How to verify that a job candidate, or a recruiter, is real

To verify that a job candidate is real, check identity at more than one point in the process. Run a government ID and live face check before the final interview, keep cameras on in video interviews, confirm references through contact details you find yourself, and run a background check before the offer. Then confirm that the person who starts work is the person who interviewed. The FBI warned employers in 2022 that applicants were using deepfakes and stolen personal data to apply for remote jobs, and Gartner forecasts that by 2028 one in four candidate profiles worldwide could be fake.

The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab adds an identity the candidate carries from job to job. A candidate verifies once with an accredited Verification Provider and gets a TIP-ID. They can sign their resume and portfolio to it, and during the process they can sign a short statement with a fresh fingerprint or Face ID on their own device, which shows the holder of that verified TIP-ID is taking part at that moment. Recruiters can do the same in reverse, so a candidate can check that the person messaging them is who they claim to be.

Get a free TIP-ID How TIP works

The problem

Where hiring fraud happens, and what it looks like

Where	What goes wrong
Application	Fabricated or AI-written profiles built on stolen personal data, sent in volume to remote roles.
Video interview	Face-swap or voice tools, or a stand-in who interviews in place of the real applicant.
Offer and onboarding	A different person shows up for the job than the one who interviewed, or a laptop is shipped to a reshipping address.
Recruiter outreach	Scammers pose as recruiters for real companies to collect personal data or money. The FTC counted over 105,000 job scam reports in 2024.
Portfolio and work samples	Samples copied from someone else, with no way to show who made them first.

Every option, honestly

What each option does, and where it stops

These work together. Use more than one, and read the last column for each, including ours.

Option	What it does	Where it stops
Background check	Confirms identity details, employment history and records for the person named on the application.	Checks the identity named, not whether the person on the video call is that person.
ID document and liveness check	Compares a government ID with a live face capture at one moment in the process.	Usually a one-off check run by one vendor, which the candidate repeats for every employer.
Structured video interviews	Lets an interviewer watch for signs of a stand-in, such as audio that does not match lip movement.	Relies on human judgment, which convincing face-swap tools can beat.
Reference checks	Confirms past work with people who supervised it.	References can be fake too, unless you find their contact details independently.
Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab	Gives the candidate or recruiter a verified identity they carry across employers, and lets them sign documents and statements to it with a fresh biometric on their own device.	Does not replace a background check and does not detect deepfakes on a video call. It proves which verified person signed what, and when.

Step by step

How to put it in place, in order

Write down where identity is checked in your process today, from application to the first day of work.
Add an ID document and live face check before the final interview, and repeat a lighter check at onboarding.
Invite candidates to share a TIP-ID and to sign their resume and portfolio on TIP. Accept it as a signal, never as a requirement that excludes people.
During or right after a key interview, ask the candidate to sign a short statement with their TIP-ID, which needs a fresh fingerprint or Face ID on their device.
Give your recruiters organization or personal TIP-IDs and link them from every outreach message, so candidates can check who is contacting them.
Run your background check before the offer, and confirm at onboarding that the person starting work matches the person you verified.

Get a free TIP-ID How TIP works

About TIP

What the Trust Identity Protocol is

The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) is an open standard from The AI Lab for proving who made a piece of content and whether it has changed. A person or organization is verified once by an accredited Verification Provider and gets a TIP-ID. Each time they sign something, their own device signs it with a post-quantum signature (ML-DSA-65, NIST FIPS 204) after a fresh fingerprint or Face ID, and the TIP Network records the signature, the time, an origin label and a fingerprint of the content. Anyone can check a record for free, with no account.

TIP does not detect deepfakes, does not stop copying and does not decide whether content is true. It proves who stands behind a piece of content and whether a copy matches the original. It is governed in the open by the AI Trust Council, and the specification is public on GitHub. Signed content is called a Verifiable Asset.

Questions

Questions people ask

How do I know a job candidate is not a deepfake?

You cannot tell reliably by watching a video call. Face-swap and voice tools are good enough to fool interviewers, and detectors miss them. Check identity instead. Run a government ID and live face check, confirm that the person at onboarding matches, and ask for something only the real person can do, such as signing a statement with a verified TIP-ID on the Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab, which needs a fresh biometric on their own device.

How can I check that a recruiter is real?

Look the recruiter up on the company's own website or call its main number, never the contact details in the message. Be wary of anyone who asks for money, banking details or a payment app. If the recruiter shares a TIP-ID, you can check for free that it belongs to a verified person and see the organization they sign for.

Is asking a candidate for a TIP-ID legal?

Identity verification is a normal part of hiring in many countries, but rules on biometric data and discrimination vary. Treat a TIP-ID as an option a candidate can offer, keep your existing checks for people who do not have one, and take advice on the laws where you hire.

What does a TIP signature prove in hiring?

It proves that the person who holds a verified TIP-ID signed a specific document or statement at a specific time, using a fresh fingerprint or Face ID on their own device. It does not prove that the face on your video call belongs to that person, and it does not tell you whether their claims are true.

What is the Trust Identity Protocol?

The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) is an open standard from The AI Lab for proving who made a piece of content and whether it has changed. A person or organization is verified once by an accredited Verification Provider and gets a TIP-ID. Each time they sign something, their own device signs it with a post-quantum signature, and the TIP Network records who signed it, when, how it was made (Original Human, AI-Assisted, AI-Generated or Mixed) and a fingerprint of the content. Anyone can check the record for free.

What does TIP cost an organization?

Checking any TIP record is free for everyone, with no account. Signing is free for individuals, nonprofits, schools and universities, government bodies, journalism organizations for editorial use and businesses under USD 100,000 in annual revenue. Larger businesses use a published commercial license, with every tier listed at theailab.org/tip-license.

SourcesFBI IC3, PSA I-062822, June 28, 2022, HR Dive on Gartner's 2028 forecast, July 2025, FTC business blog, September 2025

Other use cases