Employment scams are increasingly being used to target job seekers, with the FBI and LinkedIn joining forces to educate applicants about fraudulent job opportunities and the warning signs of potential exploitation. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 24,688 reports of employment scam victimization in 2025, with nearly $363 million in reported losses.
The FBI defines employment fraud as a scheme designed to deceive someone into believing they have been, or could soon be, hired for a job. However, officials warn that these schemes are not always focused on stealing money from victims. They can also be used to recruit money mules, collect personally identifiable information, or force people into labor.
Employment Scams Exploit Trust in Job Opportunities
LinkedIn, which has more than 1.3 billion members across more than 200 countries and regions, said people submit approximately 10,000 job applications every minute on the platform.
The company uses automated systems and human oversight to detect and remove fraudulent activity. According to LinkedIn, automated defenses remove 98.7% of detected spam and scam content before members see it, while 99.5% of detected fake accounts are stopped proactively.
LinkedIn also uses verification indicators to show when certain information about people, companies, recruiters, and candidates has been confirmed.
Despite these measures, the company said scammers are becoming more sophisticated, with artificial intelligence making it cheaper, faster, and easier to impersonate legitimate individuals.
One warning sign highlighted by LinkedIn is when a recruiter or company representative attempts to move a conversation away from LinkedIn’s messaging platform. Doing so can allow scammers to bypass the platform’s protections and reporting tools.
Money Mule Scams Turn Job Seekers Into Financial Intermediaries
One major form of employment scams involves recruiting victims as money mules. Scammers may advertise legitimate-sounding positions such as cryptocurrency transaction specialist, accounts receivable assistant, remote financial coordinator, or payment processing agent.
After being hired, victims may receive money in their personal bank accounts, often through peer-to-peer payment applications. They are then instructed to withdraw the funds, convert them into cash, gift cards, or cryptocurrency, and transfer them elsewhere in exchange for a small commission.
The money is generally linked to other scams or compromised accounts. Victims may face legal consequences, account closures, and seized funds despite being deceived into participating.
Stolen PII Employment Scams Target Personal Information
Another type of fraud uses fake employment opportunities to collect stolen PII. Job titles may include onboarding specialist, HR assistant, compliance reviewer, or know your customer and identity verification agent.
Victims may be asked to collect identity documents from customers, forward files, verify accounts, handle one-time codes, open accounts, submit applications, or organize data into spreadsheets and shared drives.
Instead of directly moving stolen money, victims become part of a process designed to harvest personal information.
Forced Labor Can Begin With a Fake Job Offer
The FBI also warns that some employment scams can become gateways to human trafficking and forced labor. Victims may be offered jobs abroad or remote positions and encouraged to travel internationally, with Southeast Asia identified as a known hotspot.
After arriving, victims may have their passports confiscated and be told they must repay travel costs. Some are then forced to work in scam compounds, where they are required to contact targets. Victims may face monitoring, threats, or physical abuse if they fail to meet quotas.
FBI Warns Job Seekers About Employment Scam Red Flags
The FBI and LinkedIn advise applicants to research companies carefully and watch for warning signs.
For money mule scams, red flags include requests to use personal bank accounts for business transactions, bypass normal payroll systems, move money quickly, open new accounts, or use cryptocurrency and gift cards.
For scams involving stolen PII, applicants should be cautious if they are asked to handle sensitive identity documents without a legitimate compliance structure, receive files through informal channels, or are pressured to bypass normal safeguards.
Potential forced labor scams may involve unusually high pay for vague overseas jobs, demands for quick relocation, employer-controlled travel arrangements, vague contracts, early moves to encrypted messaging apps, or instructions to keep the job secret from family.
The FBI and LinkedIn said educating job seekers can help disrupt employment fraud before victims become involved. Anyone who believes they have been targeted should contact their financial institution immediately and report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center with as many details as possible.
