How do I know if a job posting is a scam?

Scam listings often copy real company names but route applications through messaging apps, personal Gmail accounts, or unrelated domains. Red flags include vague job descriptions, instant hire promises, and requests for gift cards or crypto.

The clearest tell is the apply path. A real employer sends you to their own careers domain or to a known applicant tracking system such as Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby or Workday. If the link bounces to a domain with no relationship to the company, or the whole process happens over Telegram or WhatsApp, treat that as disqualifying no matter how well the listing reads.

The second tell is the direction of payment. Money and credentials should only ever flow toward you. No legitimate employer asks you to buy your own equipment up front, pay for training or a background check, cash a cheque and forward part of it, or hand over bank details, a tax identification number, or a photo of your passport before an offer exists. Those come after you accept, through a payroll system, never over email during screening.

Speed is the third. Fraudulent operations optimise for pressure: an offer within hours, no real interview, an insistence that you decide today. A genuine hiring process has friction because several people have to agree. If nobody has asked you a difficult question about your work, nobody is actually assessing you.

If a listing clears all three and you are still unsure, weigh the downside rather than the probability. Applying costs you an hour. Handing identity documents to a stranger can cost you years. When in doubt, apply through the company website you navigated to yourself instead of the link you were sent.

JobiQueue scores listings for scam risk using apply-link domains, posting patterns, and known junk-feed signals. Run a free trust scan on any URL before you share a resume or pay an application fee.