As India enters its festive hiring season, Apna.co has launched a new initiative aimed at combating job scams. The platform’s AI-driven system, called Apna Safety, is designed to verify recruiters and enhance the security of job seekers. This move comes as millions of individuals seek employment opportunities during one of the busiest times of the year.
The Apna Safety system employs sophisticated AI trust checks to authenticate recruiters against official domains and registered business records. This process generates a credibility score to assess the legitimacy of hiring practices. During a pilot program conducted in August and September 2025, Apna Safety successfully verified over 146,000 recruiters. The results indicated a remarkable 45% reduction in job scam exposure for users.
The effectiveness of this initiative has been reflected in user feedback and app ratings. Complaints related to safety issues on Apna’s Play Store listing dropped by 60%, and the app achieved a rating of 4.7, the highest among job platforms in India. Notably, more than half of the verified cases pertained to opportunities for freshers and first-time job seekers, a demographic that is often targeted by fraudsters.
Enhancing Job Seeker Protection
To utilize Apna Safety, candidates can input a recruiter’s phone number either on the Apna app or at the website apna.co/apna-safety. This functionality allows users to identify recruiters as active, blocked, or unregistered. Additionally, users can report suspicious profiles directly through the platform.
The AI system conducts multiple layers of verification, checking company legitimacy against records such as GST, PAN, and CIN. Recruiter details are validated using Aadhaar. Furthermore, the AI cross-references this information with domains, legal business names, and digital behavior patterns to create a comprehensive credibility score. Recruiters that do not meet these standards are either restricted or blocked, thereby safeguarding candidates from potential fraud.
Apna Safety also incorporates alerts for common scam tactics within the app. Candidates are informed of red flags, such as demands for registration fees, security deposits, or training charges. By integrating these alerts into the job search experience, the platform enhances user awareness and reinforces trust in the hiring process.
The Growing Challenge of Job Scams
Job scams represent a significant challenge in India’s employment landscape. Fraudsters frequently impersonate recruiters, asking for fees or pressuring candidates to open bank accounts and transfer salaries as a condition for employment. According to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), cyber fraud in India resulted in losses exceeding ₹22,800 crore in 2024, with job-related scams being the largest category of complaints. Industry estimates suggest that job-related scams alone cost the country around ₹5,100 crore.
The most affected sectors include frontline roles in e-commerce, logistics, telecalling, customer support, and warehouse operations, particularly as hiring intensifies during the festive season. This vulnerability is especially pronounced among freshers, who are often unaware of the tactics used by scammers.
Nirmit Parikh, Founder & CEO of Apna.co, emphasized the importance of addressing this issue. “Every year, lakhs of Indians fall prey to recruitment scams, and that is simply unacceptable,” he stated. Parikh highlighted the role of Apna Safety in setting a new standard for verification and accountability in the hiring ecosystem. He noted that in the third quarter of 2025, Apna facilitated over 2.7 crore job applications, underscoring both the scale of opportunity and the responsibility the platform holds.
The mission is clear: ensuring that every Indian can pursue job opportunities with confidence and safety. With the introduction of AI-powered verification tools, Apna.co aims to foster a more secure and trustworthy environment for job seekers across the country.
