Any payment request
A "registration fee", a "refundable security deposit", payment for an offer letter, or payment for a mandatory training or certificate before you start. A real employer pays you — never the other way round.
Guides for your first job
Spot a fake job offerbefore it costs you anything.
Fresher job scams follow a small, recognisable set of patterns. This page covers the red flags, what to do if you have already paid, and a checklist before you ever share Aadhaar or PAN.
- Six red flagsto recognise instantly
- Already paid?What to do, step by step
- Checklistbefore sharing Aadhaar/PAN
The one rule underneath everything below
A real employer pays you. It never asks you to pay it — not for an offer letter, not for training, not for a "registration fee", not as a "refundable" deposit for equipment. If money is requested at any point in a hiring process, stop and verify independently before doing anything else.
WhatsApp-only "HR"
The entire process — interview, offer, instructions — happens over WhatsApp or a personal number, with no official email, no call on a landline or verified extension, and no presence on the company's real careers page.
A personal email claiming to be corporate HR
An offer "from TCS HR" or similar arriving from a Gmail, Yahoo or other free personal address instead of the company's own domain (a real TCS email ends in @tcs.com, not @gmail.com). Check the sender address, not just the display name — a display name can say anything.
A guaranteed job, no real interview
An offer that arrives after a token phone call with no technical questions, no assessment, and no verification of your actual background — for a role that would normally involve a proper interview process.
Pressure to decide immediately
"This offer expires in 2 hours", or demands for Aadhaar, PAN or bank details before any formal offer letter exists. Urgency is a pressure tactic, not a normal hiring practice.
A posting that is too good, with no specifics
A salary well above the market rate for a fresher role, a vague job title, and no clear description of daily work — often paired with "work from home, flexible hours, no experience needed" for a role that would not normally offer that combination.
How a fake process usually presents
This is written so you can recognise the pattern from the outside, not as instructions for anyone else. If a real process you are in matches several of these in sequence, that is the signal to stop and verify.
- The approach usually arrives unsolicited — a message or call claiming your resume was "shortlisted" for a role you never applied to.
- The "interview" that follows is often a formality: a short call with generic questions, sometimes conducted entirely over text.
- An offer letter follows quickly, frequently with real-looking formatting and a company logo copied from the genuine employer's site.
- The request for money or personal documents usually comes framed as a routine, mandatory step — a "processing fee", a "kit" you need to purchase, or documents needed "to proceed with onboarding".
If you have already paid
Act quickly. The steps below are the real, official channels for this in India — not company-specific, because the right first move is the same whoever contacted you.
1
Stop all further payments and contact immediately
Do not send any more money, even if told the previous payment will be "forfeited" otherwise. That claim is itself part of the pressure.
2
Contact your bank or payment provider
If you paid by card, UPI or bank transfer, report it to your bank right away and ask about a chargeback or transaction dispute. Faster action generally means a better chance of recovery.
3
File a report on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
cybercrime.gov.in is the Government of India's official portal for exactly this. You can also call the national cybercrime helpline, 1930, which is built for financial fraud specifically.
4
File a police report
A local police complaint (FIR) creates an official record, which your bank or the cybercrime portal may ask for, and adds to the pattern authorities use to act against repeat offenders.
5
Do not send more personal documents to the same contact
If you have already shared Aadhaar, PAN or bank details, treat that channel as compromised. Do not respond further, and consider a fraud alert with your bank if financial details were shared.
Checklist before sharing Aadhaar or PAN
These documents are sensitive and hard to "undo" sharing. Go through this before you send either one.
- Is there a signed offer letter on the company's letterhead, from a verified company email address, not just a message?
- Have you independently confirmed the role exists — by checking the company's own careers page for the same posting, not a link someone sent you?
- Has anyone from the company called you on a number you can verify belongs to them, or only ever messaged from a personal number?
- Is the document request tied to a specific, named process (background verification, payroll setup) rather than a vague "for onboarding"?
- Would this company normally ask for Aadhaar or PAN at this stage? For most employers, that happens after a signed offer, not during initial contact.
- If in doubt, share nothing yet, and verify independently first. A real offer will still be there tomorrow.
Verify against the company’s own domain
Every large Indian employer publishes its own careers page. If an offer, interview link or posting does not trace back to the company’s real domain, treat it as unverified until it does.
tcs.cominfosys.comwipro.comhcltech.comaccenture.comcognizant.comcapgemini.com
A lookalike domain (extra words, a different extension, misspellings) is one of the fastest tells. When in doubt, navigate to the company’s site yourself by typing the address, rather than clicking a link you were sent.
The simplest protection
Apply only through tracked, public job pages.
Keep every application in one place, sourced from a verified posting, so you always know exactly where an offer is supposed to have come from.
QUESTIONS? WE'VE GOT ANSWERS
Common questions
Job scam safety, answered plainly
Is it ever normal for a real employer to ask for money?
No. A legitimate employer in India does not ask a candidate to pay for an offer letter, a training certificate, a security deposit, equipment, or "registration". If a fee is ever mentioned at any stage of a hiring process, treat that as the point to stop and verify independently, not a normal step to work through.
The offer letter looks completely real, with the company logo and everything. Does that mean it is genuine?
No — a logo and formatted letterhead are trivial to copy from a company's public website and prove nothing on their own. What verifies an offer is independent confirmation: the same posting exists on the company's own careers page, and someone at the company confirms it through a channel you found yourself, not one the offer gave you.
How do I check if a job posting is genuine?
Go to the company's own official careers page directly (type the URL yourself or search for it, rather than clicking a link you were sent) and look for the identical role there. If it does not appear on their own site, or the domain in any link you were sent does not match the company's real domain, treat it as unverified.
I already shared my Aadhaar and PAN with a company that now seems fake. What should I do?
File a report at cybercrime.gov.in and consider placing a fraud alert or freeze with your bank if any financial details were also shared. Watch your bank statements and credit report for unfamiliar activity over the following months, since misused ID documents can surface later, not always immediately.
Is a "training fee" ever legitimate, like for a certification course?
A genuine third-party certification or course you choose to pay for yourself is different from a job offer that requires payment to proceed. If the fee is presented as mandatory to accept or start a specific job, that is the red flag, regardless of what it is called.
Are walk-in drives or bulk hiring events also risky?
Not inherently — many large, real employers run legitimate walk-in and bulk drives, and this guide is not telling you to avoid them. The same checks apply though: confirm the drive is listed on the company's own site, never pay to attend, and be cautious of any drive that asks for money at the door.
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