4 November 2026 – A new study from MyPerfectCV®, a leading online CV and career advice platform, reveals the alarming rise of employment fraud targeting Britain’s youngest workers. According to the UK Job Scams Report, over 50% of all recorded employment fraud victims in the UK are aged 18 to 34, with 43% of Gen Z job seekers directly encountering a recruitment scam. Seeking flexible hours and second incomes to survive the cost-of-living squeeze, young professionals are increasingly targeted by AI-generated adverts and task-based scams that bypass traditional warning signs.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Young job seekers are heavily exposed. 43% of Gen Z job seekers in the UK have encountered a job scam, and young workers aged 18-34 account for over half of all reported victims.
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The financial losses can be serious. The average online advert scam loss is listed at £1,420, but the broader average loss from a recorded employment scam can reach around £4,000. Some victims lose far more, with 7% of Lloyds cases involving losses above £5,000.
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Fake job postings are rising fast. Fake job postings rose by 109% year-on-year, with advance-fee employment scams leaping by 237%.
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118,000 listings are ghost jobs. Roughly 34.4% of active online UK listings (~118,565 vacancies each month) qualify as “ghost jobs”. Over 37% of workers aged 18-34 applied for a ghost job in the past year.
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Mainstream platforms offer no safety net. Candidates are just as likely to encounter fraudulent job offers on verified job portals (43%) as they are via social media channels (43%), with email accounting for 36%.
Who Is Being Targeted?
Recruitment fraud is no longer primarily an issue for older or less digitally experienced users. UK professionals entering the workforce or searching for supplementary remote income are being caught out by industrialised recruitment fraud. Despite having grown up surrounded by technology, young workers represent more than 50% of all recorded employment scam victims, as fraudsters deliberately design traps around mobile-first habits and flexible work trends.
The 118,000 Ghost Jobs
In a typical month, 34.4% of active online UK listings – amounting to roughly 118,565 vacancies – qualify as ghost jobs. These are adverts that companies keep live to gauge talent, project fake growth, or simply forget to take down.
Among job seekers aged 18 to 34, 37% believe they applied for a ghost job in the past year alone. Beyond wasting applicants’ time, these listings provide a hunting ground for fraudsters, who scrape stale corporate posts to create fraudulent funnels that siphon personal data and CV histories.
The 5 Most Prevalent Remote Recruitment Scams
With fraudsters targeting remote and hybrid applicants across digital channels, recruitment fraud has diversified into several distinct models:
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Task scams: The fastest-growing digital trap. Candidates are hired via messaging apps to “optimise” apps or rate products, lured by tiny early payouts before being pressured to deposit their own money to clear fake negative balances .
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Recruiter impersonation: Scammers clone real HR profiles and corporate domains to offer immediate roles, demanding upfront “registration,” “training,” or administrative fees before ghosting the applicant.
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Ghost jobs: Scammers duplicate outdated or non-existent corporate listings on third-party boards to harvest CVs, home addresses, and phone numbers for phishing and identity fraud rings.
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Fake onboarding: Fraudulent employers demand sensitive identity assets – like passport scans or utility bills – under the guise of pre-interview screening.
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Equipment & cheque reversals: New hires receive a fraudulent payment or cheque to buy home-office hardware from a specified “approved supplier”, leaving the victim liable once the fake bank deposit bounces.
How Job Seekers Can Protect Themselves
Slowing down the application process is the single most effective defence against recruitment fraud:
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Verify the employer directly: Search for the company yourself, visit its official website, and check whether the job appears on its careers page. If you are still unsure, contact the company using the phone number or email address listed on its official website.
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Check the email domain carefully: Scammers often use email addresses that look close to the real company domain. Watch for any extra words, missing letters, unusual endings or small spelling changes.
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Never pay to get a job: A legitimate employer will not ask you to pay before you start work. Be suspicious of requests for registration, training, or equipment fees.
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Be sceptical of “too good to be true” offers: High pay for very little work is one of the biggest warning signs. Be careful of jobs that promise instant hiring or no interview.
To view the full report, please visit https://www.myperfectcv.co.uk/blog/job-scams or contact Olga Knapinska, Senior Outreach Marketing Specialist, at [email protected].
Methodology
The findings in this report were derived from a systematic review of primary and secondary UK employment, regulatory, and fraud datasets published between October 2023 and September 2026. The research synthesised reporting from regulatory authorities and consumer protection bodies, industry and banking disclosures, and labour market data platforms.
About MyPerfectCV
MyPerfectCV CV maker provides tools and guidance to help job seekers create a CV and present their professional experience clearly. The platform includes a CV builder and cover letter builder with pre-written templates, CV examples, and step-by-step guidance designed to simplify the process of writing a job application online. Since 2013, MyPerfectCV has provided career solutions by explaining how to write a CV, seek high-paying jobs in the UK, and ace popular job interview questions. Insights and employment-related research from the MyPerfectCV team have been featured in media outlets including BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, City A.M., and Startups. Follow MyPerfectCV as a preferred source in Google to receive more workforce trends, career insights, and labour market research in your personalised search experience.
