What is candidate fraud?

Candidate fraud is any attempt to get hired under a false identity or with false credentials. It runs from a padded resume to a stand-in at the interview. In a forecast published July 31, 2025, Gartner predicted one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake by 2028, so a polished profile proves little on its own. Verify the person behind the profile first, then the claims on it.

What is employee identity verification?

Employee identity verification confirms that a new hire or existing employee owns the identity they gave you, usually by matching a government ID to a live selfie. It's candidate identity verification run on someone you've already hired. Contractors and the people a staffing agency places can take it too. Whoever takes it, that first check sets the face every later ReAuthenticate selfie is matched to.

Is identity verification the same as a background check?

Identity verification and a background check are separate checks, and the order you run them in matters. Identity verification matches a government ID to a live selfie to confirm the person owns the identity they gave you. A background check searches records tied to a name. Run the records first, and a stolen identity can come back with someone else's clean record, so Authenticate verifies the person before it checks any records.

What is resume fraud?

An inflated job title, a padded date range, and a degree that was never earned are all resume fraud, because each is a deliberate false claim on a resume or application. You can check them against the records, since education verification covers 15,000+ institutions and license verification covers 4,200+ license types across all US states. A field that doesn't verify, say a degree title or a license number, is the first thing to ask the candidate about.

What is a proxy interview, and how do you stop one?

A proxy interview is interview fraud: someone other than the candidate sits the interview or feeds answers off camera. In Checkr's 2026 survey, 49% of companies wait until after at least one live interview to verify identity, so a stand-in can sit that round unchecked. Verify the face at application, then open each live round with a ReAuthenticate selfie on the candidate's phone while they're on camera. An off-camera coach never takes the selfie, so your interviewer's follow-ups still matter.

How do you verify a candidate's identity remotely?

Candidate identity verification works wherever a remote candidate is, because it matches a government ID to a live selfie taken on their own phone. You send a link, and the candidate gives consent and completes both steps in a minute or two on average. Liveness detection checks that the selfie comes from a person in front of the camera rather than a photo or a screen. Authenticate verifies the ID and selfie in 30 seconds.

How do you spot a fake job candidate?

Mismatches you can check are concrete signs of a fake job candidate. Look for an ID that scores as unlikely to be authentic, a selfie that doesn't match the ID photo, a later selfie that doesn't match the first, or a degree or job title that doesn't verify. Treat each as a reason to look closer, since a real candidate on a poor camera can fail a face match.

Can deepfake job candidates get past identity verification?

Deepfake job candidates can use AI-generated or face-swapped video to pass as someone else on an interview call. Authenticate doesn't monitor the interview itself, so the call is left to your video platform's own controls. Authenticate's ID and selfie check runs separately, on the candidate's phone, and its liveness detection is tested to iBeta Level 2 under ISO/IEC 30107-3. The standard covers presentation attacks such as printed photos, screens, and masks.

How do you know the new hire is the person you interviewed?

A ReAuthenticate selfie on day one, matched to the face from the application, shows whether the person starting is the person you verified. Spokeo's COO said in an October 2026 HR Brew story that a new hire who showed up for onboarding wasn't the person he had interviewed, the kind of swap that selfie can flag before accounts go live. What links that face to the person you interviewed is the on-camera selfie from the final round.

Can you re-verify existing employees and contractors?

Existing employees and contractors can be re-verified after one government ID and selfie check through Medallion. From then on, a single ReAuthenticate selfie does it, so you can add one at a help-desk password reset, an MFA reset, or any other moment where an impostor would get access. The result comes back to you, and your own help-desk process decides whether to hold the reset.

What does the FBI recommend to stop North Korean IT workers?

The FBI's October 13, 2026 alert recommends "identity in depth" against North Korean IT workers: layered controls and continuous identity verification throughout employment, because no single indicator reliably identifies them. They try to use identities, or facilitators, qualified for more jobs, including positions requiring US government security clearances or unique technical skills. False positives, the alert warns, could harm legitimate employees and filter out qualified candidates, so review every flag by hand. ReAuthenticate's day-one and reset selfies add a layer.

Can you verify international candidates?

International candidates go through the same ID and selfie steps as local ones. Authenticate's ID check recognizes 16,000+ government IDs from 254 countries and territories and runs in 38 languages. A degree or job held outside the US needs a separate route, since credential checks cover US colleges and universities, US employers, and US licenses.

Does Authenticate integrate with applicant tracking systems?

Authenticate runs beside your applicant tracking system, and the simplest setup needs no code. Recruiters send a Medallion link from your dashboard and record each outcome in the ATS. If you'd rather not record results by hand, your developers can start checks through the API and write the results into your own systems. Tell us which system you use today, and we'll suggest the setup that fits it.

How much does hiring fraud prevention cost with Authenticate?

Hiring fraud prevention on Authenticate starts with a $2 government ID check, with Liveness & Face Match included. Every ReAuthenticate selfie after a first check that passes is free. Education, employment, and professional license checks cost $5 each and manual verification costs $15, both plus any third-party fees. You pay for every attempt, pass or fail. There are no contracts and no minimums after activation, and the $100 activation fee is credited toward checks.