Most fake job postings don’t look fake. They copy the layout of real listings, borrow the names of real companies and promise ordinary jobs: data entry, customer service, admin work. The difference is in the details. Once you know which details to check, fake postings become much easier to spot.
Below are 12 red flags, grouped by what the scammer is after. One flag on its own doesn’t prove a posting is fake, but two or three together should make you stop and verify before you share anything.
Red flags about money
1. You’re asked to pay to get the job
Training fees, “starter kits”, background check fees, certification courses, equipment you must buy from a specific vendor: a legitimate employer doesn’t charge you to start working. If money has to flow from you to them before your first paycheck, treat it as a scam. A newer variation, the task scam, asks you to deposit money to “unlock” work or withdraw your earnings.
2. They send you a check before you start
A common version: the “employer” mails or deposits a check, asks you to buy equipment or supplies with part of it, and to send the rest on. Weeks later the check bounces and you owe the bank the full amount. We cover this one in detail in the fake check job scam. Jobs that ask you to receive and forward money or packages are a related scheme: see reshipping and money mule job scams.
3. The pay doesn’t match the job
$40 an hour for data entry. $1,500 a week for two hours a day. Unlimited earnings with no experience needed. Pay that is far above what the role normally pays is one of the most common lures.
Red flags about your personal information
4. They want your SSN or bank details early
Employers do need your Social Security number and bank details, but for payroll, after you’ve been hired and usually through a formal onboarding system. A request for them in the application, before any interview, or over email or chat is a warning sign.
5. They ask for photos of your ID
Front and back of your driver’s license, a passport scan, a selfie holding your ID: these are exactly what someone needs to open accounts in your name. Be very careful sending them to anyone you haven’t verified.
Red flags about the recruiter and the process
6. The email address doesn’t match the company
A recruiter from a large company writing from a Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo address, or from a domain that is almost the company’s name (like company-careers-hiring.com), is a strong signal of impersonation. See how to check if a recruiter is real.
7. The interview happens only over text or a chat app
If the whole “interview” is a text conversation on Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal or Google Chat, with no video or phone call and no one you can identify, be suspicious. Scammers prefer text because it hides who they are and lets one person run many conversations.
8. You get an offer without a real interview
Being hired on the spot, after a few typed questions, for a job you barely applied to, is not how real hiring works. It’s how scams move you quickly to the part where they ask for money or information. Before accepting anything, run through these eight checks for job offers.
9. You’re pressured to act fast
“Positions are filling fast.” “Reply within 24 hours.” “Start today.” Urgency is used to stop you from checking the company or talking to anyone about the offer.
Red flags in the posting itself
10. The description is vague
Real job descriptions talk about specific duties, tools, teams and requirements. Fake ones are often short and generic: “Easy job. Good pay. Work from home. Message for details.”
11. The title doesn’t match the work
A “Marketing Coordinator” role that turns out to be commission-only door-to-door sales, or an “HR Assistant” job that is really selling insurance, is a bait-and-switch. It may not be illegal, but it’s a sign the employer isn’t being straight with you.
12. You can’t verify the company
No website, a website that was created last month, no physical address, no employees you can find on LinkedIn, or a job that doesn’t appear on the company’s own careers page. If you can’t confirm the company exists and is hiring for this role, don’t go further. (Real companies sometimes post ghost jobs, listings for roles they aren’t actively filling. Those waste your time rather than steal from you, but they’re worth recognizing too.)
How to check whether a job is real
When a posting shows any of the red flags above, take five minutes to verify it:
- Find the company’s official website yourself. Search for it rather than following links in the posting or email.
- Look for the job on the company’s careers page. Large employers list their open roles. If the role isn’t there, ask the company directly.
- Contact the company using details from its official site, not the phone number or email in the posting, and ask whether the recruiter works there.
- Search the company name, the recruiter’s name and the exact wording of the posting together with words like “scam” or “fake”. Scam postings are often reused word for word.
- Never pay, and never share ID or bank details until you have confirmed the job is real.
What to do if you’ve already responded
If you’ve shared information or money with a suspected fake employer:
- Stop responding and don’t send anything else.
- If you sent money or deposited a check, contact your bank right away.
- If you shared your SSN or ID, visit IdentityTheft.gov for a step-by-step recovery plan.
- Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the job site where you found the posting, so it can be taken down.
The short version: real employers don’t charge you to work, don’t send you checks before you start, and don’t need your ID or bank details before they’ve hired you.
FakeJobDetector is being built to do this check for you: paste a job posting and it flags the warning signs above, with the exact text that triggered each one. Join the waitlist to try it first.