AI Job Scams Are Fooling Smart People. What to Watch Out For

I consider myself a pretty pragmatic person. After traveling to more than 50 countries — and living in New York City — I’ve become fairly street-smart. I know to watch out for black cabs in Vietnam, pickpockets in Rome and fake monks in Times Square.

So, I was shocked when I fell victim to an online scam earlier this year. I had an old “contact” reach out to me on Telegram asking to catch up. We had a previous message chain, so I didn’t think anything of it. I did notice their tone was a little direct, but I put it down to a cultural difference, as they’re European. 

I joined the Google Meet call, and the person connected over audio but never spoke. At first, I assumed she might have been having internet issues. But a few minutes in, I started to get a bad feeling. I checked her LinkedIn profile and saw that she’d posted a warning saying someone was impersonating her.

I immediately blocked the contact, changed all my passwords and ran a virus scan on my laptop. But they had my video and voice, which was extremely creepy. 

Nothing eventuated from it, but it was a wakeup call. 

The job market is bad enough 

Anyone looking for a job right now knows how tough the market is. AI scammers are just making matters worse. It’s happening on both sides of the search, with scam job listings and deepfake candidates.

According to antivirus company McAfee, job-related scams soared by over 1,000% in a three-month period in 2025. Texts, emails and fake websites are the biggest culprits. 

McAfee’s Scam Detector feature uses AI to identify and block text, email and deepfake video scams. It provides real-time alerts for suspicious messages, blocks risky links and explains the reasons for flagged content to intercept the scams. The tool works across email and messaging apps. 

I asked a McAfee online safety expert how the tool would’ve protected me when the interactions happened across various devices and apps. The tool is designed to intercept scams early and in real time. 

McAfee’s product expert, Adam Curfman, said most scams start quietly — an email that looks legitimate, a text that seems routine, a QR code that promises convenience — and the protection is built to intercept those moments early, before you feel something isn’t quite right.

I downloaded the McAfee app because I liked the idea of being able to upload screenshots of texts, messages and emails directly from my phone. I wanted to test an email I keep receiving.

I clicked “Check for Scams,” then uploaded a screenshot of the email in question.

Lo and behold, it was a (pretty convincing) scam. I liked how I could ask McAfee why it detected it as a scam, too.

I can connect my email account in McAfee, and it’ll monitor messages in real time, without having to manually check each one.  

There are more scam scanner features, but the screenshot uploader was my favorite. 

Safeguard against scammers 

Here are some tips to make sure you won’t fall prey to AI job scams.

1. Make sure you brush up on AI best practices. 
2. Watch out for fake job listings, impostors, email offers, unfamiliar software, work-from-home jobs, equipment purchase requests, lucrative offers and upfront payments. 
3. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It’s good to gut-check everything. 
4. Don’t hand over any money: Be wary of pay-to-play, such as application or platform fees.  
5. Message the person or company on another platform: If you’re unsure if a message is real, reach out to that person or company on another platform to check. Running cross-platform checks can keep you safe. 
6. Be wary of unpaid tests: “Brief assessments” are another issue to watch for. Scammers might present it as “quick assessments” when they’re really collecting free work from candidates. (These might be legit companies, too.)

Here’s more expert advice on how you can outsmart the scammers.

Do your own digging and fact-checking 

Poke around for complaints, warnings and reviews. Look at places like LinkedIn, Google and Reddit. Use AI to help you source all the information. 

According to VP of trust at LinkedIn Oscar Rodriguez, job scams share common red flags. 

“This can include job ads or messages that promise unusually high pay for little work, ask candidates to move conversations off LinkedIn very quickly or request personal or financial information early in the process,” he says. 

“Scammers may also impersonate real companies or recruiters, using vague job descriptions or profiles with limited work history, few connections, or recently created activity.” 

Rodriguez recommends using LinkedIn’s built-in trust and safety tools. 

“That includes looking for verification badges on profiles, job postings and company Pages, which signal that key information has been confirmed. We also encourage members to keep conversations on LinkedIn, enable harmful message detection, which will add warnings to suspicious messages, use our reporting tools if something feels off and rely on visible signals like a recruiter’s verified workplace or a company’s official Page before engaging.” 

You can always report an interaction so LinkedIn can investigate it. Always report anything odd. 

Reverse the hiring process 

Michael Scheumack, chief innovation officer of identity theft protection company IdentityIQ, suggests asking the recruiter to verify their legitimacy in real time. For example, “Can you email me from your corporate domain while we’re on this call?” 

Scammers rely on controlling the flow of information. Flipping the dynamic disrupts their script. Scheumack also recommends inspecting the infrastructure, not just the message. 

Look for things like domain age, email routing inconsistencies and slight variations in URLs. These technical breadcrumbs are often where scams fall apart. 

Also watch for platform migration pressure (to apps such as Telegram or WhatsApp), urgency, flattery and FOMO. 

Protect your personal data 

Chief information security officer of security software company Ivanti, Jack Nelson, says scammers are trying to get access to sensitive systems. 

“Threat actors are now using generative AI to spin up convincing recruiter personas, fake company landing pages and even deepfake video interviews, all designed to get job seekers to hand over personal data, install malware or grant access to their current employer’s systems,” Nelson says.

Practice data hygiene, set up multi-factor authentication and consider getting AI antivirus software. Scammers could also use your sensitive details to fool others into thinking it’s you, so by safeguarding your data, you’re also protecting others. 

The better the scammers get, the better your security should get, too.