Remote hiring is now a normalized part of doing business.
You’ve probably hired a few people you’ve never met in person – perhaps not even in your country. It’s productive, adaptable and opens a window onto talent you never would have thought of otherwise.
But here’s the reality: hiring remotely also has risks. And one of the biggest? The possibility that the person you’re interviewing may not really be who they say they are.
You could believe this only occurs to other people. But identity fraud, proxy interviews and the rise of deepfake technology are more common than you think. (And when it’s your company, the implications can be expensive – both in terms of dollars and reputation.)
So what can you do about it?
Here’s a step-by-step guide of why these steps matter and how you can incorporate them without slowing down your hiring process.
Why Is Identity Fraud Suddenly Soaring in Remote Hiring?
Before the pandemic, the majority of hiring required at least one face-to-face meeting.
You would sit across from a candidate, you would ask questions, you would get a sense of a personality and a presence.
Now, that real-life step is frequently skipped all together. The majority of interviews are conducted over Zoom or Google Meet. The playing has been by email or on digital media. Taking examinations is done via the Internet.
This change speeds and simplifies hiring – and also opens avenues for scams.
Applicants can lie about their identities, use phony IDs, and in some cases even enlist others to stand in for them during interviews. It’s not just entry-level positions that are subject to these tactics. They are taking place in tech, finance, customer service and leadership roles.
Why does this matter to you?
Because if you do end up hiring based on fraudulent credentials, you might have an employee who doesn’t have the skills they claimed.
Worse, they may penetrate sensitive systems or data under false pretenses. That’s not just a hiring mistake – that’s a threat to national security.
What Exactly Are Proxy Interviews and Deepfake Threats?
There are two types of fraud that are of particular concern in remote hiring today: proxy interviews and deepfakes.
Proxy Interviews
Here’s when a proxy interview comes into play: A proxy interview is an interview someone else has for you – in place of you, and without you. You might take the video interview, do some assessments or even sign up for a trial project.”
Then, after hiring, the real candidate – frequently unqualified – slips into the position. That could be too late to change course significantly without triggering significant disruption.
Such scams are particularly prevalent in high-skill fields like software development and cybersecurity, where work can be done from anywhere at high pay with little oversight.
Deepfake Technology
The deepfake is the product of artificial intelligence that makes realistic videos or sound recordings of people saying and doing things that they never said or did. For hiring: Scammers can use deepfakes to overlay a different person on a candidate in real time during an interview, or even modify submitted documents.
This poses a significant challenge for employers seeking to verify authenticity. It might seem like you’re watching a real person speaking, when it fact every word and expression is created by AI.
The FBI has issued cautions about the rising threat of identity fraud perpetrated by international job post applicants who belong to coordinated scam groups.
So What Can You Really Do About It?
To protect your business, you don’t have to stop hiring remotely. Instead, rely on intelligent strategies which enable you to efficiently verify identities and flag fraud from the get-go.
Here are five concrete steps you can take:
Leverage ID Verification Tools
It’s one of the most powerful methods to support the ID of a candidate.
Contemporary means of identity verification have OCR checks of official documents (i.e a passport or a driver’s license). The fonts, spacing, and embedded security features are reviewed to check if the document is real.
Biometric matching follows this. During verification, the platform compares the photo on the ID with a new, live image of the candidate, taken through a webcam or phone. Using facial recognition and age-progression analysis, it verifies that the person with the ID is the same person depicted in the video.
This process can be quick, accurate, and scalable – ideal for companies that do largescale hiring or work with candidates worldwide.
Conduct Comprehensive Background Checks
Background checks continue to be one of the most reliable forms of validating a candidate’s past.
At the very least, those checks should consist of:
- Employment verification
- Education confirmation
- Criminal record searches
- Reference checks
If you’re hiring internationally, third-party services that are already set up to do international verifications can help, but those come with a cost of their own. These providers can cross-reference databases, authenticate documents in different languages and flag discrepancies that could signal fraud.
Do not depend only on self-reported information. Look further, beyond just claims, to affirm the coverage you’re testing by independent means and sources.
Train Your HR Team to Immediately Identify the Red Flags
Your HR department is a major player when it comes to identifying potential fraud.
Teach your team to be on the lookout for indicators such as:
- Answered discrepancy among the stages of interview
- Rapid onset of new sounds, look or actions
- Technical difficulties which preclude from participating fully in video interviews
- Failure to enter into spontaneous conversation and submit further flexibility/documents
Here are a few more: Plus, weekly training sessions can help your team be on their toes and in-the-know about new fraud techniques. Develop an open communication process and clearly articulate your protocol for reporting suspicious activity.
Use Secure Communication Channels
Security doesn’t end with identity verification – it’s in the way that you communicate as you hire.
Do not disclose sensitive information in unsecure environments, such as personal email addresses or messaging apps. Instead, look to encrypted hiring platforms with multi-factor authentication and secure file sharing.
All interviews, kind of like the document sharing and formal offers, should exist on systems with heavy duty cybersecurity.
Keep Your Hiring Policies Updated
Tactics of fraud change constantly. Your hiring practices need to grow with them.
Establish a timetable to annually review and update these procedures, if possible, or whenever a new threat appears. Engage your lawyer to ensure you are working in compliance with local labor laws, especially if you are hiring across borders.
Keep yourself updated with changes to identity verification techniques and deploy new methods of checking identification as they become relevant to you. The aim is to keep a hiring system efficient without being easily abused.
Final Thoughts
To scale successfully in the current climate, SMB leaders must embrace intelligent hiring practices that consider the need for both speed and security.
The aim is not to make hiring harder – it’s to make it smarter.
If you’re seeking a seamless and secure way to verify an applicant’s identity as part of the hiring process, then perhaps it is time to look closely at platforms that provide end-to-end services – from envisioning an ID and biometrically cross-referencing it to running background checks and even recording interviews.
Take action today.
