> A recruiter messaged you out of the blue. How to confirm them through the company, check their photo, and spot the money moves fake recruiters make. You know a recruiter is legit when the company confirms them through contact details you found yourself, and when nothing in the process asks you for money. Everything else, from a polished profile to a famous company name, can be copied by a fake recruiter in minutes. Fake recruiter scams arrive by text, WhatsApp, Telegram, email and LinkedIn. The US Federal Trade Commission is blunt about the core rule: **honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job.** The checklist below works whatever channel the message came through. ## RED FLAGS IN THE FIRST MESSAGE The FTC's [job scams guidance](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams) and its [alert on job offer texts](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/04/job-offer-text-probably-scam) describe a recognisable pattern. Watch for: - **An unexpected offer from a stranger**, often for remote work, sent by text, WhatsApp or Telegram. The FTC advises ignoring unexpected job messages on those channels. - **Pay without a job.** A daily or weekly rate is quoted, but what you would actually do stays vague. - **"Reply YES to continue."** The FTC says not to reply to these, however professional the message looks. - **Big earnings for little work.** The FTC calls such offers almost certainly a scam. - **Paperwork before an interview.** A request for bank details "for direct deposit", or identity documents, before anyone has interviewed you. - **A role that is not a real job**, such as receiving and reshipping parcels from home. One of these is enough to slow down. Two or more and you should treat the offer as fake until the company itself tells you otherwise. ## CONFIRM THE RECRUITER WITH THE COMPANY This is the check that decides it. A fake recruiter can copy a real company's logo, a real employee's name and a real job title. What they cannot do is answer the company's own switchboard. 1. **Find the company's contact details yourself.** Type the company's web address into your browser or search for it; do not use any link, number or email the recruiter gave you. 2. **Ask whether this person works there and whether they are recruiting for this role.** Give the name and the channel they used. 3. **If an agency contacted you**, check that the agency exists on its own website, then ask the hiring company whether it works with that agency. A genuine recruiter will not mind. Someone who becomes evasive or pushes you to keep it between the two of you has answered the question. ## CHECK THE EMAIL ADDRESS AND THE JOB ITSELF - **Compare the email domain with the company's real website.** A free webmail address, or a domain one letter off the real one, is a warning sign. - **Look for the job on the company's own careers page.** If the role is not listed there, ask the company about it when you call. - **Look at the process.** Real hiring normally includes an actual interview by phone, video or in person. An offer that arrives after a chat-only exchange, or with no interview at all, is not how employers hire. ## CHECK THE RECRUITER'S PHOTO Fake recruiters need a face, and they usually borrow one. Three things are common: a stock portrait, a photo lifted from a stranger's social media, or the headshot of a real recruiter at the company they claim to represent. **Step 1: image search.** Save the profile picture at the largest size you can and run it through Google Lens. If the same photo appears on a stock site or on a profile with a different name, you are done. **Step 2: face search.** If the image search finds nothing, crop the face and [start a search](https://traceaifacescan.app/panel). Trace matches the face rather than the file, so it can find the same person in a different photograph. Each result is a public page with a similarity score and a link you open yourself. What to look for: - **The face on a team page or profile under a different name.** The recruiter's photo belongs to someone else. - **The face on the real recruiter's public profile, under the same name.** This does not clear the person messaging you. Their identity may be borrowed. Contact that recruiter through the company's own channels and ask whether they sent the message. - **Nothing found.** An empty result means nothing was found on the part of the public web Trace can reach. It is not proof either way. Go back to the company check. A headshot can also be AI-generated, with no real owner at all. For LinkedIn profiles specifically, the [LinkedIn photo check](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/find-someone-on-linkedin-by-photo/) covers what is and is not public there and the signs of a generated headshot. ## THE MONEY MOVES Most fake recruiter scams end in one of these. Each one, on its own, means the offer is fake. - **A fee.** For training, equipment, a background check, a certification or a "placement". The FTC says honest placement firms do not typically charge candidates, and to walk away from an advance fee. - **A cheque to deposit.** You are sent a cheque, told to deposit it and to send part of the money on, for equipment or to a "supplier". The FTC says no honest employer will do this. The cheque bounces and the bank can ask you to repay the full amount. - **Paid tasks.** Liking posts or writing ratings for pay, which later require you to put in your own money to unlock earnings. The FTC warns not to trust anyone who offers to pay you for ratings or likes. ## IF YOU ALREADY REPLIED, SHARED DETAILS OR PAID - **Replied only:** stop responding and block the number or account. Expect more messages. - **Shared personal or bank details:** contact your bank, and treat it as possible identity theft. The FTC's guidance links its identity theft steps. - **Sent money:** contact the company you used to send it straight away and ask whether the payment can be reversed. - **Report it.** In the US, report to the FTC at [ReportFraud.ftc.gov](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/). Elsewhere, use your national fraud-reporting service or the police. Report the account to the platform it used. The same playbook appears in romance and marketplace scams; [Is This Person a Scammer?](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/is-this-person-a-scammer/) covers the first 24 hours after a loss in more detail. If the contact came by WhatsApp, [who is texting me on WhatsApp](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/who-is-texting-me-on-whatsapp/) shows what you can check about an unknown number. ## RESPONSIBLE USE Checking that a recruiter is who they say they are protects you and the real person whose face is being misused. Trace is not an identification service: a similarity score compares two images and never states who somebody is, and it returns no names, addresses or phone numbers, only public pages and a number. If you are a recruiter and your headshot is being used by a fake account, [fake account using my pictures](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/fake-account-using-my-pictures/) covers what to do. Anyone can have their face deleted from Trace's index at [Remove my photos](https://traceaifacescan.app/remove-my-photos). ## FAQ ### Do real recruiters contact you on WhatsApp or Telegram? The FTC advises ignoring unexpected job messages sent by text, WhatsApp or Telegram. If a message on any channel interests you, do not reply to it. Contact the company through details you find yourself and ask whether the offer is real. ### Can a recruiter ask you to pay for training or equipment? No. The FTC states that honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job. A request for a fee, or a cheque you must deposit and partly send on, means the offer is a scam. ### What if the recruiter is a real person at the company? Scammers often borrow a real employee's name and photo. A face search that finds the same face on that person's real profile does not prove they sent the message. Reach them through the company's own website or switchboard and ask. ### Where do I report a fake recruiter? In the US, at ReportFraud.ftc.gov; the FTC also mentions your state attorney general. Elsewhere, use your national fraud-reporting service or the police. Report the account to the platform too, so it can be removed.