Fraudulent Candidates, Fake Interviews And AI: The New Hiring Crisis

Forbes

3 days ago

Mike Fitzsimmons is CEO & co-founder of Crosschq, helping companies improve Quality of Hire through data-driven hiring intelligence.
Bad actors are using AI everywhere—from classrooms to corporate offices. They're stealing grades, stealing jobs, and, yes, stealing money.
Take Christina Marie Chapman, a 48-year-old woman from Litchfield Park, Arizona, for example. She recently pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in connection with a fraud scheme that helped overseas IT workers pose as U.S. citizens and land remote tech jobs at more than 300 American companies. The kicker? The operation funneled more than $17 million to North Korea.
So no, candidate fraud isn't just about white lies on a resume anymore. It's organized, weaponized and spreading fast.
But let's bring it closer to home: Most businesses aren't lying awake at night worried about North Korean hackers infiltrating their workforce. What they are worried about is keeping up with the 'small stuff'—the kind of low-grade but high-impact fraud happening every day in hiring funnels across every industry.
It's like what professors are facing right now: trying to outpace students using ChatGPT to ace their essays. Hiring managers are dealing with the same dilemma. We used to trust a resume. Now we can't even trust that.
AI is transforming hiring—and not always in the ways we hoped. While it's helping teams make faster, smarter decisions, it's also becoming a go-to tool for dishonest candidates. From AI-generated resumes and cover letters to deepfake interviews, impersonations and fake references, we've entered a full-on Wild West moment in talent acquisition.
Industry experts are reporting a spike in fake job seekers—especially in cybersecurity and crypto, where remote work and technical screening create ideal conditions for fraud to thrive.
This isn't just a college kid cheating on an online exam. This is systemic candidate fraud—and it's costing companies real money.
Here's what leaders need to understand: fraudulent candidates don't just pose an ethical concern—they're a business risk. According to a recent analysis my company, Crosshq, conducted, which reviewed more than 200,000 hiring signals, 72% of candidates admit to lying on their resumes, 38% have lied in interviews, and 45% say that's totally acceptable behavior.
It's not just dishonest—it's damaging. Candidates flagged for fraudulent behavior had a 27% lower quality of hire than their honest peers, according to the same study. That hits productivity, morale and retention. And by the time you figure it out? You're already backfilling.
And the financial cost? The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that a bad hire can cost up to 30% of that employee's first-year salary—not including the impact on team cohesion, missed goals and customer experience.
So what can hiring teams do? Here's what forward-thinking companies are already putting in place:
Some companies I've spoken with in the industry are creating standup facilities solely for in-person interviews. It's the hiring equivalent of college entrance exams going back to proctored settings. You want to make sure the person you're hiring is the person you're actually hiring.
Resume screening tools—especially those that detect inconsistencies across data sources—can flag red flags early. It's not about catching cheaters with a spotlight. It's about shining a light on the truth before it's too late.
Use identity verification tools to confirm that the person applying for the job is who they say they are. Especially for remote roles or technical positions, this step is quickly becoming a best practice.
Structured assessments and job simulations can provide strong signals about whether a candidate has the real skills for the role. Many companies now include browser tracking, IP logging or time-on-task analytics to catch signs of suspicious activity.
Ask deeper questions. Don't just ask what someone did—ask how they did it. The more detail required, the harder it is to fake. And if you are doing remote video interviews, make sure you use a video platform with deepfake—and fraud—detection technologies.
This problem isn't going away. In fact, as AI evolves faster than our policies, ethics and hiring infrastructure can keep up, I believe candidate fraud is likely to get worse before it gets better. But with a little more rigor—and a lot more transparency—we can start to build hiring systems that reward authenticity over algorithmic trickery.
Because at the end of the day, it's not just about finding people who can do the job. It's about finding people you can trust to be the job.
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