How Much Interview Fraud Is Happening? What Recent Data Says

TL;DR

• Interview fraud-including misrepresentation, proxies, deepfakes and AI-assisted responses-is not rare and is growing rapidly.

• Multiple studies indicate that a significant percentage of hiring teams suspect fraud, while documented cases show elaborate schemes (even espionage).

• Key statistics: Up to ~5 % or more of hires may be fraudulent in high-volume settings; many companies estimate losses over tens of thousands.

• Recruiters must treat fraud as operational risk: monitor, verify, document and respond.

How Much Interview Fraud Is Happening? What the Data Shows: Scale and Trends

Prevalence of misrepresentation & document fraud

A 2025 study by Ernst & Young (EY) revealed that in India’s IT/ITeS sector, 32 % of candidates submitted fake documents from companies that either didn’t exist or denied the candidate ever worked there.

The same EY report found that 45 % of candidates were moonlighting, holding dual employment uncovered through GST registration and data checks.

Suspected fraud in remote interviews and AI-enabled deception

According to HYPR’s HR’s 2025 Guide to Preventing Interview and Onboarding Fraud, 95 % of organizations experienced a deepfake incident in the previous year, while nearly 40 % reported a Gen-AI-related security breach tied to identity or hiring.

This indicates that fraud is no longer limited to the resume or background phase - it is shifting directly into the live interview stage, where AI tools and deepfakes now enable real-time deception.

Business perceptions and losses

A 2025 Checkr survey of 3,000 hiring managers found that only 19 % felt “extremely confident” they could detect a fraudulent applicant. Another 62 % agreed that job seekers are now better at faking their identities using AI than employers are at identifying fraud, revealing a major detection gap.

In the same survey, 23 % of managers estimated their company lost over USD 50,000 in the last year due to fraudulent hires, and 10 % said losses exceeded USD 100,000.

These numbers make it clear that the financial impact of interview fraud is far from theoretical- it’s quantifiable and material.

Forecasts and warnings

Candidates are now almost four times more likely to intentionally misrepresent themselves than in 2021, based on analysis of over 200,000 candidate profiles.

Industry analysts citing Gartner estimate that by 2028, as many as one in four candidate profiles could be fake globally.

These projections underscore that interview and identity fraud are not plateauing-they’re accelerating.

Curated Cases: Real Examples of Interview Fraud

Case: Deepfakes in University Admissions

In early 2025, UK university admissions platform Enroly discovered around 30 deepfake applications among roughly 20,000 online interviews (≈0.15 %) conducted that month.

Though small in percentage, this confirmed that deepfake impersonation is feasible even in non-corporate interview contexts.

Though small in percentage, the fact these incidents occurred shows feasibility of impersonation via video.

Case: Remote Worker Espionage via Fake Hires

Remote worker espionage via fake hires: United States Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation revealed that North Korean operatives using fake identities infiltrated hundreds of companies as remote workers.

This shows interview fraud is not only about skill misrepresentation but can involve national-security risk.

What the Numbers Tell Us: Key Insights

• Fraud is not a fringe issue: Tens of percentages in document/identity misrepresentation (e.g., 30+ % fake documents in India’s IT hiring) suggest embedded risk.

• Interview phase is increasingly targeted: With deepfakes, proxy interviewing and AI-assisted answers, fraud moves into the live interview, not just application/references.

• The cost isn’t trivial: Thousands to tens of thousands of dollars lost per fraudulent hire are being estimated by hiring professionals.

• Detection confidence is low: Many hiring teams admit they cannot reliably detect fraud today—raising vulnerability.

• Trajectory is upward: Forecasts point to fraud becoming far more common, meaning today’s controls may not suffice tomorrow.

Implications for Hiring Teams

• Assume some level of interview fraud is already happening in your pipeline; don’t treat it as hypothetical.

• Focus on verification of identity + responses not just credentials.

• Maintain audit records, structured scoring and documentation so decisions are defensible.

• Quantify your risk: Use metrics like % of hires flagged, cost per incident, time to detect, impact of mis-hire.

• Integrate cross-functional ownership: HR, security, legal and operations must collaborate because fraud spans hiring and security domains.

Conclusion

Interview fraud in 2025 is real, growing and potentially costly. The data and cases above make clear that this is not just a minor HR nuisance-it is an operational and security risk.

By understanding the scale (document fraud 30 %+, deepfake/pseudo-interview incidents emerging), knowing the real cases, and acting ahead of time, recruiters and hiring leaders can turn what might be an invisible threat into a manageable risk.