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Run a free risk score on VerifyJobs →Why verification matters
Job fraud costs victims an estimated $2 billion a year globally. Scammers copy real company names, logos, and even ATS-style pages. A polished message is not proof of a real vacancy. The steps below take minutes and prevent the two most common losses: money paid “to start” and identity documents sent too early.
The 7-step verification process
01 Search the company independently
Do not click only the links in the message. Open a new tab and search the company name plus “careers” or the city. Confirm:
- A professional website with consistent branding and real contact details
- Domain age that is not days or weeks old (WHOIS lookup)
- News, reviews, or employee presence that match the claim
If the only “site” is a lookalike domain (extra letters, odd TLD), stop.
02 Find the same role on the official careers page
Legitimate openings usually appear on the employer’s own careers section or a known ATS (Greenhouse, Workday, Lever, BambooHR, Ashby). Compare title, location, and closing date. Aggregator copies and WhatsApp-only “roles” with no official listing are higher risk.
03 Inspect the recruiter’s email domain
Real companies hire from @company.com (or a clear subsidiary domain). A recruiter using Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or a personal Outlook address for “official” correspondence is one of the strongest scam signals worldwide. See also our guide on 15 job scam warning signs.
04 Review LinkedIn (company + people)
Check the company page for employees and recent posts. Open the recruiter’s profile: account age, connections, mutual people, and whether they list the same employer. New profiles that only message candidates are a common pattern.
05 Refuse any upfront payment
06 Run the posting through VerifyJobs
Paste the full message, upload the PDF/Word file, or submit the URL. The hybrid engine checks 50+ fraud indicators and returns a risk score, red flags, and next steps — free, no account, no data stored.
Free · Instant · No sign-up
Analyse this job on VerifyJobs →07 Contact the company through a known channel
Use the official website contact form, published switchboard, or careers inbox — not the WhatsApp number or reply-to address in the message. Ask whether the vacancy and recruiter name are real. Silence or confusion is useful information.
Stop immediately if you see these
- Any fee before you start work
- WhatsApp- or Telegram-only hiring with no formal process
- Requests for passport, national ID, or bank details before a real interview or written offer
- Salaries far above market for simple remote tasks
- Pressure to “decide today” or limited slots that vanish if you research
More detail: WhatsApp job scams · Remote / work-from-home scams
What to do if it fails the checks
Do not send money or sensitive documents. Screenshot the conversation and report it. Country-specific links are on our Report a scam page (Nigeria EFCC, USA FTC, UK Action Fraud, Ghana, Kenya, India, Canada, and others).
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