Question 1

What is job scamming?

Accepted Answer

A job scam is a fake job offer used to take money or personal information from someone looking for work. The offer arrives unsolicited, usually by WhatsApp, SMS or a social media post, and it is designed to feel urgent and lucky. The money is taken as a fee, for "registration", "admin", a "background check", training or a uniform, and the personal information taken from your ID and CV is used to open accounts in your name.

Question 2

How do I identify a job scammer?

Accepted Answer

The reliable signs are these. You were contacted out of nowhere by someone you had not applied to. You were offered the job without a real interview. You were asked for money before starting. The pay is far above the market rate for the work. The contact is a personal WhatsApp number or a Gmail address rather than the company's own domain, or a foreign number entirely. You were sent to a Google Site or a shortened link instead of the company's careers page. One of these is a reason to check; two or more is a scam.

Question 3

How do I check if someone is a scammer?

Accepted Answer

Search their number, email address or company name in the lookup, which checks everything reported to this database at once. If you still have the message, paste the whole thing into the checker on the home page instead: it reads the message against known scam patterns as well as the reports, which catches new names that nobody has reported yet.

Question 4

Is there a job scammer list PDF I can download?

Accepted Answer

There are several circulating, and they are worth very little. A scammer changes the number and the company name faster than a PDF can be re-shared, so a downloaded list is out of date almost immediately and the name you are actually looking at is usually not in it. This list is the live version: it is searchable, it shows the date each name was last reported, and it updates as reports arrive.

Question 5

I saw a scammer list in a Facebook group. Is this the same?

Accepted Answer

It is the same idea with the guesswork removed. Group posts are a screenshot of one person's experience, they are not searchable, and they scroll away in a week. Every name here keeps its own page showing the numbers and email addresses reported, what the sender was reported for, and when. If you have a group post about a company that is not here, report it and it becomes searchable for the next person.

Question 6

How does a name end up on this list?

Accepted Answer

Every entry is built from reports sent in by job seekers, either through the scam checker or the report form. Nothing is added by hand. A real company whose name is being misused is published once it has been reported, because the warning is about the impersonator rather than the company. A name accused of being a scammer in its own right needs at least two independent reports before it gets a page, so that one mistaken report cannot publish an accusation.

Question 7

A company I applied to is on this list. Have I been scammed?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. Many entries are real organisations whose names scammers borrow, marked "impersonation" on this page. The safe reading is that a message using that name deserves checking: compare the number and email address on its page against the ones you were contacted from, and check whether anything you were asked to do appears in the red flags listed.

Question 8

I have been asked to pay a fee. Is that ever legitimate?

Accepted Answer

No. No South African employer or recruitment agency may charge you to apply, to be interviewed, to be placed, or for a "background check". This is the single most common way money is taken in a job scam, and the amount is usually kept small enough to seem reasonable. If you are asked for money, stop there.

Question 9

How do I check a specific number or email address?

Accepted Answer

Use the lookup, which searches every reported number, email address and company name in the database at once. If you have the whole message, paste it into the checker on the home page instead, which reads it against known scam patterns as well as the reports.

Question 10

What do I do if I have already paid?

Accepted Answer

Contact your bank immediately and ask about a reversal, then open a case at your nearest SAPS station. Keep the messages, the number, the proof of payment and any name you were given. Reporting it here as well means the next person who searches that number finds it.

Question 11

Is my report public?

Accepted Answer

Only in aggregate. Pages show the company name, the reported contact details and the categories of red flag, never who reported it or the message itself.

Job scammer list: every name reported in South Africa

Common questions