Hiring Fraud in India: How to Protect Your Company

Hiring Fraud in India: How to Protect Your Company

This is the new bait-and-switch you need to be aware of. A US company spends two months and thousands of dollars to hire a senior developer from India. The “bait” is a candidate with a perfect resume who aces every technical interview. Then comes the “switch.” He starts work, but deadlines are missed, and his work is minimal. After a painful investigation, the company discovers the truth: the man they interviewed is not the person doing the work. That expert was just a frontman for a scheme to get his unqualified friends hired, taking a cut of their pay.

Here is the anatomy of the scam. It is not just a bad hire. It’s a calculated deception known as a “ghost employee.” It has become rampant in the hyper-competitive, remote-first hiring markets of India for two reasons. First, the intense pressure to hire quickly. Second, the fully remote process. This combination has created a perfect storm for bad actors. And for the companies that fall victim, the consequences are devastating.

The Problem: Why Saturated Markets Are a Breeding Ground for Fraud

To protect yourself, you first have to understand why this is happening. It’s a direct consequence of a market where the demand for senior tech talent has wildly outstripped the supply. When every company on Earth is fighting for the same limited pool of people in the same location, it creates an environment ripe for exploitation.

This intense competition, coupled with a massive wave of layoffs in the Indian IT sector, projected to impact over 50,000 workers by the end of this year, creates both the opportunity and the desperation that fuel fraud.

Mistake #1: The Ghost Employee

The Expert You Never Actually Hired This is the most blatant form of fraud. A highly skilled developer passes your rigorous technical interviews, only to hand off the actual day-to-day work to a less-qualified person. You are paying a senior-level salary for junior-level output, and you have a complete stranger with access to your proprietary code and internal systems.

Mistake #2: The “Over-Employed”

The Developer Secretly Working Three Full-Time Jobs A more subtle but equally damaging problem is the rise of developers who are secretly holding two, three, or even four full-time remote jobs. They are masters of doing the bare minimum for each, just enough to stay off the radar. They collect multiple paychecks while giving you a fraction of their time and mental energy. Your project stalls, and you can’t figure out why your “full-time” developer is only producing ten hours of real work a week.

Mistake #3: The Resume Fraud

The Candidate Who Never Was Recent background check reports from India show that discrepancies in employment and education history remain a significant issue. It is easier than ever to create a completely fabricated work history, generate fake portfolio projects, and even use AI to cheat on online coding assessments. You end up hiring someone who is fundamentally unqualified for the role, and you only discover it after months of wasted time, money, and resources.

Read More: Hire Remotely for Key Roles: PM, Architect, and Frontend Devs

The Solution: A Hiring Process That Acts Like an Immune System

Man on Laptop for Interview with Man Holding Resume

Your remote hiring process is your company’s immune system. A weak, rushed, or superficial process will inevitably let in these viruses. A robust, diligent, and multi-layered process will identify and eliminate them before they can do any damage. You need to stop trusting and start verifying.

Getting a hiring process that provides good results requires several layers of defense that go beyond a simple Zoom interview. It involves rigorous background checks, reference verifications, and technical assessments that are designed to be cheat-proof.


How to Evaluate a Graphic Designer’s Portfolio for Brand Impact

How Truss Provides the Ultimate Defense

This is the core of the Truss difference. We are not just another remote hiring platform. We are your team on the ground in our strategic markets, including the emerging tech hubs of Central Asia. Our vetting process is designed to provide you with absolute certainty.

We meet every candidate in person. This simple, powerful step immediately eliminates the risk of a “ghost employee.” The person we vet is the person who will be working for you.

We build a local community through Truss. This creates a culture of accountability and transparency that makes it nearly impossible for someone to engage in multi-job moonlighting without being discovered.

Stop gambling with your company’s security and future. Contact Truss to build a global team on a foundation of absolute trust.

SHARE THIS: