The check runs right here, in this page in your browser. What you paste is never sent anywhere and isn’t saved: close the page and it’s gone. Spell check is off in these boxes, since some browsers send what you type to an online spell checker. If you allowed analytics, they count that this page was opened, nothing more (what Weavenly sends).
What the check found
This looks like a scam
Fake recruiters write like this. Don’t pay, don’t send documents and don’t go on with this email until you have checked the company yourself.
Be careful
One strong sign, or two weaker ones. Real recruiters rarely write like this: check the company before you answer.
A small sign
On its own this turns up in real emails too. Weigh it with the rest of the email.
No signs found
That doesn’t mean the email is safe. The check looks for the common tricks in its words, addresses and links, and a careful scammer avoids all of them. The advice below holds anyway.
The check read: from no sender address · replies go to · links:
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Asks for money (a fee, a check, a transfer or crypto)
Why it matters. An employer pays you; it never asks you to pay for training, equipment, a background check or a starter kit. A check sent to you "for equipment" bounces days after you have paid the "vendor" with your own money.
What to do. Don’t pay anything and don’t deposit any check. If the email names a real company, ask that company through the contacts on its own website.
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Asks for card details, a passport or an ID number
Why it matters. An employer asks for your ID and bank details only after you have signed an offer, through its own HR system, never in an early email. With them, someone can open accounts or take loans in your name.
What to do. Don’t send them. If you already did, tell your bank and keep an eye on your accounts.
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The sender sells services (lead generation, sales), not a job
Why it matters. The sender’s own title says they sell lead generation, sales or staffing. They want you as a client, not as a hire.
What to do. Ignore it, or ask straight out which company hires and for which role.
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The interview happens only in a messenger
Why it matters. Real interviews happen on a call or a video meeting with people from the company. An interview by chat in Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal or Viber is how many scams start.
What to do. Ask for a video call and a calendar invitation from the company’s own address. If they won’t, stop there.
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Pay that sounds too good, with no experience needed
Why it matters. High pay by the hour or by the day, from home, with no experience: that is the bait of many fake offers.
What to do. Find the job on the company’s own careers page. If it isn’t there, treat the offer as fake.
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A free mailbox writing in a company’s name
Why it matters. Google, Amazon, Yandex and other big companies write from their own domain, not from gmail.com, outlook.com or mail.ru.
What to do. Find the company’s real website yourself, not through the email’s links, and write to an address on its domain.
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A link leads somewhere other than it says
Why it matters. The link shows one address but opens another. That is how fake sign-in pages and fake application forms are reached.
What to do. Don’t click it. Type the company’s address into the browser yourself.
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The job is mostly a training they give you
Why it matters. "Train and place" schemes take people on for a course, then charge for it or tie them to a contract.
What to do. Ask in writing who pays for the training and what happens if you leave. A real job doesn’t charge you.
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Replies go to a different address
Why it matters. Your answer would go to an address other than the one the email came from, often to the scammer’s own mailbox.
What to do. Look at where your reply goes before you send it, and write to the company’s real address instead.
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A shortened link hides where it leads
Why it matters. Links like bit.ly hide the real address. Recruiters usually link the company’s careers page or a calendar.
What to do. Don’t open it. Ask for the full address, or find the job on the company’s own site.
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A school or “university” is hiring
Why it matters. When the sender is a school or a training center, the "job" is usually its paid course.
What to do. Check that the role exists at a real employer, and don’t sign up for any paid program.
Whatever the check says
- Never pay to get a job: not for training, equipment, a background check or a visa.
- Don’t share ID numbers, passport scans or bank details before you have a written offer that you have checked.
- Check the company’s real domain. Find its website yourself and see that the recruiter writes from an address on it.
- Look the recruiter up on the company’s site or on LinkedIn, with the same name and the same company.
- Insist on a call or a video interview with people from the company, not only a chat.
- Never deposit a check and send money on, whoever asks and whatever it is for.
- Not sure? Write to the company through the contacts on its own website and ask whether this person works there.
How it works
It runs the same rules the Weavenly app uses to keep suspicious mail apart in your Inbox: words that ask for money or documents, an interview only in a messenger, pay too good to be true, a free mailbox writing in a big company’s name, replies sent elsewhere, links that hide where they go. Each sign has a weight; three points or more is how fake recruiters write. It reads only what you paste, so it can’t see what your mail service knows about the sender.
The signs it looks for
- Asks for money (a fee, a check, a transfer or crypto)
- Asks for card details, a passport or an ID number
- The sender sells services (lead generation, sales), not a job
- The interview happens only in a messenger
- Pay that sounds too good, with no experience needed
- A free mailbox writing in a company’s name
- A link leads somewhere other than it says
- The job is mostly a training they give you
- Replies go to a different address
- A shortened link hides where it leads
- A school or “university” is hiring