Where real jobs are—and how to recognize the fake ones

High-signal sources

• The employer’s own careers subdomain. Type the company name yourself. Do not trust the first ad result.
• Major boards used as a search index (LinkedIn, Indeed, government portals) — then click through to the official posting.
• Industry associations, union halls, state workforce boards, and university alumni platforms.
• Referrals from people who actually work there. A referral increases visibility. It does not replace qualifications.
• Direct outreach to a hiring manager after you have applied, when you have a real connection to the work.

2026 scam patterns

• Lookalike domains: amaz0n-careers.com, companyname-jobs.net, a recruiter Gmail/Proton address for a Fortune 500 role.
• You are ‘hired’ after a chat on WhatsApp/Telegram with no video, no portal, and no public posting.
• They send a check for equipment and ask you to wire a portion back. The check bounces. You are liable.
• They ask you to pay for training, a starter kit, a background-check portal they named, or crypto.
• They want your full SSN, bank login, or passport scan before a verified offer letter on company letterhead.
• The salary is wildly above market for no experience, fully remote, ‘executive assistant to a crypto founder,’ posted 20 minutes ago.
• AI-written postings that copy a real company and funnel you off-platform. Cross-check the live careers page.

A 90-second verification checklist

1. 01Search the company + ‘careers’ and land on the official site.
2. 02Match the job title and location to a live posting.
3. 03Look up the recruiter on the company domain or a consistent LinkedIn history. Brand-new profiles with stock photos are a smell.
4. 04Call the main switchboard from the official site if money, equipment, or identity documents are being requested.
5. 05If anything involves payment from you, stop.

If you already sent sensitive information to a suspected scam, contact your bank, freeze credit with the major bureaus, and report to the FTC (IdentityTheft.gov / ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the U.S.) or your country’s equivalent. Do it the same day.