Fake Interviews and Recruitment Scams: How to Spot Them

A recruitment scam needs you to believe two things: that the job is real and that the next step is normal. The interview is where scammers build that belief. A fake interview often looks professional, moves quickly and ends with good news. Then comes the request: a fee, a cheque to deposit, your bank details or a scan of your passport.

This guide focuses on the interview stage, where scams can be spotted before you lose anything. It is written for job seekers anywhere. If you are looking for work in the UAE, read our separate guidance on UAE job scams and on verifying a UAE job offer as well.

What scammers are after

Government consumer agencies describe the goal plainly. The US Federal Trade Commission’s guide to job scams says scammers really want “your money or personal information”. In practice that means one or more of these:

• Upfront payments for training, visas, background checks, “equipment” or registration.
• Cheque fraud. You are sent a cheque, asked to deposit it and forward part of the money. The cheque later bounces.
• Identity harvesting. ID numbers, passport scans, bank and card details, collected as “onboarding”.
• Money movement. Singapore’s ScamShield describes a variant where victims transfer money into accounts supplied by the scammer for a small cut, and are then pushed to move larger sums.
• Task scams. In an October 2023 alert, Australia’s Scamwatch described job scams that feel “like a game”, where victims complete simple online tasks to “clear levels” and are then pushed to put more of their own money into the app.

The checklist: warning signs at each stage

No single sign proves a scam. Two or three together should make you stop and verify.

Stage 1: The first contact

• You were contacted out of the blue, often on a messaging app, for a job you never applied for. Scamwatch lists work offered through encrypted messaging or social media as a warning sign.
• The pay is high for little effort. The FTC warns that claims you will “make lots of money fast working just a few hours a day” are probably a scam.
• The recruiter uses a personal email address or a domain that is slightly different from the company’s real one. In a 2020 alert, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) warned that criminals spoof company websites and use non-company email domains.
• The job appears on a job board or social media but not on the company’s own careers site, another sign listed by IC3.

Stage 2: Scheduling the interview

• The “interview” is conducted entirely by text or chat, with no video or phone call. IC3’s warning signs include interviews that are not in person or on a secure video call.
• You are asked to download a specific chat app or create an account using only an email address.
• You are rushed: “We need an answer today”, “Only two places left”.
• Nobody will tell you the interviewer’s name or role, or the name they give cannot be found anywhere linked to the company.

Stage 3: During the interview

• Questions are generic and could apply to any job. Nobody asks about your actual experience.
• The interviewer cannot answer basic questions about the team, the manager or the office.
• You are offered the job on the spot, after a short or text-only conversation.
• The conversation moves quickly to pay, equipment or “processing”.

Stage 4: The “offer” and onboarding

• You are asked to pay for anything: a background check, training, a visa, a laptop. The FTC’s guidance is direct: “Honest employers won’t ask you to pay to get a job.”
• You receive a cheque to buy equipment from a “preferred supplier”. IC3 lists requiring new employees to buy start-up equipment from the company as a warning sign.
• You are asked for card details. IC3 advises: “Never provide credit card information to an employer.”
• Payment must be by gift card, cryptocurrency, payment app or wire transfer, the methods the FTC says scammers often insist on.
• They want your ID number, passport and bank details before you have a signed contract or any way to verify the company.

Real interview or fake? A quick comparison

Legitimate employers do run background checks and collect identity documents, but usually after a genuine offer and through a process you can verify. The key difference is that you are not asked to pay for it, and you can confirm who is asking.

How to verify before you go further

1. Find the company yourself. Type the company’s address into your browser or search for it independently. Do not use links in the message. Scamwatch recommends contacting well-known organisations using the email or phone number on their official website.
2. Check the vacancy on the official careers page. If the job is not there, ask the company’s HR team, through the official contact details, whether it exists.
3. Check the domain carefully. Look for an extra letter, a hyphen or a different ending. IC3 also advises searching the company name on its own; several similar-looking websites can be a sign of fraud.
4. Search for the company with words such as “scam” or “review”. The FTC suggests exactly this.
5. Ask for a video call with a named person. A legitimate recruiter will rarely object. A scammer may make excuses or disappear.
6. Talk to someone you trust. Both the FTC and ScamShield recommend discussing an offer with someone else before acting. A second opinion breaks the urgency scammers depend on.
7. Do not rely on “https” alone. IC3 notes that scammers can use secure websites too.

What to share, and when

A CV with your email and phone number is enough to apply. Copies of your passport or national ID, and bank details for payroll, belong after you have verified the employer and hold a written offer. Some things no genuine hiring process needs at any stage: card numbers, online banking passwords, one-time passcodes or the login details for a government digital ID. ScamShield, for example, warns against disclosing Singpass credentials. Our resume questions hub covers which personal details a CV can leave out.

If you have already engaged

Act quickly. The steps below draw on guidance from the FBI, FTC, Scamwatch and ScamShield.

1. Stop all payments and communication. Scamwatch’s advice is “Never send money, you won’t get it back.”
2. Contact your bank immediately if you paid, deposited a cheque or shared card or account details. IC3 advises contacting your financial institution as soon as you discover fraudulent or suspicious activity.
3. Contact the payment provider you used, such as the wire service or gift card company, and ask whether the money can be stopped or recovered. The FTC lists this as a first step.
4. Secure your accounts. Change passwords and turn on two-factor authentication, as ScamShield recommends.
5. Report it to the platform where you were contacted, to the job board, to the impersonated company and to your national authority.
6. Watch for identity misuse if you shared documents. Some countries run identity support services, such as IDCARE in Australia.

Where to report

• United States: ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC) or ic3.gov (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center).
• Australia: Scamwatch, plus the platform where you were contacted.
• Singapore: the ScamShield helpline on 1799; make a police report if you think you have been defrauded.
• Elsewhere: your national police cybercrime unit or consumer protection agency, your bank, and the job platform involved.

Reporting helps even if you lost nothing. Platforms can remove the fake listing, and the real company can warn other applicants.

Protecting yourself on future applications

• Use a dedicated email address for job hunting, so recruitment messages are easy to separate from everything else.
• Decide in advance what you will say when pressed for money or documents, for example: “I will reply once I have confirmed the role with your HR team.” Having the sentence ready makes it easier to slow things down.
• Keep your CV focused on skills and results rather than personal identifiers. A clean, standard document from a tool such as the resumebuilder.ae/ resume builder makes it easy to leave out details you do not need to share.
• Remember that a genuine employer’s interest will survive a day’s delay while you verify. A scammer’s usually will not.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. If you think you have been defrauded, contact your bank and your national police or consumer protection authority.

Frequently asked questions

Can a real company interview me over text chat?

Some employers do use chat or text for early screening. The concern is an entire process, including the offer, done by chat with nobody you can verify. Ask for a call with a named person and check them through the company’s official channels.

Is it normal to be sent money to buy equipment?

Treat it as a strong warning sign. The FBI lists being required to buy start-up equipment from the “employer” among the signs of a fake job, and the FTC warns about cheques followed by requests to send money back.

The recruiter used a real company name. Does that make it safe?

No. The FTC notes that scammers sometimes make ads look like they come from real companies, and the FBI has warned about spoofed company websites. Verify the vacancy directly with the company.

I sent a copy of my passport. What should I do?

Report the incident to your local police or cybercrime authority and to the issuing authority if your country offers that route, alert your bank, and watch for accounts opened in your name. If you are in Australia, IDCARE offers identity support.

Are task-based “earn by liking posts” jobs real?

Scamwatch and ScamShield both describe task scams that start with small payouts and then require you to pay in. If a job asks you to spend your own money to complete tasks, treat it as a scam.

Sources

• Cyber criminals use fake job listings to target applicants’ personally identifiable information (Alert I-012120-PSA), FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
• Job scams explained, US Federal Trade Commission
• How to spot a job scam, US Federal Trade Commission
• Scam alert: job scams on the rise, Scamwatch, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• Job scams, ScamShield, Government of Singapore