Identifying fake or scam jobs

Tips for identifying fake or scam jobs

Here are some guidelines that will help you identify fake or scam jobs.

Check the advert

Fake or scam job adverts may look and sound unprofessional. Look out for:

• poor spelling and grammar
• no job description, or a vague, general or badly written job description
• contact details that don’t match up with the company name, for example an email address that doesn't match or ends with hotmail or gmail 

If you’ve received an email about a job that you haven’t applied for it could be a scam.

The employer

Take the following steps to make sure the employer is genuine:

• use the company website to find a landline number. Give them a call to see if the vacancy is genuine and the person listed as the contact works there
• use LinkedIn to search for the person listed as the contact
• check that the company is registered with Companies House
• for companies in the financial sector, check the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• look for company reviews on websites such as Glassdoor

Email and telephone communications from genuine employers should be polite and respectful. Scam employers may seem unprofessional. 

Pay

Check whether the pay is realistic for the job you are being asked to do – the pay offer might be unusually high.

Scam job adverts may include details of pay in international currency rather than GBP. 

Use the resources below to find average salaries for job roles:

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs

The application process

Check with the employer what the recruitment process involves:

• a genuine job should include an interview
• you shouldn’t need to make a payment to secure the job

Duties

If you have already started work, you may be concerned about some of your duties. These are some things to look out for:

• being asked to pay for none work items on behalf of your employer. If you have to pay for some expenses such as train tickets for a company trip, your employer should have a process for you to claim this money back
• being asked to buy vouchers and to then share the codes with the employer
• duties that are very different to the description in the job advert

More help

JobsAware is a not-for-profit organisation that offers information and advice to help prevent job scams.

The Careers Service monitors vacancies advertised through MyCareer, however external vacancy websites have their own processes for screening job adverts. Although monitoring takes place, scam advertisers can develop new tactics to avoid detection. 

If you have concerns about any job advertisements advertised by the Careers Service or on other vacancy websites, please book an appointment or contact us through MyCareer.