Fake Jobs Are Rising: Don’t Fall for These 7 Scams

Not every job advert is what it seems. Some fake roles are built to steal money; others collect your personal data. Explore the 7 job scams UK candidates should watch for.

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By Mariusz Wawrzyniak, Senior Content WriterLast Updated : October 30, 2026

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A few years ago, many job applications involved meeting someone in person, visiting an office, or speaking to a recruiter on the phone. Today, a full hiring process can happen online. You may apply through a job board, speak to a recruiter by email, interview by video, sign a contract online, and start work from home.

This is convenient. But it also creates new risks. The findings below show the scale of the problem, from fake job adverts and ghost jobs to financial losses and personal data theft.

What are job scams and why are they growing?

Job scams are fake recruitment offers designed to trick job seekers during the hiring process. The scam usually begins with a message or advert promising something attractive: remote work, flexible hours, quick hiring, high pay, or easy tasks that need little experience. The fraudster may claim they found your CV online or say they are hiring on behalf of a known company.

To build trust, they may copy real logos, use a real recruiter’s name, link to a fake company website, or send professional-looking forms and contracts.

Once the candidate responds, the scammer moves the process forward quickly. There may be a short interview, often by text or chat rather than a proper call. The job offer may arrive unusually fast. At this stage, the aim is to make the candidate feel excited, chosen, and under pressure to act.

The final goal depends on the type of scam. Some fraudsters want money. They may ask for a registration fee, training payment, DBS check, visa fee, equipment cost, or a deposit to “unlock” earnings. Others want personal data, such as a passport scan, National Insurance number, proof of address, or bank details, which can be used for identity theft.

In some cases, scammers want free labour or illegal help, such as making candidates complete unpaid “trial” tasks, boost online content, or receive and forward parcels bought with stolen payment details.

Job scams are rising for several reasons:

The scale of the job scam problem

Job scams are not a small issue. Fake job postings have increased sharply. Reports show a 109% rise in fake UK job postings between 2022 and 2023. In some cases, advance-fee job scams have risen by 237% in 2025.

On average, the recorded loss from an employment scam is £1,420. However, in some cases, the losses can even exceed £5,000. Young people are not immune to scams. Despite growing up surrounded by technology, more than half of all the reported cases involved victims aged 18-34.

The problem affects both job seekers and businesses. Job seekers can lose:

Businesses can also suffer when scammers copy their brand, use their name in fake adverts, or impersonate their recruiters.

According to a 2024 survey, UK job seekers were just as likely to encounter fake job offers on social media as on job portals. In both cases, 43% of respondents said they had received fraudulent employment offers through these channels. At the same time, 36% of respondents stated they received fraudulent job offers via email.

The most common remote job scams

I’ve identified several major types of employment fraud affecting UK and remote job seekers:

1. Ghost jobs

Not every misleading job advert is posted by a criminal. About 34.4% of them are ghost jobs.

A ghost job is a job advert for a role that does not really exist, is no longer open, or is not being actively filled. In some cases, the company is real. The advert may appear on a real job board. But there may be no genuine hiring process behind it.

Ghost jobs waste job seekers’ time. They make the labour market look more active than it really is. They can also collect CVs and personal data from people who believe they are applying for a real role.

Around one in four UK workers believe they applied for a ghost job in the past year. Among younger job seekers aged 18 to 34, that figure rises to 37%.

Companies have ghost jobs to:

Ghost jobs become more dangerous when criminals copy or scrape them. A scammer can take an old real job advert and repost it on another site. They can create a fake application form. They can collect CVs, phone numbers, addresses, and work histories.

That data can then be used for:

2. Task scams

Task scams are one of the fastest-growing forms of job fraud. They usually begin with an unexpected message on WhatsApp, Telegram, text, or social media. The message offers easy remote work with flexible hours and high daily pay.

The job title is generally vague, such as:

The work seems simple. You may be asked to rate hotels, like videos, review products, click items, or complete batches of small online tasks. At first, the scam may appear real. You may see a dashboard with your balance. You may even be allowed to withdraw a small amount of money. This is done to build trust.

Then the scam changes. The platform tells you that you received a “lucky order”, “double task”, or “VIP task”. Suddenly, your account balance becomes negative. The so-called supervisor says you must deposit your own money to clear the balance and unlock your earnings.

Once you pay, another problem appears. Then another. Each time, the scammer asks for more money. Eventually, the platform blocks you or disappears.

3. Fake recruiter and company impersonation scams

In this scam, criminals pretend to work for a real company or recruitment agency. They may copy recruiter names, LinkedIn profiles, website designs, job adverts, and company branding.

The scammer may say they found your CV online. They may offer a remote role with good pay, flexible hours, and a fast start date. The interview may be short or text-only. After that, you may receive a quick job offer.

Then comes the payment request. The scammer may ask for:

Once you pay, they stop replying.

4. Parcel forwarding (reshipping) scams

Parcel forwarding scams are rare, but especially risky because they can involve stolen goods. In this scam, you are offered a remote logistics job as a logistics assistant or a delivery support specialist.

The company tells you that parcels will be sent to your home. Your job is to check the items, take photos, remove old labels or receipts, repackage the goods, and send them to another address.

It may sound like simple admin work. But the items may have been bought with stolen cards or stolen accounts. This means scammers are using your home as a delivery point. If police or retailers trace the stolen goods, the trail may lead to you.

You may never get paid. You may also face serious questions about why stolen goods passed through your address.

5. DBS and visa fee scams

In these frauds, scammers pose as legitimate employers or immigration officials to extract money. The scammer may offer you the job very quickly. Then they say you must pay for a DBS check, visa processing, work permit, or certificate before you can start.

They may say the payment is urgent. They may promise to refund it after your first payday, and this pressure is part of the scam.

In many cases, the payment link leads to a fake website. Or it sends the money directly to the scammer. The DBS check is never completed. The visa process does not exist. The job disappears.

These scams can be especially harmful for overseas applicants, students, and people who are new to the UK job market. They may not know which fees are normal and which are not.

6. Identity theft through fake onboarding

Some job scams focus entirely on stealing your identity. The scammer may pretend that you have reached the onboarding stage. They may send forms that look official and ask for personal documents, like:

Some of these details may be needed for a real job later in the process. But a genuine employer will not ask for everything before a proper interview, contract, or verified offer.

Once scammers have your details, they can use them to commit identity fraud. They may try to open bank accounts in your name, apply for loans or credit cards, create fake identities, or simply sell your data to other criminals.

You may not know this has happened until debt letters arrive, your credit score changes, or a lender contacts you.

7. Fake cheque and equipment scams

This scam often targets remote workers. The fake employer says you need home office equipment. They may offer to pay for a laptop, monitor, desk, phone, or software. Then they send you a cheque or payment and tell you to buy the equipment from an approved supplier.

At first, the money may appear in your account. But that does not mean it is safe. Banks can later find that a cheque is fake and reverse the deposit. By then, you may already have sent real money to the fake supplier. The result is simple: the cheque bounces, the supplier disappears, and you are left with the loss.

How to protect your CV and personal data

A CV is a package of personal data. It may include your name, phone number, email address, work history, education, location, and sometimes links to your online profiles. If you share too much or send it through unsafe forms, scammers can use that information against you.

The best way to avoid a recruitment scam is to slow the process down. Scammers want you to act quickly. They want you to feel excited, rushed, or afraid of missing out. A real employer should give you time to check the details.

1. Verify the employer directly

Do not rely only on the links in a recruiter’s email or message.

Search for the company yourself, visit its official website, and check whether the job appears on its careers page. If you are still unsure, contact the company using the phone number or email address listed on its official website.

Do not use only the contact details provided in the message. A scammer can easily include fake links, fake phone numbers, or copied email signatures.

2. Check the email domain carefully

Scammers often use email addresses that look close to the real company domain. For example, @deloitte-careers.com may look convincing, but it is not the same as @deloitte.com.

Watch out for:

If the email address feels even slightly off, pause and verify it through the company’s official website. Large companies, like Deloitte, often feature pages that help you identify whether you’re dealing with a legit recruiter or an impostor.

3. Never pay money to get a job

A legitimate employer will not ask you to pay before you start work. Be suspicious of requests for:

Be especially careful if you are asked to pay by bank transfer, gift card, voucher, cryptocurrency, or through a payment link that does not clearly belong to the company. Real employers pay workers. Workers should not have to pay to get work.

4. Be sceptical of “too good to be true” offers

High pay for very little work is one of the biggest warning signs. Be careful with jobs that promise:

Remote work is common, but it still has regular job expectations, checks, and responsibilities. It’s not a magical state of work where money just appears out of nowhere for 1–2 hours of work. Trust me, I know that.

5. Look for signs of an abnormal hiring process

Real remote jobs still involve a proper recruitment process. Be cautious if the employer offers you the role too quickly, skips the interview, avoids video or phone calls, or gives only vague details about the work.

Ask yourself:

What to do if you think you’ve been scammed

If something feels wrong, listen to your gut, and pause. Do not send more money. Do not upload more documents. Do not click more links. Do not continue the conversation just to “see what happens”.

Scammers often rely on keeping people engaged. The longer the conversation continues, the more chances they have to pressure you. If you think the job is fake, take these steps.

1. Stop contact immediately

Block the sender if needed. Do not argue with them. Do not explain your suspicion. Do not give them more information.

If they already have your phone number or email address, be alert for follow-up scams. Some scammers come back under a different name.

2. Contact your bank

If you’ve sent money, contact your bank immediately. Tell them you believe you have been targeted by a job scam. Ask whether the payment can be stopped, recalled, or investigated.

Act quickly. The sooner you contact your bank, the better the chance of limiting the damage.

The UK has stronger reimbursement rules for some bank transfer scams. These rules may help if you were tricked into sending money by bank transfer through certain UK payment systems. In some cases, victims can be reimbursed. But the protection has limits. It may not cover:

This is important because many job scams now push people toward cryptocurrency. Scammers may ask you to buy USDT or another crypto coin and send it to a wallet. Once this happens, recovery can be much harder (most often, impossible).

3. Report the scam

In the UK, report job scams and fraud attempts to Report Fraud. You can also report fake job adverts to JobsAware. This helps remove scam listings and gives platforms and regulators better data about what is happening.

If the scam came through a job board, report the advert to that platform as well. If the scam came through WhatsApp, Telegram, or social media, use the reporting tools on that platform. Suspicious text messages can also be forwarded to 7726.

4. Protect your identity

If you’ve sent ID documents, your National Insurance number, proof of address, or bank details, take extra care. You may need to:

You may also consider Cifas Protective Registration. This adds a warning to your name so lenders carry out extra checks before approving credit applications.

Methodology

This article was developed through a systematic review of third-party datasets, consumer protection advisories, and industry reporting published between October 2023 and September 2026. Research focused on three core areas:

Editorial Standards

This synthesis relies on existing primary and secondary sources. Because regulatory bodies, trade groups, and commercial platforms employ differing sample sizes, definitions, and reporting methodologies, individual metrics are presented in context and are not directly comparable across sources.  

Sources

Mariusz Wawrzyniak

Senior Content Writer

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Mariusz is a career expert at My Perfect CV who writes practical, research-based guides that help professionals from all industries craft impactful CVs, write compelling cover letters, and advance their careers.

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