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Ask any recruiter or TA pro what’s keeping them up at night. Lately, there’s a good chance that the answer is candidate fraud.
What once felt like a fringe concern has quickly become one of the most pressing risks facing hiring teams. With AI making it easier than ever to spoof resumes, deepfake interviews, and fabricate credentials, recruiters are now expected to play both talent matchmaker and fraud detective—connecting with real candidates while weeding out any fraudulent ones.
To unpack what this new reality looks like for TA teams, Employ’s VP of Customer Success, Sara O’Donnal, hosted a candid conversation at our recent company kick-off meeting, featuring TA leaders: Victoria Parker, Head of Talent Acquisition at Coalfire; Dan Daller, Principal Recruiter at TTEC Digital; and Theresa Mazzaro, Recruitment Manager at Fairfax Radiology Centers.
Together, they discussed how candidate fraud is showing up today, how teams are adapting their hiring practices, and what they hope the future of fraud prevention looks like—sooner rather than later.
Behind the Fake Profiles: What Candidate Fraud Really Looks Like Today
Candidate fraud isn’t confined to a single moment in the hiring journey. From AI-generated resumes to crowdsource cheating, it can surface at any stage—putting pressure on TA leaders to validate candidate authenticity throughout the process.
According to Victoria, fraud shows up most often at the top of the funnel, with candidates misrepresenting everything from their identity to their experience just to get through the door. But it doesn’t stop there.
For Dan, what’s most surprising isn’t only where fraud appears in the funnel, but how coordinated and professional it’s become—down to fraudulent candidates working together in call centers and co-working spaces.
Common Red Flags Recruiters Are Seeing
To help fellow TA pros spot fraud signals sooner, the panel broke down the red flags they watch for, from resume inconsistencies to the small signals during the interview that raise early questions.
- Identity inconsistencies (name, email, phone number, or address don’t appear legitimate)
- AI-generated or “too perfect” resumes with generic language, identical formatting, or placeholder text left in
- Thin or fake online profiles, including newly created or incomplete LinkedIn accounts
- Scripted interview responses and inability to answer unscripted follow-up questions
- Different people appearing across hiring stages (screen, recruiter interview, hiring manager interview, onboarding)
- Suspicious video environments, such as call-center backgrounds or off-screen coaching
- Deepfake indicators, including lip-sync issues or unnatural facial movement
How Fraud Shows Up in Daily Recruiting
Given how sophisticated candidate fraud has become, it’s no surprise that fraud prevention is now part of recruiters’ everyday reality.
What used to be straightforward screens now involve validating identities, reviewing recordings, double-checking profiles, and confirming that the same person shows up at each stage of the process.
It’s a process of verifying, reverifying, and verifying again.
As Victoria shared, “It’s exhausting for my recruiting team. Just yesterday, I woke up to messages like, ‘I just interviewed a completely fake candidate.’”
Why Candidate Fraud Is More Than a Security Issue
An important note that came up throughout the conversation is that candidate fraud prevention isn’t just about keeping bad actors out—it’s about protecting the business, the brand, and the hiring function itself.
When fraudulent candidates make it through, the risk isn’t limited to lost time or wasted payroll. The fallout goes beyond a bad hire, putting sensitive systems and data at risk and slowing work in ways that affect customers and employees. In highly regulated environments, like healthcare and cybersecurity, the stakes are even higher.
As Theresa explained, “The I-9 verification takes place within three business days after you start, so they could have access to the kingdom, all the patient information, all of everything…”
But there’s another layer at risk: trust.
As fraud becomes more common, hiring managers start to question hiring signals. Business partners second-guess recruiter recommendations. And recruiters are forced to defend decisions more often—slowing momentum and potentially straining relationships.
Building Defenses Against Candidate Fraud
There’s no single checkpoint that stops candidate fraud; however, the panel shared that they’ve found success by layering verification and validation across the hiring journey. That means combining human judgment with technology. And validating identity more than once.
In practice, that layered approach shows up in a few consistent ways:
- Recording and reviewing interviews.
- Using video-based screening for high-risk or high-value roles.
- Sharing interview recordings with hiring managers to confirm consistency.
- Creating clear ways for recruiters and managers to flag suspected fraud.
- Routing flagged cases to HR and Legal for review.
- Adding identity verification before onboarding.
But as Dan pointed out, sometimes the best defense comes down to a simple question.
The Future of Candidate Fraud: What’s Next and How to Prepare
Across the board, panelists agreed that fraud will only continue to become more sophisticated, more coordinated, and harder to spot. And that reality is pushing TA teams to shift from reactive responses to proactive strategies.
- Design hiring processes with verification built in, not bolted on.
- Invest in tools that support identity validation and auditability.
- Train recruiters and hiring managers on emerging fraud patterns.
However, Victoria also pointed out the need to balance fraud prevention with candidate experience: “But over-correcting is going to lead to a problem that none of us are really thinking of where we’re breaking the trust of real candidates as well as our [hiring] teams. We need to be cautious, but smart in how we protect ourselves…”
Dan echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that whatever defenses teams put in place, preserving a frictionless candidate experience has to remain a priority.
Built for Hiring You Can Trust
Over the past year, candidate fraud has changed the way hiring teams operate—not just what they watch for, but how they design their entire process. As the panel shared, the teams seeing the most success aren’t chasing fraud one incident at a time. They’re building prevention into their hiring strategy from the start.
And they’re leveraging the right tools and technology to help them do it.
Ready to dive deeper into the candidate fraud conversation? Register for our upcoming Candidate Fraud & Screening Webinar series, featuring three sessions that unpack the ins and outs of fraud prevention in 2026.
How Early Screening Builds Trust Without Compromising Candidate Experience
Trust Under Pressure: How Talent Leaders Are Thinking About Fraud and Risk
From Credentials to Capabilities: How to Implement Skills-Based Hiring
