Quick answer: A job is probably a scam if anyone asks you to pay money to get hired or to get paid, moves the "interview" to text or a chat app, offers the job without a real interview, or wants your bank details or Social Security number before a written offer you have verified with the company. The fastest check is to find the same role on the employer's own careers site and contact the company through a phone number or email you looked up yourself. Job scams are not rare: people filed 157,841 reports about business and job opportunity scams with the FTC in 2025, with $906.8 million in reported losses and a median loss of $2,008 (Experian summary of FTC Consumer Sentinel data).
This guide is for U.S. job seekers who just got a message, posting or offer that feels a little off. It gives you the red flags, a 10-minute verification routine, channel-specific warning signs (Indeed, LinkedIn, texts, Microsoft Teams, Signal and WhatsApp), and a recovery plan if you already shared information or money. If your problem is a real job that never seems to get filled, that is a different issue: see how to spot a ghost job.
Why job scams are hitting more job seekers right now
Scammers go where people are desperate and busy. In late 2026 that means people who have been searching for months. The BLS October 2026 jobs report showed payrolls up 165,000 and unemployment at 4.1%, but 2.0 million people, 27.6% of the unemployed, had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer (BLS Employment Situation). Long searches mean more applications, more recruiter messages, and more chances for a fake one to slip through.
The reported numbers keep climbing:
| Measure | Latest figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| FTC reports, business and job opportunity scams | 157,841 reports, $906.8M lost, $2,008 median loss | 2025 | Experian summary of FTC data |
| FBI IC3 employment scam complaints | 24,688 complaints, $362.9M reported losses | 2025 | FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report |
| Losses to AI-involved employment scams | Almost $13M | 2025 | FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report |
| Job or business opportunity scam losses that started on social media | 1 in 3 people who lost money | 2025 | FTC Data Spotlight, April 2026 |
| BBB Scam Tracker employment scam reports delivered by text | About half of 23,000+ reports | 2025 | BBB employment scams 2026 update |
| Median loss in task-based job scams (BBB data) | $2,300 | 2025 | BBB employment scams 2026 update |
These are reported figures, so the real totals are higher. The BBB cites a study of FTC data that found only 4.8% of mass-market fraud victims reported it to the BBB or a government agency. The FTC and FBI also count different things, so don't add their numbers together.
How to tell if a job is a scam: 12 red flags
No single sign proves fraud. Real companies sometimes send clumsy emails and use odd job titles. But each flag below should make you slow down, and two or more together should make you stop.
Money flags (the most reliable)
- You are asked to pay to get hired. This includes training, certification, "onboarding kits," software licenses or a background check fee paid to someone other than a known screening company. The FBI's advice is simple: "Never send money to an alleged employer" (FBI IC3 PSA, June 2024).
- You get a check before you start, then are told to send part of it back or buy equipment from a specific "vendor." This is the classic fake check scam. The check can bounce after you have already sent real money.
- You must deposit money to unlock earnings. In task scams you "rate" products, like videos or "optimize" apps, see a balance grow, then have to pay to withdraw it. The FBI lists crypto payments to an employer and the word "optimization" as red flags (FBI IC3).
- The pay is far above market for simple work, for example a high hourly rate for liking videos or data entry with no experience required.
Process flags
- You were offered the job without a real interview, or the whole interview happened by text or chat.
- The recruiter wants to move to WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal right after first contact.
- The interviewer refuses to turn on the camera, or the video looks wrong. The FBI's 2025 report describes voice spoofing and possible deepfakes in online interviews, where lip movement doesn't match the audio (FBI IC3 2025 report).
- No one asks for references or checks your experience. The FBI flags this for task scams too.
- There is pressure to accept today, or the offer expires within hours.
Identity flags
- The email comes from a free address (Gmail, Outlook) or a look-alike domain such as company-careers.co instead of company.com.
- They ask for your Social Security number, bank login, or a photo of your ID before a verified offer. Real employers do collect identity documents, but on a timeline: Form I-9 paperwork happens once you're hired, and the employer must finish its part within 3 business days after your first day of work (USCIS). A legitimate background check comes with a written authorization form after a conditional offer.
- The job can't be found on the company's own site, and the "company" has no real web presence beyond the listing.
Not sure a posting is real? Paste it into our free ghost job checker to spot stale or vague listings, then browse verified live roles on the free USA job board.
The 10-minute verification routine
Run this before you send personal documents, click an "onboarding" link or install anything.
Step 1: Find the job at the source (2 minutes)
Search the company's official careers page directly, not through a link in the message. Real employers almost always list open roles on their own site or applicant tracking system. If the role isn't there, email the company's general recruiting or HR address from its website and ask whether the posting is real.
Step 2: Verify the person (3 minutes)
- Look up the recruiter on LinkedIn. Since September 2025, LinkedIn has required anyone who adds or changes to a recruiter-type title to verify their workplace (The Verge). A verified workplace is a good sign, but it doesn't prove the message came from that person.
- Check the sender's full email address, not just the display name. Many companies tell candidates which domain their recruiters use. Simplify's help center, for example, lists its real domains and warns that a familiar name or logo is not proof of identity (Simplify Help).
- If you get a call, hang up and call back on a number from the company's official website.
Step 3: Search for reports (2 minutes)
Search the company name, the recruiter's name and the exact phone number with words like "scam," "complaint" or "reddit." Check BBB Scam Tracker. Scammers reuse scripts, so the same wording often shows up in other people's reports.
Step 4: Test the process (3 minutes)
Reply with normal questions: "Can we schedule a video interview with the hiring manager?" "Can you send the formal offer from your corporate email?" "Who handles the background check?" Real recruiters answer these easily. Scammers push you to hurry, change channels, or pay.
Scam vs. legitimate hiring at a glance
| Hiring step | What a real employer does | What a scammer does |
|---|---|---|
| First contact | Email from a company domain, LinkedIn InMail, or a reply to your application | Unsolicited text, WhatsApp or Telegram message about a job you never applied for |
| Interview | Phone or video with named people, often several rounds | Chat-only "interview," camera off, or no interview at all |
| Offer | Written offer with title, pay, start date and a real contact | Instant offer, vague duties, pay that sounds too good |
| Background check | Written consent form, run by a screening company, usually at the employer's cost | Fee paid to the "recruiter" or a site they send you |
| Equipment | Shipped by the company or reimbursed through payroll | Check sent to you, then you buy from their "vendor" |
| ID and tax forms | I-9 and W-4 once you're hired, through HR or an onboarding portal | SSN, bank login and ID photos requested up front |
| Getting paid | Payroll or direct deposit after you work | You pay first to "unlock" earnings |
Job scams by channel: Indeed, LinkedIn, texts, Teams and chat apps
The searches people type tell you where scams show up: "job scams on Indeed," "job scams on LinkedIn," "job scam texts" and "job scams using Microsoft Teams" are all common Google autocomplete suggestions.
| Channel | Common pattern | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Indeed and other job boards | A fake listing that impersonates a real company, or a real-looking listing that later moves you to chat | Find the same role on the employer's own careers page before applying |
| A fake recruiter profile with few connections, or a real-looking profile using an unverified title | Workplace verification, mutual connections, and whether the message matches a job you applied for | |
| Text messages | "Remote role, $X per day, reply YES" from an unknown number | Real recruiters rarely open with pay and no company name. Don't reply; report as junk |
| Microsoft Teams or Zoom chat | An "interview" held only in the chat box, then a fake offer and a check | Ask for a live video call with a named hiring manager, then verify that person independently |
| WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal | Task jobs, "mentors," dashboards showing earnings, deposits to withdraw | Any job that requires you to pay to get paid is fraud |
| Social media ads and posts | Work-from-home ads and "DM me for the link" posts | Remember the FTC finding: one in three people who lost money to these scams in 2025 said it started on social media |