Job scams are surging across the United States, with reports doubling in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to a recent study by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). About 32% of Gen Z applicants report having been victims of a job scam, compared to 15% of Gen Xers, highlighting the disproportionate impact on younger job seekers.
Fraudsters are leveraging artificial intelligence to create highly convincing fake job offers, making them harder to detect. “Before AI, there was quite a bit of labor in these scams, meaning they were often generic, filled with typos and easier to detect,” said Pardis Emami-Naeini, a computer science professor at Duke University. “Now everyone can turn out a highly effective and sometimes personalized false job message very quickly and use it at scale.”
Scammers impersonate real companies, using professional logos and email domains, and guide victims through a fake hiring process. They often request bank account details under the guise of a background check or direct deposit setup, or embed malware in links and attachments.
Gen Z Hit Hardest by Job Scams
Josephine Wolff, a cybersecurity policy professor at Tufts University, noted that unemployed job seekers are particularly vulnerable. “It’s one thing to say ‘don’t open attachments’ and ‘that email is dangerous’, but if I think this email might be my shot at getting a job, it’s a different risk,” she said. “Unemployed job seekers are in a very vulnerable position and susceptible to this type of manipulation.”
Sally, a 22-year-old graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, received an intriguing interview request from a supposed biotech company. The email used sophisticated language and a professional domain. Only after searching for her original application did she realize she had never applied to that company. She found the same fraudulent email posted on Reddit. “You think you’ll spot the warning signs. But you’re not the exception, you’re prey to it too,” Sally said. “That’s the reality of this hell job market.”
Desperation Fuels Susceptibility
Hruthik Narayan Sarva, a 25-year-old software engineer in North Carolina, has applied to over 1,500 jobs and internships since October 2024 without receiving most rejection emails. “I was getting so desperate for a role that when I got an email asking for an interview, I thought it was real,” Sarva said. The scammer offered him a data analyst intern role at a real business publisher. He became suspicious during a Teams interview conducted via chat without an interviewer name. After contacting the company directly, he learned the job offer was fake. As an international student, Sarva said, “I didn’t know what job scams were or that they could happen.”
Katie Miller, a 47-year-old senior graphic designer in Oregon, was laid off in October 2024 and has sent over 400 applications. She realized a scam after an executive from Frontier Senior Living promised a quick response. She contacted the company and confirmed the executive was impersonated. “It’s just a really frustrating job market and now add this to the pile,” Miller said. “People already want to give up and the scammers know this, so they see it as an opportunity for them.”
Warning Signs and Expert Advice
Priya Rathod, a workplace trends expert at Indeed, advises job seekers to be wary of lofty promises. “The scammers promise you the world: high pay, flexibility, great benefits, but ultimately the actual job is extremely vague. That is a red flag.” Requests for personal or financial information are another telling sign. “Recruiters will never ask for personal information or money,” Rathod said.
Companies like Frontier Senior Living are aware of impersonation. A spokesperson said, “It is upsetting to see scammers attempting to impersonate a Frontier employee.” Both Monster and Indeed stated that their security teams monitor job postings and remove fraudulent listings, but scammers often directly message candidates found through these sites.
“These scams really erode job seekers’ confidence in the job search process,” Rathod said. “We cannot control what the scammers do, but we can control what goes up on the website, and we frequently post educational information about the latest job scams for job seekers.”
Job Seekers Adapt to Scams
In response, some job seekers are moving to vetted platforms like Handshake, local job boards, and networking in person. Sally now keeps a meticulous spreadsheet of applications. “The scammers are not random people in a basement – they are professional groups of people,” she said. “What I can do is control what I do: staying motivated, doing my research and being organized.”
Experts recommend reporting suspected job scams to the platform where they were encountered, such as LinkedIn or Indeed, and to consumer protection organizations like the Federal Trade Commission.
