Stop before you deposit, forward, spend, or transfer anything. A job that asks you to receive money and send part of it to a “client,” “supplier,” recruiter, or other third party is a major scam warning. Do not use your personal bank account as an employer’s payment channel. Verify the opening through the company’s independently located website and contact details, not through links or phone numbers in the message.
This guide is written for U.S. job seekers using Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance. It cannot determine whether a particular offer is fraudulent or promise that a payment can be reversed, but it gives you a practical way to check an offer and limit damage if you already sent money or information.
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First decision: do not move the money
Pause the process as soon as an alleged employer asks you to deposit a check, accept funds into your account, refund an “overpayment,” buy equipment or supplies, purchase gift cards, convert money to cryptocurrency, wire funds, or forward money to another account. Do not click a payment link or scan a payment code supplied by the recruiter while you are checking the offer.
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A legitimate employer pays you through its payroll or purchasing process. It does not need a job applicant to provide a personal account to receive and redistribute company funds. The FTC’s guidance is direct: “Don’t accept a job that asks you to transfer money or packages — even if they tell you to send money to a ‘client’ or ‘supplier.’” That warning applies even when the message uses a real company name, a polished logo, an employment contract, or a professional-looking interview process.
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Do not confront the sender with your investigation. Save the messages, check images, payment instructions, names, phone numbers, email addresses, and account details first. Those records can help your bank, a platform, or law enforcement understand what happened.
Why a real company name does not prove the recruiter is real
Scammers impersonate known employers, copy genuine job descriptions, and hijack advertisements. They may use a look-alike email address, a messaging account with the company’s logo, or a website that resembles the real employer’s site. Seeing a familiar brand in a message establishes only that someone used that name; it does not authenticate the person contacting you.
The FTC’s advice is to “Verify job openings before you apply. Visit the official website for the organization or company you’re applying for.” Start with a fresh browser session or a search engine. Type the company’s name yourself, inspect the domain carefully, and navigate to its careers page. Do not rely on a careers link, QR code, telephone number, or email address supplied in the unsolicited message.
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Legitimate hiring versus a money-moving scheme
No single sign proves fraud, and the absence of a warning sign does not prove an offer is genuine. The pattern matters, especially when a request for money appears early in the hiring process or is paired with pressure to act immediately.
| What to compare | Ordinary hiring or business process | Suspicious request |
|---|---|---|
| Who controls the account | The employer controls payroll, purchasing, and vendor accounts. | You are told to use your personal bank account to receive and forward funds. |
| Direction of payment | The employer pays you after documented work and normal onboarding. | You must pay a fee, refund part of a check, or send money to obtain the job. |
| Verification channel | You confirm the role with contact details and a careers listing found independently. | The recruiter insists that you use only a supplied link, number, email, or messaging account. |
| Transaction timing | Pay, duties, hours, and start date are explained before routine payroll setup. | A check, “overpayment,” online task, or urgent transfer arrives before you have independently confirmed the employer. |
| Materials and expenses | Any approved expense follows a documented company policy and payment route. | You must buy gift cards, cryptocurrency, equipment, or supplies from a specified seller and send proof. |
| Pressure | You have time to review an offer and ask questions. | Threats of losing the position, promises of unusually fast pay, or demands for secrecy push you to act now. |
Written details about duties, pay, and hours are useful, but paperwork can be forged. A refusal to provide those details is a warning sign; receiving them is not independent identity verification.
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Step-by-step verification checklist
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Freeze every transaction
Do not deposit the check, cash it, spend the apparent balance, send a refund, buy anything for the recruiter, or transfer funds to a “client” or “supplier.” Do not assume that a pending or available balance means the payment has cleared.
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Locate the employer independently
Find the organization’s official website yourself. Check the exact domain spelling, the careers page, and any public human-resources or recruiting information. Avoid using a search result that is clearly an advertisement if you are unsure of the destination.
-
Confirm the opening
Search the careers page for the job title, location, requisition number, duties, and employment type. If the listing is missing, ask the company whether the role is real and whether it uses the recruiter who contacted you. A recently posted or confidential role still should be confirmable by the employer’s staff.
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Use an independently published contact
Call a telephone number or send an email address shown on the official website, a regulatory filing, or another source you located separately. Do not use the contact information in the suspicious message to verify itself. Ask whether the recruiter’s name, email domain, interview, and offer belong to the company.
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Check the people and message, without treating search results as proof
Search the company name, recruiter name, email address, telephone number, and distinctive wording from the message with terms such as “scam,” “review,” or “complaint.” Look for consistent reports and contradictions. A clean search does not establish legitimacy: new scams may have no reports, and copied identities can produce misleading results.
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Request a complete written explanation
Ask for the legal employer name, physical or registered business address, supervisor, duties, pay rate, hours, location, start date, and the reason any payment would be involved. Compare the answers with the independently verified company. If the explanation changes, remains vague, or focuses on moving money rather than doing work, stop.
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Refuse every pay-to-work condition
Never pay an employer to obtain a job. Do not return part of an employer’s check, wire an “excess,” buy gift cards, purchase cryptocurrency, or buy equipment or supplies for a recruiter. Legitimate onboarding may require ordinary identity or payroll forms, but it does not require you to finance the employer or route third-party funds through your account.
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Give yourself time
Tell the sender you will verify the offer independently and end the conversation if they demand secrecy or immediate action. A genuine employer can tolerate a reasonable verification delay. Pressure is a reason to stop, not a reason to comply.
Why depositing a check can leave you owing the bank
A check can appear in your account balance before the bank has determined that it is genuine. Banks often make funds available under account and deposit rules while the check travels through the clearing system. If the check later proves counterfeit or unauthorized, the bank can remove the credit. If you already sent the money onward, you may have to repay the bank from your own funds.
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Tell the bank exactly what happened, including whether you deposited a check, withdrew cash, sent a wire, or shared account credentials. Do not hide the suspected fraud or continue following instructions while the bank investigates.
Why forwarding money can turn you into a money mule
A money mule moves stolen or fraudulently obtained funds for someone else. The person may not know the source of the money, but their account can still be used to receive, withdraw, convert, or forward it. Consequences can include frozen accounts, loss of the money, reporting to financial institutions, credit damage, and possible civil or criminal exposure that varies with the facts and jurisdiction.
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The FTC’s money-mule guidance warns against accepting a job that asks you to transfer money or packages. A request framed as processing invoices, helping a client, buying supplies, testing a payment system, or keeping a commission does not change who controls the risk: you do, because the transaction runs through your account.
Common scripts and the correct response
“We sent too much. Return the difference.”
Do not refund an alleged overpayment. Verify the employer through its official website and ask your bank to review the check or payment. A counterfeit check can be returned after you have refunded the difference.
“Deposit this check and buy equipment or gift cards.”
Do not deposit or spend the funds. Gift-card numbers, cryptocurrency transfers, and similar payments are difficult to reverse. An employer can purchase its own equipment through its own vendors; it should not require a new hire to buy items and send proof to a recruiter.
“Transfer money to our client or supplier.”
Decline. The FTC’s warning covers this exact arrangement. A genuine company’s accounts-payable or payroll staff should control vendor payments, not a candidate’s personal account.
“Complete online tasks by depositing and withdrawing funds.”
Stop the task and preserve the instructions. The FTC’s April 2026 alert describes fake recruiters contacting people by text and then requesting money through a returned check or an online task. Scripts change, so professional graphics, a convincing interview, or a small initial payment does not establish that the sender is genuine.
“The job is remote, so use your account temporarily.”
Remote work changes where you perform your duties, not who owns the payment process. Ask for normal payroll onboarding and independently confirm the employer. “Temporary” access to your account is still exposure to the transaction and its consequences.
What to do if you already sent money
Act immediately. Recovery depends on the payment type, the receiving institution, and timing; no one can promise that a transfer will be reversed.
- Stop communication and transfers. Do not send another payment to unlock a refund, release a package, or “fix” the account. Block the suspected scammer after saving evidence.
- Contact your bank or credit union. Explain the job-offer scam, any check deposit, and every transfer. Ask what protective steps are available, whether a payment can be stopped or recalled, and whether the account, debit card, online banking credentials, or checks should be replaced.
- Contact the payment company immediately. If you used a wire service, gift-card issuer, cryptocurrency platform, payment app, or other provider, report the fraud through its official customer-service channel. Have transaction numbers and receipts ready. The provider may have time-sensitive procedures, but reversal is not guaranteed.
- Secure exposed information. Change reused passwords, enable multifactor authentication, and monitor bank and credit activity. If you shared an account number, online-banking login, Social Security number, driver’s-license information, or other identity data, ask the financial institution what account protections and replacement steps apply.
- Report the incident. File a report with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If a job board, social network, or messaging platform hosted the offer, report the account and advertisement there so it can be investigated and removed.
- Use identity-theft guidance when appropriate. For exposed identity information, follow the FTC’s recovery steps at IdentityTheft.gov. Keep copies of reports, correspondence, receipts, and bank case numbers.
If a check was deposited, tell the bank before the funds are withdrawn or transferred. If you already forwarded money, explain the full sequence rather than reporting only the final payment; the timing can affect what protective actions remain possible.
How much risk is involved?
The FTC reported $367 million in consumer losses from business and job-opportunity scams in 2022, with a median reported loss of $2,000. Those figures were published in an April 2023 alert and describe reports received by the FTC; they are not a prediction of what any individual will lose and do not include every unreported incident.
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Questions to ask the employer’s real contact
Use a number or email address you found independently and ask concise, verifiable questions:
- Is this job title and requisition number active on your careers system?
- Does the named recruiter work for you or for an authorized staffing agency?
- Did your company send this check, payment instruction, online task, or equipment request?
- Why would a candidate’s personal account be involved in a company transaction?
- What are the duties, pay, hours, supervisor, location, and start date?
- What official onboarding system should I use, and who can confirm it?
End the process if the company cannot answer through its independently published channels or if the answers conflict with the offer. Do not disclose additional personal or financial information while seeking confirmation.
U.S. scope and limits of this guidance
This article reflects FTC consumer guidance issued in alerts and educational material from 2021 through April 2026. It is intended for a U.S. audience. Banking rules, reporting routes, privacy obligations, and legal consequences differ by country and by situation. The FTC guidance does not decide whether a specific offer is fraudulent, provide individualized legal advice, or establish that a particular payment can be recovered. When substantial money, identity information, or potential criminal conduct is involved, ask your financial institution and a qualified professional for situation-specific advice.
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