ASMI-CamerounData Sentinel Initiative

Cyber-Employment Scams

Online job offers need online checks.

Scammers can copy a company’s name, logo and staff, even a visa process. So don’t verify through the recruiter. Use channels they don’t control.

Digital verification

Check where the message really comes from.

  • Compare the sender’s email domain with the company’s official domain.
  • Navigate to the company website independently rather than trusting links in the message.
  • Search for the role through the employer’s official careers page.
  • Contact the organisation using independently sourced contact details.
  • Check whether payment instructions lead to a personal account or unrelated business.
  • Verify URLs carefully for misspellings, added words and misleading subdomains.

Preserve useful digital evidence.

If it is safe, keep the original message, the full email header, links, account details, phone numbers and screenshots. Store them securely and share them only with people who need them.

Common tactics

The tools change. The tricks stay the same.

At Data Sentinel we track the patterns that repeat, not single screenshots.

I

Impersonation

Copied logos, staff profiles and cloned websites make a fake look real.

U

Urgency

Deadlines and “last vacancy” messages leave you no time to check.

P

Payment escalation

A small first fee turns into more: visa, insurance, a “release” payment.

Add your answers to the data.

The Data Sentinel survey is anonymous and open to everyone.