How to check a job offer or employer is genuine before you pay or share anything (India)

Written and verified by the Grahak Mitra research team — an independent project documenting digital consumer self-help in India.

Last updated: 2026-07-11

The single test that catches most job scams is simple: a real job pays you — no legitimate employer charges you to get hired (no registration, training, kit, or security fee). If an offer asks for money before you start, you can stop right there — that alone tells you it isn't genuine, whatever else looks polished. For everything else, this page shows you how to check an offer and an employer yourself, before you pay a rupee or share a single detail.

Take your time. Real hiring can wait a day for you to check; a scam pushes you to decide now. That pressure is itself a warning sign — genuine employers do not lose your application because you paused to verify.

How to check a job offer is genuine

1. Start from the money test. A real job pays you. If you're asked for a "registration fee", "deposit", "training kit", "security amount", or any upfront or "refundable" payment to get or start the job, it is not genuine — no legitimate employer charges you to hire you. Stop here.
2. Confirm the company exists — independently. Look the employer up yourself: find its own official website and contact details through your own search, not through a link, number, or email the recruiter sends you. Scammers copy real company names and set up look-alike sites. If you can only "verify" the company through material the recruiter gave you, you haven't verified anything.
3. Contact the company through details you found yourself. If in doubt, reach the company on a phone number or email from its own official site — not the one in the offer — and ask whether the role, the recruiter, and the offer are real. A genuine employer won't mind the check.
4. Expect a real interview and a real process. A genuine offer follows an actual hiring process — an application, one or more interviews, a proper conversation about the role. A one-click "you've been selected" message, or an offer letter arriving with no interview at all, is a strong sign of a fake.
5. Read the email domain carefully. Check the sender's email address, character by character. Scammers use look-alike domains — a name that's almost the real company's but with an extra letter, a swapped character, or a free public email service standing in for a corporate address. A fake offer letter often rides on exactly this trick.
6. Never share bank, OTP, or KYC details before a verified hire. Don't give your account number, card details, UPI PIN, an OTP, or KYC documents to "set up your salary" or "verify you" until you have independently confirmed the employer and actually been hired. Your OTP and UPI PIN are never needed to receive a salary — anyone asking for them is after your account, not your work.

Genuine vs scam — at a glance

If something is off

If an offer fails these checks, walk away — you don't owe a scammer a reply. If you want to know the wider pattern, see how to recognise a job, work-from-home or task scam. And if you've already paid or shared details, see what to do if you paid for a job that turned out fake — and be wary of anyone who then offers to "recover" your money for a fee, which is itself a scam.

The one line to remember

A real job pays you — no legitimate employer charges you to get hired. Verify the company yourself, expect a real interview, check the email domain, and never share your bank details, OTP, or KYC before you're independently sure and actually hired.