In the last decade, candidate fraud has gone from a marginal concern to a fact of life for staffing firms and recruiters. Virtually everyone agrees it’s gotten worse, even jobseekers. 

Candidate fraud covers a wide range of behavior, from malignant fabrications of jobseekers who don’t exist to traditionally milder cases with candidates misrepresenting their skills or experience, usually with the aid of generative AI. 

But in all cases, the cost lands on the staffing agency and their clients. 

To help you plan for 2027, we pulled 25 stats from our own research, The State of Candidate Fraud, a survey of 646 jobseekers, corporate hiring managers, and staffing recruiters, along with recent data from SIA, The Hackett Group, Gartner, and Greenhouse. 

Candidate fraud is everywhere, and it’s getting worse 

The people closest to hiring agree fraud is rising. In our survey, majorities on both the agency and corporate side said it’s more common than it was three years ago, and almost no one has gone untouched. Outside research points the same way. Staffing buyers cite fraud as an operational problem, which makes it either a client retention issue or an opportunity for staffing agencies, depending on their reputation and fraud prevention strengths. 

• 84% of corporate HR and hiring managers and 76% of staffing recruiters say candidate fraud is more common today than it was three years ago. (RefAssured) 

• 98% of corporate HR and hiring managers and 95% of staffing recruiters have personally encountered a candidate who misrepresented their qualifications, experience, or identity. (RefAssured) 

• 67% of staffing recruiters say they’ve caught a candidate misrepresenting themselves more than once. (RefAssured) 

• 67% of talent acquisition practitioners encountered suspected candidate fraud in the past 12 months. (The Hackett Group) 

• 41% of staffing buyers say their organization is experiencing challenges with candidate fraud. (Staffing Industry Analysts) 

Bots talking to each other: AI use on both sides  

It’s tough to be a jobseeker right now. They’re finding it increasingly difficult to find a job, and they’re frequently reporting encountering AI during the job application process. Is it any wonder they’re relying on AI in the job search process? 

Jobseekers are using AI on nearly every application, and show no signs of slowing down. In our survey, most candidates admitted to using tools like ChatGPT to write their resumes, and half have already been screened by an AI recruiter on the other side. A clear majority also agreed those tools make it easier to look qualified for work they haven’t done.  

• 81% of jobseekers say it’s harder to get an interview now compared to three years ago. Half say it’s much harder. (RefAssured) 

• Just 6% of jobseekers say they get personalized responses from their job applications. (RefAssured) 

• 51% of jobseekers have been screened by an AI agent or chatbot in the last 12 months. The majority prefer to speak to a human recruiter. (RefAssured) 

• 74% of jobseekers have used a generative AI tool such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini to write or edit a resume or cover letter. (RefAssured) 

• 88% of jobseekers tailor their resumes with role-specific keywords taken from the job description. (RefAssured) 

• 78% of jobseekers believe AI resume tools make it easier for a candidate to look qualified for a job they haven’t done. (RefAssured) 

• 36% of staffing recruiters and 41% of corporate hiring managers have personally encountered AI-generated materials that misrepresent a candidate’s true abilities. (RefAssured) 

Identity fraud is alarmingly easy with the assistance of AI 

Identity fraud is less frequent than performance fabrication, but it carries the highest stakes. Staffing agencies sit at the front of the pipeline and fill a high volume of roles, which puts them first in line for it. Video interviews are no longer proof of identity either. Candidates can now use AI to change how they appear on camera or generate someone altogether new for a video interview. More than half of staffing buyers have already run into identity-related fraud in their contingent programs. 

• 54% of companies with contingent workforce programs experienced some type of identity-related fraud in 2026. A year earlier, 37% reported challenges with candidate validation and fraud. (Staffing Industry Analysts) 

• 44% of contingent workforce buyers encountered fraud during the engagement process. (Staffing Industry Analysts) 

• 32% of staffing recruiters say they run into candidates lying about their identity more frequently than they encounter candidates who lie about their qualifications. (RefAssured) 

• 6% of job candidates admit to participating in interview fraud, either posing as someone else or having someone else pose as them. (Gartner) 

• 13% of staffing recruiters say they’ve encountered identity fraud or impersonation. (RefAssured) 

• 36% of US job seekers have used AI to alter their appearance, voice, or background during a video interview. (Greenhouse) 

Resume fraud is everywhere 

Identity fraud gets the most eyebrows raised, but performance fabrication is far more common and still has real costs for staffing agencies trying to field qualified candidates. Fake skills, hidden employment gaps, and fabricated credentials top the list of what recruiters encounter most, and they’re encountering it in dizzying volumes. It wastes recruiter time and hurts relationships and reputations when these candidates score submittals.  

• 99% of corporate HR and hiring managers have hired someone who turned out to have misrepresented their qualifications or experience, and 68% say it happened more than once. (RefAssured) 

• 64% of staffing recruiters have encountered concealed or falsified employment gaps, and 58% have encountered fabricated credentials or certifications. (RefAssured) 

• 61% of corporate HR and hiring managers and 54% of staffing recruiters have seen a candidate list skills they don’t actually have. (RefAssured) 

• 18% of hiring managers estimate that more than half of all candidates misrepresent themselves during the hiring process. (RefAssured) 

• 82% of large contingent workforce buyers have encountered candidate fraud, compared with 65% of smaller buyers. More than a third found deception in candidates’ submitted credentials or work history. (Staffing Industry Analysts) 

Staffing agencies are paying for the cost of candidate fraud or at least splitting the bill 

Clients and staffing agencies both suffer from candidate fraud, but staffing agencies say they pay the highest price. And outside the costs absorbed for the fraud that sneaks through into placement, staffing agencies are losing money in the screening process, sorting real applicants from fake ones. 

• 77% of staffing recruiters say the agency pays the bigger price for an undetected fraudulent placement or shares it equally with the employer. Only 23% say the employer carries it alone. (RefAssured) 

• 34% of US recruiters spend up to half their week filtering spam and junk applications. (Greenhouse) 

Staffing agencies don’t trust AI screening tools, but still aren’t taking additional preventative measures  

The tools agencies rely on most are the easiest for candidates to game. Few staffing recruiters fully trust AI screening to catch fraud with no human in the loop, and many doubt it can spot an applicant who used AI to beat it. Meanwhile, staffing recruiters still lean heavily on resumes, despite a general lack of confidence in them. And although some staffing industries like healthcare staffing and locum tenens require reference checks as part of the compliance process, less than half of recruiters in the industry as a whole use reference checks routinely. 

• Only 11% of staffing recruiters completely trust a purely AI-powered screening tool to catch candidate fraud before a hire. (RefAssured) 

• 41% of staffing recruiters aren’t confident AI screening tools can tell a qualified candidate from one who used AI to game the application. (RefAssured) 

• Just 56% of staffing recruiters still say the resume is the most trustworthy way to determine whether a candidate fits a role. (RefAssured) 

• Less than half of staffing recruiters (47%) do a reference check to evaluate the average candidate. (RefAssured) 

How to take action against candidate fraud in 2027 

The pattern across these stats is consistent. Fraud is rising, most of it is performance fabrication rather than stolen identity, and the screening tools agencies trust most are the ones candidates have learned to beat. Agencies that verify identity and confirm real performance history before submittal will protect both margin and client relationships. 

RefAssured helps staffing agencies verify candidate identity, automate reference checks, and catch fraud signals before a candidate reaches the client. Read the full State of Candidate Fraud report or see how RefAssured Protect flags candidate fraud.