Deepfake candidates: fake faces and identities in hiring

The person on the call is sometimes not the person on the résumé. Deepfake candidates and fake identities can do more damage than AI help in an interview, since the job may matter to the impostor only as a way into your systems.

What the FBI has warned

In June 2022 the Internet Crime Complaint Center, part of the FBI, issued a warning about deepfake video and stolen personal information in applications for remote jobs. IT, programming and database roles made up most of them. Some of the roles carried access to customer data and company systems.

Interviewers' observations were included. The candidate's lips were out of step with the sound. Coughing and sneezing were heard at moments the video did not show them. Background checks came back with a different person's identity.

Schemes run at scale

The US Justice Department gave details in June 2025 of North Korean remote IT worker schemes. The identities of over 80 Americans had been used to secure jobs at more than 100 US companies. Employers shipped laptops to addresses in the US, where accomplices kept the machines switched on for the workers to reach from abroad.

Checks that help

• Establish identity ahead of the interview. Hold the ID next to the face on camera, and verify the email address used in the application.
• Request an unrehearsed movement on camera. Turning the head or raising a hand may expose where a face filter ends.
• Look at the origin of the connection. Use of a VPN or a hosting provider is not evidence of anything, though it merits a question when the candidate claims to live locally.
• Have a familiar face in later rounds, by bringing back the interviewer from round one.

A failed check is a reason to ask more questions and is no proof of fraud. Each check is taken step by step in how to verify a remote candidate's identity. For how often fake candidates turn up, see AI interview cheating statistics and the rise of AI interview fraud.