How to spot a fake job advert — and the one rule that never fails

Job scams in Nigeria do not look like scams. They look like a recruiter who is impressed by your CV and wants to move quickly. The cost is usually ₦5,000 to ₦30,000, and the shame of it keeps people from reporting.

The one rule

Eight warning signs

1. 1Any fee at all — application, form, training, kit, medical, documentation.
2. 2An interview in a hotel room, a bus, or only on a WhatsApp call with no office address that checks out on a map.
3. 3No company name, or a free email — a Gmail or Yahoo address for a company that claims to be a bank or an oil firm.
4. 4A salary far above the market for the title, especially with no experience required.
5. 5Bank details or BVN requested before an offer. An employer needs your account number to pay you, not to hire you.
6. 6Pressure to decide today, or a fee that “expires” in two hours.
7. 7A recruiter messaging from a brand-new account, or one that cannot name who they report to.
8. 8“Send your CV to this number” with no job title, no company and no address.

The BVN and OTP trap

Never share your BVN, your bank PIN or any one-time password. Not with a recruiter, not with someone who says they are confirming your salary account, not with anyone who calls and says they are from your bank. A genuine employer may ask for your account number after you have accepted an offer — never before, and never with an OTP.

If someone already has your BVN and is asking for an OTP to “complete your registration”, your account is being emptied while you read the message. Hang up and call your bank.

Verify a company in five minutes

1. 1Search the company name on the CAC public search. A real Nigerian company is registered.
2. 2Check the website domain — does the email come from that domain, or a free inbox?
3. 3Find the phone number on the company's own website and call it. Do not call the number in the advert.
4. 4Search “company name + scam” and check the date of what comes back.
5. 5Look at the office address on Google Maps — street view, reviews, whether it is a real building.

If you have already paid

1. 1Stop sending money. Do not pay a second fee to “release” your offer.
2. 2Call your bank immediately and ask them to flag the transaction; ask about a recall if it is recent.
3. 3Report to the police cybercrime unit — the NPF National Cybercrime Centre takes reports online, and a report number helps with the bank.
4. 4Tell the platform where you saw the advert so it can be removed.
5. 5Keep everything: the advert, the chat, the account number, the receipt.

Red flags in the interview itself

• You are interviewed in a hotel room, a beer parlour or a car, with no office to visit and no one else present.
• They cannot name the role's manager, or what the company actually sells.
• The offer arrives in the first conversation, before anyone has checked your references or your skills.
• They want your BVN, your ATM card or an OTP “to set up salary payment”.
• The salary is far above the market and nobody asks you a single technical question.
• They ask you to recruit others before you start, or to pay for a “starter pack”.

One of these can be innocent. Three together is a scam, no matter how professional the WhatsApp profile looks.

A real job at a bad employer

Some adverts are genuine and still worth walking away from. Watch for a role that has been reposted every month for a year — it usually means the person keeps leaving. Watch for a salary described only as “attractive”, a demand for a guarantor before any interview, and a notice period longer than your probation.

Ask one question in the interview: “Why is this role open?” A good answer names a promotion, a growth plan or a resignation. A bad answer is vague, or a story in which everyone before you was the problem.