one website claims to be the same business.
2. Compare the full email domain character by character with the verified website.
3. Call or email a published switchboard or careers contact, not a number supplied only by the sender.
4. Ask that contact to confirm the recruiter’s name and the job ID.
5. Pause the process until both checks succeed.

Treat onboarding requests as a separate verification step

Employers legitimately need identity and payroll information during onboarding, but a form does not prove the request is legitimate. IC3 warns that scammers request driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers and bank details using convincing employment paperwork, and notes that legitimate companies ask for payroll and bank information after hiring.

Before sharing sensitive information, confirm who is requesting it, why it is needed at this stage and which verified secure system should receive it. Requirements vary by employer and state; if something seems premature, ask the independently verified HR contact rather than supplying it under pressure. When you apply for jobs online, start from the employer’s own site so the portal itself is trustworthy.

• Never send account passwords or one-time sign-in codes to a recruiter.
• Do not send identity documents through an unverified email or chat channel.
• Never give credit card details to an employer.
• Slow down whenever urgency is used to stop you from checking.

What to do if you already sent money or information

Stop further payments and communication. The FTC advises contacting the company you used to send the money right away, whether a bank, card issuer, payment app, wire service or gift card company, reporting the fraud and asking to reverse the transaction if possible. The FBI recommends asking your bank to contact the receiving institution as well. Recovery is not guaranteed, so speed matters.

Save the messages, full sender addresses, posting URL, transaction references and a timeline. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and, for internet-enabled fraud, to IC3; report the listing to the job board and the impersonation to the real company. If you shared your Social Security number or ID documents, the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov site walks you through recovery steps.

• If login details were exposed, change the password through the official site and review any reused passwords.
• Students can also notify campus IT or campus police, as the FBI suggests.
• Do not pay anyone who promises to recover your money for a fee.

Use a repeatable check rather than a single red flag

Some official warnings mention poor grammar as a clue, but polished language is not a safety certificate. Focus on independent identity verification, what is being requested and whether the process makes sense. Even a video interview can be part of a false hiring process.

If verification fails or a request remains unexplained, pause the application. You do not need to prove a crime before refusing to send money or sensitive data. Note the reason in your job application tracker so a later message does not restart the same unsafe process.