How do I check if a job recruiter or employer is legitimate?
Verify the recruiter's LinkedIn profile and the company's official website independently, and reject any 'employer' that asks for upfront fees, personal financial details before a job offer, or payment to access work.
Last reviewed: 10 June 2026
Explanation
Fake job recruiters use professional-sounding names, cloned company branding, and job boards to reach candidates. The volume of fake recruitment activity has grown sharply with AI-generated job descriptions and fake employee profiles on professional networks. Warning signs are consistent: every legitimate hiring process moves in one direction for money — the employer pays the candidate, never the other way around.
Verify the recruiter exists by searching their full name on LinkedIn and cross-referencing with the company's official website. Go to the company's actual website (typed directly, not from a link in an email or job post) and check whether there is a careers page listing the same role. If the role does not appear on the official site and the recruiter cannot explain why, be cautious. For well-known companies, a quick call to their main HR line can confirm whether the recruiter actually works there.
Phishing is a common goal of fake recruitment: attackers send official-looking onboarding forms requesting your SSN, bank account for direct deposit, a copy of your passport, or a background-check fee. Legitimate employers collect this information after a formal offer is signed and through secure HR systems — not via PDF form attached to a personal Gmail account. Providing these details prematurely enables identity theft.
Job scams that target work-from-home seekers often involve receiving and reshipping packages (receiving stolen goods), depositing cheques and wiring back funds (fake-cheque scams), or 'paid training' programs where you pay first. These may look like real employment but result in criminal liability, financial loss, or both.
Common red flags
- Recruiter uses a personal Gmail or Yahoo address for a major company
- Job offer arrives without an interview or after only a chat-based interview
- Employer asks for upfront payment for training, equipment, or background checks
- Onboarding asks for bank account details or SSN before any formal offer is signed
- Role involves receiving packages and forwarding them to another address
- Salary is unusually high for the described responsibilities with no experience required
What to do now
- Search the recruiter's name on LinkedIn and check their connection to the company
- Go to the company's official website directly and check their careers page
- Never pay a fee to get a job — legitimate employers do not charge candidates
- Do not provide SSN or bank details until you have a signed offer and are in a verified onboarding system
- Call the company's main HR line to verify the recruiter if you are unsure
- Report fake job postings to the FTC and the platform where they appeared
Frequently asked questions
Are remote-work job offers more likely to be scams?
Remote roles have been disproportionately faked because they require no in-person component to test legitimacy. Apply the same checks — independent company verification, LinkedIn cross-referencing, never pay fees — but add extra caution for roles that are entirely remote with no video interview.
What is a reshipping scam?
A reshipping scam recruits people as 'package handlers' or 'quality control inspectors' to receive packages at home and forward them. The packages contain goods purchased with stolen credit cards. You become an unwitting accomplice to fraud and may face criminal charges.