Fake government jobs and overseas job scams in India

Part 2 of our guide to job scams in India: fake government jobs, fake jobs abroad that end in scam centres, employers fooled by fake papers, and what India is doing to stop them. Part 1 covers task scams and fake offer letters.

40+government bodies named in one fake joining-letter racket
4,315Indians rescued from scam centres abroad in 2025, after fake job offers
3,505illegal recruiting agents flagged by the MEA by April 2026
75%of healthcare candidates with a discrepancy had fake job papers, in an EY India analysis

Fake government jobs

Posts sold through middlemen, joining letters from look-alike government email IDs, and sometimes a real "salary" to build trust.

Fake government job cases

Six states · Jan 202640+ bodies
Fake joining letters for the Railways, India Post, some High Courts and more. Some recruits were paid a "salary" for 2 to 3 months.
ED searches
Pune · Aug 2026Rs 2–15 lakh each
Municipal posts with forged letters and ID cards, and a list of 150+ candidates.
6 arrested
Andhra Pradesh · Aug 2026Rs 93 lakh
Forged health-ministry appointment orders took money from about 60 people.
Arrested by CID

Fake jobs abroad that end in scam centres

A "data entry" job in South-East Asia, a tourist entry, then passports taken and forced online fraud. By the yearly figures the government gave Parliament, 6,998 Indians were rescued from 2022 to 2025. Complaints about illegal recruiting agents rose from 1,006 to 1,541 between 2023 and 2025, and 3,505 illegal agents had been flagged on its eMigrate portal by April 2026.

Indians rescued from scam centres in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar

2022456
2023540
20241,687
20254,315

Source: Ministry of External Affairs, reply in the Rajya Sabha, February 2026

Fake overseas job cases

Maharashtra · Nov 2025Rs 10 lakh ransom
A 24-year-old promised data entry; his family paid a ransom. He was among 270 flown home by the Air Force.
Flown home
AP and Telangana · Jan 202627 people
Lured by ads and middlemen, then rescued after a video appeal.
Brought home
Chennai airport · Apr 2026Rs 1.5 lakh each
Four recruits stopped at the airport; the agents were arrested.
Stopped before flying

CheckkboxEvery hiring check in one caseIdentity, education, employment and court records, run with the candidate’s consent. You receive results, not document copies.See Checkkbox →

When the employer is the one fooled

Forged experience letters, salary slips and degrees get people hired. In an EY India analysis of over a million pre-employment screenings, 75% of healthcare candidates with a discrepancy had submitted fake employment documents.

Hired on false papers

Gwalior · Sep 2026Rs 2.80 lakh a month
A Group Vice President's claimed last salary. The forgery was found only when he resigned.
Arrested
Rajasthan · Aug 202666 degrees
Selected physical training instructors had degrees allegedly backdated.
University VC arrested
Uttar Pradesh · Feb 202615 years
A teacher served on forged documents. The High Court ordered a check of every assistant teacher.
Statewide check ordered

Around the world

$362.9mlost to employment scams reported to the FBI in 2025, five times 2023
4xtask-scam reports to the US FTC in half of 2024, against all of 2023
300,000+people working in South-East Asian scam operations, many lured by fake jobs
49%of Indian Gen Z job seekers came close to falling for a job scam

Sources: FBI, US FTC, UN human rights office and a LinkedIn study.

What's stopping it, and why it keeps going

India now blocks the tools scammers use: SIMs, phones and bank accounts. These figures, from a Home Ministry reply to the Lok Sabha in July 2026, cover all cyber fraud to June 2026, not only job scams.

Rs 11,158 croresaved through 1930 complaints since the system began
32.08 lakhmule bank accounts flagged to banks, and Rs 25,698 crore of payments declined
15.75 lakhSIM cards blocked on police reports, with 5.77 lakh handsets
50.90 lakhmobile connections cut after citizens' reports on Sanchar Saathi

Job scams have fewer tools aimed at them. The only national order so far blocked more than 100 websites running task-scam and investment frauds in 2023. The Overseas Mobility Bill, which would set new rules for overseas recruiters, is still the draft published in October 2025. Since 2025, LinkedIn has required anyone adding a recruiter title to verify their workplace.

Where the money went in Cyberabad, the city where job fraud tops cybercrime, 2025

Rs 404.61 crorereported lost to cyber fraud
Rs 54.67 crorefrozen in the receiving accounts
Rs 20.75 crorerefunded to victims

Source: Cyberabad Police annual review, via NewsMeter, December 2025

Freezing is not refunding. Nationally, Rs 7,788 crore was frozen between 2023 and 2025, but Rs 132 crore was refunded. For job fraud alone, Karnataka recovered about 11% of the Rs 565 crore lost over five years.

Why it keeps going

Few FIRs2 in 100
Reported cyber-fraud cases that became an FIR in 2025: 55,484 of 28.15 lakh.
Small losses19,059
Complaints to Cyberabad police in 2025 were for losses under Rs 25,000.
Cheap bank accountsRs 15,000–20,000
What a rented savings account sells for, Indore police say.
SIMs in other names64,223 numbers
Sold by about 1,930 shop agents using other people's documents, the CBI found.
Leaked CVs11 held
Fake placement call centres in Delhi took job seekers' details from job portals.
Run from abroad45%
Of nearly 12 lakh complaints in 2024, to November, were traced to scam centres in South-East Asia.

What to check

Offered a government jobNo real post is sold through a middleman. Every recruitment is notified on the department's or recruitment board's own website.
Offered a job abroadUse only MEA-registered agents, checked on eMigrate. Visa-free entry to Thailand, the Indian embassy warns, is for tourism only, not work.
Someone is trapped abroadCall the MEA's 24x7 helpline, 1800 11 3090, contact the Indian embassy, and file a police complaint at home.
HiringConfirm past jobs with the previous employer and degrees with the university, before joining, not at exit.

Call 1930The national cyber fraud helpline. Call as soon as money moves, or report on cybercrime.gov.in.

When a new employer checks a past job on Checkkbox, EPFO and TDS records are matched at the source and the previous employer's HR confirms on a secure link. Degrees issued on Dygital.degree carry a QR check against the university's own record. That won't catch every fake, but it checks the record, not the paper. Book a demo to see it.

Job scams in India, part 2: fake government jobs, jobs abroad and what's stopping them