As India enters its peak hiring season, the jobs and careers platform Apna.co has launched an innovative system called Apna Safety. This AI-powered recruiter verification tool aims to combat the rising tide of job scams that often target vulnerable job seekers during the festive hiring surge.
During a pilot program conducted in August and September 2025, Apna Safety verified over 146,000 recruiters, resulting in a significant 45% reduction in fraud exposure for job seekers. The initiative also led to a remarkable 60% drop in safety-related complaints on Apna’s Play Store listing, where the app achieved a high rating of 4.7, making it the top-rated jobs platform in India.
How Apna Safety Works
The Apna Safety system allows users to verify a recruiter’s authenticity by entering a phone number either on the Apna app or at apna.co/apna-safety. Recruiters are categorized as active, blocked, or unregistered. Users can also report suspicious profiles through this process.
Apna’s AI verification system employs multiple layers of checks. It validates company legitimacy against records such as GST, PAN, and CIN. Recruiter details are further verified using Aadhaar, while additional cross-referencing with digital patterns and official domains generates a credibility score. Recruiters who do not meet these criteria are either restricted or blocked, which protects candidates from potential fraud right at the beginning of their job search.
Moreover, Apna Safety actively identifies common scam patterns within the app. It alerts candidates to potential red flags, such as demands for registration fees, security deposits, and other suspicious requests. By integrating these warnings into the job search experience, Apna aims to enhance trust in the hiring process.
The Reality of Job Scams in India
Job-related scams have become a significant concern in India, particularly as fraudsters impersonate recruiters to solicit money from job seekers. According to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Indians lost over ₹22,800 crore to cyber fraud in 2024, with job-related scams emerging as the largest category of complaints. Industry estimates suggest that these scams alone may have cost India approximately ₹5,100 crore.
Frontline roles such as e-commerce, logistics, and customer support are particularly vulnerable to these scams, especially during the busy hiring season when many freshers are seeking employment.
In light of these challenges, Nirmit Parikh, Founder and CEO of Apna.co, expressed the urgency of combating recruitment scams. He stated, “Every year, lakhs of Indians fall prey to recruitment scams, and that is simply unacceptable. This is an industry-wide threat to the trust on which livelihoods are built.”
Parikh emphasized the importance of the Apna Safety initiative, asserting that it sets a new standard for verification and accountability within the hiring ecosystem. He highlighted the scale of opportunity and responsibility that Apna carries, with the platform facilitating over 2.7 crore job applications in the third quarter of 2025 alone.
As Apna.co continues to innovate with tools like Apna Safety, the company aims to ensure that every individual can pursue job opportunities with confidence and security, striving for a future where trust becomes the norm in India’s workforce. The proactive measures adopted by Apna are critical as they address a pressing issue, potentially transforming the recruitment landscape in the country.