Job scams: how to spot one, avoid it, and report it

A real employer pays you. If anyone asks you to pay them — for the job, a visa, training, a uniform, a check, or a guaranteed placement — it is a scam.

Almost every job scam, in every country, eventually asks for money or for information that lets someone take money. Hold that one line and you defeat most of them before they get started.

Never do these

• Pay a fee to apply, to be shortlisted, or to be “guaranteed” a role — no legitimate employer charges for any of it
• Pay for your own DBS, CRB, or Disclosure Scotland check as a condition of an offer — an employer who needs one arranges and pays for it
• Pay for a Certificate of Sponsorship, a visa, or a work permit — it is illegal in the UK for a sponsor to charge you for a CoS
• Pay for mandatory training, a CSCS card, a uniform, tools, a laptop, or a “starter kit” before you begin work
• Send money by bank transfer, gift card, voucher, crypto, or a money-transfer service to anyone connected to a job offer
• Accept a cheque or transfer and forward part of it on — that is money laundering, and you are the one who is liable
• Send your passport, BVN, National Insurance number, or bank details before you have a signed contract from a verified company
• Share a one-time passcode, bank OTP, or verification code with anyone, for any reason

Warning signs

None of these alone proves a scam. Two or three together mean stop and verify before you go any further.

• An offer arrives for a job you never applied for
• The pay is far above the market rate for the role and the experience asked for
• The whole process happens on WhatsApp or Telegram, with no video call and no company email address
• The recruiter writes from a free address — gmail, yahoo, outlook — rather than a company domain
• You are hired after a few messages, with no real interview and no references taken
• You are rushed: the offer expires today, the visa slot is closing, someone else is waiting
• The company name is real but the contact details do not match anything on the company's own website
• You are asked to open a new bank account, or to receive payments and pass them on
• The advert has no named employer, no salary, and no location

What a genuine process looks like

• The employer or agency is named, and their details match the company's own website
• Correspondence comes from a company domain, not a free email account
• There is a real interview — by video or in person — before any offer
• The salary is stated, and it is consistent with the market
• You receive a written contract or offer letter before you are asked for documents
• Any right-to-work or identity check happens after an offer, and costs you nothing
• Nobody ever asks you to send money

If you are applying from outside the UK

Overseas applicants are targeted hardest, because the cost of checking is higher and the prize is bigger. Two things protect you.

• Check the employer against the Home Office register of licensed sponsors on gov.uk. If they are not on it, they cannot sponsor you, whatever they claim.
• A sponsor licence does not mean a particular job comes with sponsorship. Ask the employer directly, in writing, before you spend anything.

Visa fees and the immigration health surcharge are paid to the Home Office, never to an employer, agent, or middleman. Anyone collecting those on your behalf should be treated as a scam.

The scams that actually appear in these sectors

Knowing the shape of a scam makes it obvious long before money is mentioned. These are the ones that turn up in construction, healthcare, energy, and life sciences hiring.

Knowing the shape of a scam makes it obvious long before the money is asked for. These are the ones that actually appear in our sectors.

1. The advance fee

You are offered the job quickly, then told there is a cost before you can start — a background check, a training course, a CSCS card, a uniform, a laptop, an administrative fee. It is usually small enough to feel reasonable.

The giveaway: any cost at all before you start. In the UK, an employment agency charging a work-seeker for finding them work is committing an offence under the Employment Agencies Act 1973.

2. Fake visa sponsorship

Someone offers a UK job with sponsorship and asks for a fee for the Certificate of Sponsorship, the visa application, or to “secure” the slot. Sums run from a few hundred pounds to several thousand.

The giveaway: it is illegal for a sponsor to charge you for a Certificate of Sponsorship. Check the employer on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors yourself — do not accept a screenshot as proof.

3. The overpayment cheque

You are “hired”, then sent a cheque or transfer for more than you are owed, and asked to buy equipment from a named supplier or return the difference. The original payment is reversed days later; the money you sent is gone.

The giveaway: money arriving before you have done any work, and any instruction to forward part of it on.

4. The money mule

The “role” is payment processing, financial administration, or a regional agent. You receive money into your own account and pass it on, keeping a percentage.

The giveaway: your bank account is part of the job. This is money laundering. Prosecution and a frozen account fall on you, not on whoever recruited you.

5. Identity harvesting

There is no money request at all. A convincing onboarding pack asks for your passport, National Insurance number or BVN, bank details, and a selfie holding your ID — before any contract exists.

The giveaway: full identity documents requested before a signed offer. A genuine right-to-work check happens after an offer, and never needs your bank details at the same time.

6. Fake certification

You are told the job is yours if you hold a particular card or registration, and pointed at a website that will issue it quickly for a fee — a CSCS card, an NMC PIN, a COREN registration, a safety passport.

The giveaway: registrations come from the awarding body itself. A card bought from a third party is worthless and using one can end your career in a regulated profession.

7. Impersonating a real company

The employer is genuine and well known. The recruiter is not. Logos, letterheads, and even real staff names are copied from the company's own website.

The giveaway: contact details that do not appear anywhere on the company's own site. Find the company's switchboard independently and ask whether the person and the vacancy are real.

Report it even if you did not lose money. Reports are how these operations get shut down before they reach the next person.

If you have already paid

• Contact your bank straight away and tell them it was fraud — ask them to attempt a recall. Speed matters more than anything else here.
• Do not send anything further, including any “refund fee” or “release fee”. Being asked for more money to get your money back is a second scam.
• Keep everything: messages, emails, names, phone numbers, account details, screenshots. Do not delete the conversation.
• If you sent identity documents, treat it as identity theft — tell your bank, and watch for accounts opened in your name.

Reporting in the United Kingdom

• Action Fraud — the national fraud reporting centre. 0300 123 2040, or actionfraud.police.uk. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
• Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate — for an agency charging work-seekers or breaching agency rules. Report through the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.
• Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority — for labour exploitation and unsafe or unpaid work, which is a real risk in construction and agriculture. 0800 432 0804.
• Modern Slavery Helpline — if someone's documents, movement, or pay are being controlled. 08000 121 700.
• UK Visas and Immigration — for anyone selling Certificates of Sponsorship or visa guarantees, via the gov.uk immigration enforcement reporting form.

Reporting in Nigeria

• Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — the main route for advance-fee and employment fraud. 0809 932 6666, or report.efcc.gov.ng.
• Nigeria Police Force — report locally, and through the NPF complaint response unit.
• Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) — for deceptive and unfair commercial practices.
• NAPTIP — the trafficking agency, and the right route for any fake overseas job offer involving travel, held documents, or debt. 0703 000 0203.
• Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) — for fraudulent SMS and calls, on 622.

Reporting a listing to us

Every listing page has a Report this listing link. Use it and we will take the advert down while we check it. Tell us what happened — what was asked for, and how — because that is what lets us spot the same operation posting again under a different name.

We also want to hear about adverts that are misleading rather than fraudulent: a salary that is not real, a role that does not exist, or an agency advert dressed up as a direct employer.