How to tell if a job is a scam or a ghost job
Not every job advert is a real, hireable role. Some are outright scams designed to harvest your data or money; others are 'ghost jobs' — postings a company never intends to fill. Both waste the one thing you can't get back: your time. Here's how to spot them before you apply.
Red flags that a job is an outright scam
Scam adverts follow patterns. Any one of these on its own warrants caution; two or more together is a strong signal to walk away.
- You're asked to pay for anything — training, equipment, a background check, or 'starter materials'. Legitimate employers never charge you to work.
- You're offered the job with no real interview, or after a single chat over WhatsApp, Telegram or text.
- The pay is dramatically high for very little work, or the description is vague about what you'd actually do.
- They ask for bank details, your passport, or your National Insurance / Social Security number before any formal offer.
- The email domain is a free account (gmail, outlook) rather than the company's own domain, or the address is a near-miss of a real company's.
What a ghost job looks like
A ghost job is real-looking but dead — the company is collecting CVs, keeping a pipeline 'warm', or was told to post it while a hire is actually frozen. It's legal, just a dead end.
- The same role has been reposted for months, or keeps disappearing and reappearing.
- The description is generic boilerplate with no team, manager, or specific projects named.
- The company is quietly in a hiring freeze, doing layoffs, or the posting has no closing date and no urgency.
- Recruiters never respond, or reply months later with 'we'll keep you on file'.
Verify the employer before you spend effort
A two-minute check separates most real roles from the fakes. Before you tailor a CV or fill in a long form, confirm the basics.
- Find the role on the company's own careers page — if it isn't there, be sceptical.
- Check the company exists and looks active: a real website, recent news, employees on LinkedIn.
- Search the company name plus 'scam' or 'review' and see what former applicants and staff say.
- Confirm the recruiter's email domain matches the company, and that their LinkedIn profile is real and connected to the company.
What to do when something feels off
Trust the instinct — but act on evidence, not just a feeling. If a posting trips the flags above, don't hand over documents or money. You can still apply to a merely-vague role, but keep your data minimal until you've verified the employer and spoken to a real person on a company channel.
Let an AI check the advert for you
Reading every advert this closely is exhausting when you're applying at volume. WorkstationAI's free 'Should I apply?' tool reads the job ad and flags the scam and ghost-job signals for you, alongside an honest A–F score for whether the role is worth your effort — so you can skip the dead ends and spend your time on the real ones.