Last verified by our editorial team: April 2026
Verification is the single most important defence against job scams. The good news: it takes under five minutes. This guide walks through a four-stage check that confirms whether any job offer is real. Use it for every offer you receive, especially unsolicited ones. The four stages are: verify the company exists, verify the recruiter, verify the role, and verify the offer letter.
A real job offer passes all four checks: the company exists with a real website and registered business filings, the recruiter has a verified company email and LinkedIn profile, the role is posted on the official careers page, and the offer letter comes on company letterhead with a named signatory.
Search the company name in Google. Check for a real website, recent news mentions, and a LinkedIn company page with realistic follower count and employee profiles. Confirm business registration: in the US, search the Secretary of State's business search for the company's state. In the UK, use Companies House. Real companies have years of operating history and verifiable filings.
Confirm the recruiter's email domain matches the company's official domain exactly (amazon.com, not amazon-careers.com). Find the recruiter on LinkedIn. Verify they show employment at the company with a tenure of at least a year, real connections to other employees, and a complete profile. Reach out via LinkedIn directly to confirm they are the same person who emailed you.
Search the company's official careers page (jobs.amazon.com, careers.google.com, careers.microsoft.com, etc.) for the exact job title. The role should appear with a matching description. If the role is not on the careers page, request the careers-page link from the recruiter. Refusal or 'we are not posting publicly' is a confirmed red flag.
Real offer letters are PDFs on company letterhead, signed by a named recruiter (with title and contact info), include a specific start date, salary, location, and benefits, and reference the role title from the careers page. Generic letters with no signatory or 'HR Department' as the only signature are scams. Cross-reference the signatory's name with the LinkedIn-verified recruiter.
Find the company's main phone number on their website (not from the recruiter's email). Call HR and ask: 'Can you confirm [Recruiter Name] works there and is hiring for [Role Title]?' Real HR confirms or denies. If the company says they have no record of the recruiter or role, the offer is fake. This single call catches the most sophisticated scams that pass earlier checks.
Under five minutes for the basic checks. The deepest verification (calling HR) takes another 5-10 minutes during business hours. Total: 15 minutes for a fully verified offer.
Even small businesses have at least a basic website or strong LinkedIn presence. A 'real' company with no online presence at all is a major red flag. Verify business registration through your state Secretary of State or Companies House.
Yes. This happens when scammers impersonate real companies. The recruiter check (verified email, LinkedIn, callback to HR) catches this layer of fraud.
Real companies post all roles on their careers page before hiring, even for new positions. 'Pre-public posting' is a scam excuse. If the role is real, ask the recruiter when it will appear publicly and verify after that date.
Real offer letters are typically PDFs (uneditable). Word documents can be modified by anyone after sending, which is why real HR teams use PDF. Word offer letters are not necessarily fake, but request a PDF version for safety.
Yes, but understand a fake recruiter could create a complete LinkedIn profile. Look for: company tenure (1+ year), endorsements from real company employees, post history (real recruiters post regularly), and connections to verified company employees.
Most do, especially in the US, UK, Canada, and EU. Search your state Secretary of State (for US companies), Companies House (UK), or the relevant national business registry. Lack of any registration is a major red flag.
Try the main switchboard, the careers email on the website (careers@company.com), or LinkedIn DMs to current employees in HR. Persistence usually finds a real human. If no one at the company can confirm the offer, treat it as fake.