Fraudulent Candidates Are On The Rise: What Employers Need To Know

Forbes

2 days ago

Casey Marquette is a seasoned Fortune 50/200 security strategist & CEO at Covenant Technologies empowering elite technical recruiting teams.
Recruiters have long been trained to spot red flags on résumés—gaps in employment, vague job descriptions and inflated titles. But today, these signs barely scratch the surface. A new breed of candidate deception is emerging, and it's more organized, technical and difficult to detect.
According to CBS News reporting, fraudulent job seekers are using advanced digital tools to secure legitimate employment under false identities. Occasionally backed by sophisticated crime networks, these hires blend in seamlessly with remote teams, pass onboarding processes and draw in real salaries for weeks or months before anyone realizes something is wrong.
The risk is significant. Reported in technology, finance and healthcare sectors, victims range from large enterprises to small firms without fraud detection. Regardless of industry, targeted companies face wage losses, data breaches, reputational damage and compromised team performance. Because the technology powering this deception is evolving quickly, HR leaders must adapt to keep fraud out of the hiring process.
How Fraud Is Infiltrating Corporate Hiring
Recent federal investigations have found that most job seeker hoaxes are targeting remote jobs, likely because the lack of traditional verification makes it easier to blend in. Coordinated criminal groups coach operators to assume false identities, providing fake diplomas, interview scripts and deepfake videos for impersonation. Other deception tactics include using voice modulation and remote desktop access to give off-camera answers during interviews. Once hired, these fraudulent operators attend meetings, submit work and gather data or introduce vulnerabilities.
While individuals who commit candidate fraud aren't always malicious in intent, they create real problems. These are people who use résumé-writing software to embellish experience, fabricate previous roles or upgrade technical skill sets. In interviews, they rehearse AI-generated answers to common behavioral and technical questions. In April 2025, Business Insider reported on apps that provide entry-level and mid-career applicants with real-time talking points for interviews. During video interviews, fraudulent candidates may either read from a screen or repeat answers given to them through an earpiece. The result is a hiring process filled with individuals who appear qualified on paper and sound impressive in conversation, then struggle to perform in practice. Deadlines are missed, essential skills aren't demonstrated or plagiarized work products are submitted. These situations lead to team disruptions, productivity loss and increased recruiting costs to replace the unqualified hires.
The reality is that many companies rely on outdated screening tools that weren't built to detect this kind of fraud. Basic résumé parsers reward structure and keyword density without evaluating substance. While some video interview platforms score candidates on surface-level qualities like articulation and tone, they lack the sophistication to recognize when a person is reading from another screen or receiving live assistance. When hiring teams use technology that was designed for speed and efficiency, not verifying authenticity, fraudsters are able to learn the scoring patterns. Then, with the right preparation, they can exploit the gaps in the systems.
Organizations need advanced solutions that can detect offscreen assistance, monitor behavioral cues in real time and flag inconsistencies that human reviewers may miss. Strategic adoption can be a significant advantage for protecting teams and reputations.
A Proactive, Layered Way To Protect Hiring Integrity
Companies must adopt a layered approach that combines human intuition with advanced detection technologies to address the growing threat of candidate fraud. The solution isn't a single system or team. It's a connected effort across recruiting, HR and cybersecurity.
• Invest in advanced verification tools. Hiring teams should bring in modern identity verification tools beyond document uploads. Biometric matching, liveness detection and government-issued ID checks can confirm whether the person on camera is real and matches the submitted credentials. These systems are essential for preventing impersonation during remote hiring.
• Deploy AI strategically. Be intentional with AI usage. For instance, implement recruiting platforms that monitor candidate behavior during video interviews. The right tools can detect when someone is reading from another screen, receiving external prompts or showing signs of deepfake manipulation. They can also compare speech patterns, analyze reaction times and flag candidates whose delivery is inconsistent with natural interaction.
• Avoid predictable interview practices. AI alone can't always decode when someone is providing false information. So, recruiters should lead with unscripted engagement. Asking about candidates' personal path, motivations or reflections on real-life scenarios can help determine whether they're drawing from authentic experience.
• Verify at multiple stages. Confirming candidates' identity should be an ongoing process. Include checkpoints during onboarding and after hiring to check performance, monitor access and verify contributions. Anomalies in system use, drops in productivity or technical issues can indicate problems.
• Lean on IT professionals' knowledge. Recognizing patterns across devices, networks and behavior is crucial for modern workforce risk management. This means collaboration between cybersecurity and HR teams is key. If fraudulence signals are shared across departments, a candidate who bypassed one check could be caught by another.
The Future Of Talent Screening Requires Vigilance
Fraud prevention in hiring cannot be an afterthought. Companies must adapt by combining innovative technologies with smarter processes that are woven into every stage of the candidate journey. This proactive, layered approach will better protect their teams, data and reputation during the growing wave of candidate fraud.
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