Many job seekers are being lured by fake postings and fraudulent recruiters in 2025. From bogus listings on LinkedIn and Indeed to text message scams promising easy remote work, hiring scams are becoming harder to spot and more damaging.
In October, PasswordManager.com conducted a survey of 1,254 U.S. adults who were seeking employment in 2025. Of those surveyed, 750 individuals–representing 60%–reported encountering at least one fake job post or recruiter during their job search.
Hiring scams are widespread in 2025, with job seekers being targeted with fake job postings online and scammers posing as recruiters.
About 59% of job seekers say a fake recruiter reached out to them at least once, and 18% say it happened many times. Most job seekers say they were targeted by fake recruiters via email (72%) or text message (62%), while 38% received phone calls and 29% were contacted through LinkedIn.
Fifty-eight percent of job seekers encountered fake job postings online. Of this group, 23% say they saw many fake job postings. Fake job listings were most commonly found on Indeed (56%), LinkedIn (37%), and Facebook (35%).
“Job seekers can verify whether a recruiter or job message is legitimate before responding by taking the time to check for some red flags in the message,“ says information systems and cybersecurity expert Gunnar Kallstrom. “Often, these messages will come in the form of a text from an unknown number or an email with a domain that’s not from the actual company they claim to be recruiting for. Job seekers should avoid clicking on links or responding before they’re sure the opportunity is legitimate.”
Job seekers say scammers most often impersonate major corporations. The most frequently mentioned were Amazon, Google, UPS, FedEx, and Walmart. These companies were used as fronts for fake postings or recruiter messages.
Four in ten job seekers who encountered scams fell for them. About 30% responded to recruiters, and 26% applied to fake job postings. Nearly 22% went as far as interviewing, some of which were conducted by AI.
Among those who engaged with a scam, nearly half suffered consequences. Many had personal information such as Social Security numbers, passwords, or bank details stolen. Additionally, one in 10 sent money directly to scammers.
Overall, about 75% of victims lost money to scammers, with 5% losing more than $10,000 and 25% losing more than $2,000.
“If you are tricked into sending money or divulging personal information to a scammer, you should immediately stop contact with the scammer. Then, you should contact your bank and see if they can do a ‘stop payment’ for any money sent. Lastly, ensure that you secure all your accounts by changing passwords and put a freeze on your credit,” says Kallstrom.
Hiring scams are making job searches more stressful and less efficient. More than half (56%) of job seekers say they’re now less trusting of job opportunities, 52% find the process more stressful, and 38% say scams have slowed down their search. One in four even note they’ve ignored legitimate opportunities out of fear they might be fake.
In October 2025, PasswordManager.com surveyed 1,254 U.S. adults nationwide who searched for a job in 2025. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.