Ghost Job Checker & Job Scam Detector

Both are common. Greenhouse, a hiring software company, reports that in any given quarter 18–22% of the jobs posted on its platform are classified as ghost jobs. On the scam side, the FTC says job and fake employment agency scam reports nearly tripled between 2020 and 2024, with reported losses growing from $90 million to $501 million.

• It has been up for months. Real openings are usually filled or closed within weeks. Check the “Posted” date on the job board.
• The same role keeps coming back. One repost is normal (see the LinkedIn rule below). The same ad reappearing for months is not.
• It talks about the future, not a seat. “Join our talent pool”, “always accepting applications” or “as positions become available” means resume collecting.
• It is vague. No team, no manager, no tools, no interview steps and no pay range.
• It isn't on the company's own careers page. This is the single most useful check. If the role only exists on job boards, be careful.

Ghost jobs on LinkedIn

Look for the “Reposted” label and the applicant count near the top of the posting. Reposts are not proof on their own: according to LinkedIn Help, a free job post stays active for up to 14 days, is then paused, and closes automatically after 30 days unless the employer promotes it. So a fresh date on an older role is often routine. Be wary when the role never closes, has no named team and is missing from the company's careers page. Hundreds of Easy Apply clicks on an old posting are also why Easy Apply often goes nowhere.

Ghost jobs on Indeed

Indeed shows how long ago a job was posted. Paste that line into the checker along with the description. A posting that has been up for 30 days or more is not automatically fake, but confirm it on the company's careers site before you tailor your resume for it.

The FTC's job scam guidance is blunt: honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job, and no honest employer will send you a check to deposit and then ask you to send part of the money on or buy gift cards with it. Watch for:

• Fees of any kind for training, equipment, a starter kit, a background check or “registration”.
• A check for equipment that you deposit before sending the “extra” to a vendor. The check bounces and the bank wants the full amount back.
• Reshipping packages from home. The FTC says reshipping goods is never a real job.
• Paid “tasks” that need a deposit. In task scams, you are paid a little for “optimizing” apps or rating products, then told to deposit your own money, usually crypto, to unlock more tasks or withdraw “earnings” that are not real.
• Sensitive details too early. Your ID or Social Security number, bank login or a copy of your ID before any real interview or verifiable offer.
• A personal email for a big company. Large employers recruit from their own domain, not a Gmail or Outlook address.
• Pay that is too good for the effort. The FTC says an offer that promises a lot of money in a short time with little work is almost certainly a scam.

Job scam texts, emails and chat “interviews”

Many job scams now start with a message, not a posting. The FTC advises you to ignore generic and unexpected texts, WhatsApp or Telegram messages about jobs and says real employers will never contact you that way. A video interview on Zoom or Microsoft Teams with a named person is normal. An “interview” that happens entirely in a chat app, followed by an instant offer, is not. Paste these messages into the checker using the “Recruiter message or email” tab.

1. Find it on the company's own careers page. Search the company name plus “careers” and look for the same title. Apply there if you can, and make sure your resume gets past Workday and Greenhouse screening.
2. Check the recruiter. Do they have a real LinkedIn profile at that company, and does their email domain match the company's website exactly?
3. Look up the email domain. A domain registered a few weeks ago that claims to be an established company is a red flag. The live company check looks this up for you.
4. Search for reports. Search the company name with “scam” and read interview reports from past candidates.
5. Ask directly. A short email asking whether the role is open and what the timeline is will often get you an answer. Our guide on how to email a recruiter has templates you can copy, and these follow-up emails help if they go quiet.

“Pay us and we will find you a job abroad” is one of the most common recruitment frauds, and the checker flags it as a critical scam sign. Under fair-recruitment standards, the employer pays the cost of hiring, not you. Watch for:

• Visa, medical, ticket or “processing” fees you must pay before you have a signed offer from a named employer.
• “100% job guarantee” or “guaranteed visa”. No one can guarantee a job before an employer has interviewed you.
• “Come on a visit visa, we will arrange the job there.” Working on a visit or tourist visa is illegal in most countries and leaves people stranded.
• Half now, half after the visa. Staged payments to an agent are how these scams collect the most money before they disappear.

If an agency says it is licensed, check the licence with the government office that issues it, pay only an official fee through a bank, get a receipt, and never hand over your passport to someone you cannot verify.

A job that asks you to work for weeks or months without pay, with a salary promised later, often never becomes a paid job: the company gets free work and replaces you with the next unpaid batch. The checker treats phrases like “3 months unpaid internship”, “no salary during training” or “salary will start after probation” as a strong ghost-job sign. In many countries unpaid trial work at a company is not legal, and staff on probation are still owed at least the minimum wage. A short, time-boxed skills test is normal; building a full app or website for free is not.

Posting a job you are not actively filling is legal in most places, but some governments have started to require employers to say in each posting whether it is for an existing vacancy. When a posting says it is “not for an existing vacancy”, the checker treats that as a strong ghost-job sign, and “for an existing vacancy” as a good sign.

Job scams are a different matter: they are fraud everywhere. Report them to the job site and to your local consumer-protection or cybercrime authority.

1. Stop replying and don't send anything else.
2. Contact the bank, card, payment app or crypto service you used right away, report the fraud and ask to reverse the payment.
3. If you shared your ID number or bank details, ask your bank to watch your account and report the identity theft to the police or your national identity-theft service.
4. Report the scam to the job site where you found the posting and to your local consumer-protection or cybercrime authority, and keep copies of every message.