Fake resumes and fake references are now routine in staffing. In our survey of 646 jobseekers, hiring managers, and staffing recruiters, 95% of staffing recruiters said they’ve personally encountered a candidate who misrepresented their qualifications, experience, or identity. And 74% of jobseekers admitted to using generative AI to write or edit a resume or cover letter. 

AI has made it easier than ever for candidates to misrepresent themselves, and candidates report more pressure than ever to land jobs they’re finding increasingly difficult to even secure an interview for. 

There are two kinds of misrepresentation on resumes: real candidates stretching the truth and wholesale fabrications that are often much more malicious and calculated. 

This guide covers the red flags you can spot yourself, and the digital and identity signals you can’t see without the right tools. 

Resume red flags you can spot yourself 

The truth is that the majority of fraudulent and resume activity isn’t obvious enough to spot with your naked eye or an AI prompt, but here are some of the prevalent misrepresentations that can be spotted without any special software: 

Resumes keywords that mirror your job description

88% of jobseekers tailor their resumes with keywords from the job description, and the majority of candidates have admitted to using AI to generate or modify a resume to meet the needs of a specific job description. A resume that is a perfect match for your job listing’s keywords is probably a giveaway. Outside of taking the dubious action of including a mountweazel, a fictitious piece of software or tool in a job description that serves as a trap to catch people copying your requirements wholesale, it’s the closest you’ll get to a smoking gun.  

Inconsistent or suspicious employment gaps

64% of staffing recruiters have encountered concealed or falsified employment gaps. Sometimes this means a candidate is fudging the month they were laid off to make it look like they’re not quite as desperate for the job. Signs of tampered employment gaps, could be years with no months, overlapping full-time roles, and dates that differ from the candidate’s LinkedIn profile. These aren’t always malicious in nature, but are worth investigating all the same. 

Credentials that don’t line up or check out

58% of staffing recruiters have encountered fabricated credentials or certifications. These can be cross-referenced with the issuing board and certifications in the vendor’s public registry. In the case of many types of healthcare providers, this information is contained within the publicly available NPI registry. 

Fake resume Red flags you can’t see with the naked eye 

Most serious candidate fraud is far more sophisticated. And because they’re often assisted by AI, AI-powered screening tools tend to fail against them. Only 11% of staffing recruiters completely trust a purely AI-powered screening tool to catch candidate fraud before a hire. 

What gives a fake away is the digital trail behind the application. Every candidate and every reference use an email address, a phone number, a device, and a network. Those leave signals that passive fraud detection tools like RefAssured Protect analyze. 

Email signals 

Email addresses contain a wide array of information about the user, and importantly, email history can’t be faked. Tools like RefAssured Protect check for fraud signals from the email, like the email’s age, whether it comes from a disposable email service, whether it’s valid and deliverable, whether it has abuse reports against it, and whether it appears in known data leaks.  

Phone signals 

Fraud screening checks who the phone number is registered to, what kind of line it is, and the carrier behind it. The biggest red flag is an ownership mismatch, where the number given for a reference is registered to someone else entirely. VoIP and temporary numbers are another, because they’re cheap, anonymous, and easy to spin up for a fake reference. 

Device and network signals 

An IP address collision means the candidate and their “references” were submitted from the same network. In RefAssured’s core reference checking solution, these cases are automatically flagged for you. Sometimes, there is a valid reason for sharing the same IP network, like those with a shared workspace or roommates, but we’ve yet to hear a valid explanation for references that are completed on the same exact device. 

A device collision means the same device appears across multiple people, which often points to one person running several identities. VPNs, proxies, and Tor hide where someone really is. And bot detection catches reference surveys filled out by software instead of a person. 

Identity verification: confirming the person is who they say they are 

32% of staffing recruiters say they run into candidates lying about their identity more often than about their qualifications. 

The strongest standard is NIST IAL2, the federal identity level used by the IRS, VA, and SSA. It combines five checks: 

• A government ID check that catches forged or tampered documents 

• Liveness detection that stops photos, replayed video, and deepfakes 

• A selfie match against the ID photo 

• Phone verification 

• SSN verification 

RefAssured Identity Verification runs this through ID.me, which has more than 160 million users. Candidates who already have an ID.me account verify in under a minute. New users finish in 3 to 5 minutes. 

How RefAssured catches fake resumes and fake references 

You can check the visible red flags by hand. The invisible ones need software, and they need to run on every candidate and every reference without slowing placements. RefAssured runs both layers inside the ATS your recruiters already use. 

RefAssured Protect provides passive screening for every candidate

 It runs automatically with every reference request, or on demand for anyone in your ATS. Neither the candidate nor the reference-giver is asked to do anything, and results come back in seconds. Recruiter decisions write back to Bullhorn, Salesforce, symplr CTM, and JobDiva, and Protect works with any other ATS through RefAssured Connect.  

Identity Verification confirms the people who matter most

 Candidates verify through ID.me before they enter their reference contacts, so you never spend recruiter time on someone who isn’t real. The verified status writes back to the ATS and appears on the client-ready report, so your client sees proof instead of taking your word for it. 

Automated reference checking confirms their experience is real

Once you know the person is real, structured reference surveys show whether they can do the job. 

See how RefAssured Protect flags fake candidates and references or book a demo. 

FAQ about candidate fraud in resumes and references

How common are fake resumes? In RefAssured’s survey of 646 jobseekers, hiring managers, and staffing recruiters, 98% of corporate HR and hiring managers and 95% of staffing recruiters said they’ve personally encountered a candidate who misrepresented their qualifications, experience, or identity. 99% of corporate HR and hiring managers have hired someone who turned out to have misrepresented their qualifications or experience. 

What are the most common types of resume fraud? Among staffing recruiters, 64% have encountered concealed or falsified employment gaps, 58% have encountered fabricated credentials or certifications, and 54% have seen candidates list skills they don’t have. 

Can AI screening tools catch fake candidates? Most staffing recruiters don’t think so. Only 11% completely trust a purely AI-powered screening tool to catch candidate fraud before a hire, and 41% aren’t confident AI screening can tell a qualified candidate from one who used AI to game the application. 

How do you know if a reference is fake? Fake references leave digital signals. RefAssured Protect flags when the phone number given for a reference is registered to someone else, when a reference uses a VoIP or temporary number, when a reference and candidate share an IP address or device, and when a bot fills out the reference survey. 

Does a background check catch fake candidates? Not on its own. Background checks verify the records attached to a name, not the person using it, so a fabricated identity with a clean record passes. They also run immediately before placement, after the candidate has already reached the client. RefAssured Protect and Identity Verification run at the top of the funnel instead. 

How do you verify a candidate is a real person? Use identity verification at the NIST IAL2 standard, the same level used by the IRS, VA, and SSA. RefAssured Identity Verification, powered by ID.me, checks a government ID, runs liveness detection, matches a selfie to the ID photo, and verifies phone and SSN before the candidate enters their references.