A genuine-looking offer can be copied, altered or sent by someone with no authority to hire. Verify the employer, vacancy and payment request independently before sharing sensitive records or sending money. A real company’s appearance on a sponsor list does not prove that the message in your inbox came from it.
Keep the original message
Save the email, attachment, sender address, phone number and any payment instructions. Record the date and what you have already shared. Do not edit the original evidence while making your own notes. If you need to ask someone for help, redact unnecessary personal information from the copy you share.
Stop the payment process while checking. A claim that the offer will vanish in an hour is a reason to verify, not a reason to skip verification. Never send another payment simply to recover a previous payment without independent advice.
Verify through a fresh contact route
Find the employer’s published website independently and use its careers or HR contact. Do not rely exclusively on a phone number or link supplied in the suspicious message. Ask whether the vacancy exists, whether the named recruiter represents the business and whether the offer reference is genuine.
Search the official sponsor information through GOV.UK’s job guidance, checking the legal entity and relevant route. If a trading name and legal name differ, ask for clarification. The register is one part of the check; it is not an authentication service for individual recruitment messages.
Review how the hiring happened
A coherent process usually leaves an evidence trail: a role description, skills discussion, identifiable employer staff, interview arrangements and clear terms. An offer made without any meaningful assessment of your ability deserves questions. Templates can imitate formal recruitment, so assess the underlying interaction rather than the design of the letter.
Write down contradictions. Does the location change between messages? Is the salary too vague to compare with hours? Does the employer’s official careers team deny the role? A specific contradiction is more actionable than a general feeling that an email looks unusual.
Demand an itemised explanation of charges
Some costs are the sponsor’s responsibility. The official licence guidance prohibits asking the worker to pay the licence fee and linked application costs, and the Immigration Skills Charge must be paid by the sponsor. A demand to “buy a CoS” or pay an unexplained sponsorship deposit should not be treated as a normal application step.
Record each charge, intended recipient and stated purpose. Compare it with the official process. A personal bank account, cryptocurrency request or changing recipient creates questions that a company logo cannot answer. A contractual repayment provision also deserves review; written terms are not proof that every charge is permissible.
Protect your identity records
During early enquiries, share only what is necessary. Do not send passports, bank statements or full visa records to a general messaging account because someone promises faster verification. Ask what information is needed, who will handle it and which secure channel is used.
If you already shared documents, record precisely which ones. Seek appropriate identity and banking support based on the exposure. Avoid uploading the same records into a public forum asking whether the offer is genuine; that creates another unnecessary copy.
Use the right reporting route
GOV.UK provides a route for reporting immigration or border crime. Financial loss or identity misuse may also require a separate fraud or banking response. Keep the facts clear: what was said, by whom, what was paid and which evidence supports it. Do not make public accusations based only on an unresolved spelling or a delayed response.
If the job is genuine but an intermediary’s fee is unclear, the objective remains to resolve the payment and authority questions through verified channels. Do not collapse every recruitment problem into the same explanation.
Use a stop-and-check sheet
The resource below helps you document the employer’s independent confirmation and every unresolved demand. Its result is a set of verified facts and actions, not a fraud score. No automated checklist can guarantee that a message is authentic. When the evidence does not line up, pause the commitment until it does.
Worked review: a real employer, an unauthorised messenger
An illustrative candidate receives a branded offer from a company that genuinely appears in official sponsor information. The message requests a transfer to an individual to release the CoS. Instead of treating the real company’s existence as authentication, the candidate contacts the published careers team through a separately located channel.
The question is specific: does this vacancy exist, is the recruiter authorised and is the payment request genuine? The candidate retains the original message and does not send more identity documents while checking. They record what they have already shared and which payment instructions were received.
If the employer cannot confirm the message, the candidate keeps that response and considers the appropriate reporting or banking action based on the facts. They do not publicly accuse unrelated staff or assume every similarly named company is involved.
How to share the evidence safely
Prepare a redacted copy for an initial adviser or support enquiry, showing the claim and demand without exposing unnecessary passport, bank or family information. Keep the unedited original privately for the appropriate process. Record which version was shared and with whom.
Be careful with people offering recovery for another upfront fee. Verify their identity and authority independently too. A first payment creates emotional pressure to keep engaging, but it does not make the next demand more credible. The verification sheet is designed to slow the commitment while preserving the evidence needed for useful action.
Sources and review date
Official rules and guidance checked on 15 October 2026. Recheck the linked page before making an application or financial commitment.
- Skilled Worker: your job and salary
- Immigration Skills Charge
- Sponsor licence application and fees
- Report an immigration or border crime
This article provides general editorial information. A regulated immigration adviser can assess how the rules apply to your circumstances.
A useful next step
Use the Recruitment verification and payment check to turn this guide into a working plan. Continue with Continuous residence for Skilled Workers: keep an absence record you can use when you are ready to organise the next part of the file.