What the job ad isn't showing you

2. Check the employer. Search the company name together with words like “scam”, “review” or “complaint”. Find the company’s official contact details yourself, not from the ad, and ask them to confirm the vacancy. Run the ad’s photos through a reverse image search as stolen office photos are common and others may have already reported some fraudulent job ads online. Consider contacting your embassy or consulate abroad as well if you remain unsure.

3. Get the contract in writing before you travel. In a language you understand, with the employer’s name, your job, salary, hours and location. Check it matches what you were promised. If an employer will not put the terms in writing, treat that refusal as an answer in itself.

4. Check the visa matches the job. A real employer arranges a work visa for the country you’ll work in, before you go. If you’re told to travel on a tourist visa and fix it later, treat the offer as unsafe. Your embassy or consulate in the country you are travelling to can tell you what visa the job should carry.

5. Talk to people you trust. Tell someone you trust the full details: employer name, address, salary, visa. Ask a migrant resource centre or workers’ organisation about the agency. If you can, contact your country’s embassy in the destination and ask them to confirm the employer is known.

6. If you can’t verify, don’t travel. If the recruiter or proposed employer fails any one of these, no license, upfront fees, no written contract, wrong visa, or insists on secrecy, walk away, whatever the salary.

A genuine job will withstand basic questions and you taking time to confirm, an offer that cannot wait is a warning in itself.

Decisions about working abroad are often family decisions, and family and friends are often the first to sense something is wrong, and the best placed to act.

Before they travel, worry if they are being rushed, are vague or secretive about the employer, have paid fees, or are travelling on a tourist visa for a job. Rather than opposing their plans, offer to help with the verification: ask for the employer’s name and address, the contract, the visa type, and offer to look up the recruiter on the official registry together.

After they travel, worry if they go quiet, can’t speak freely on calls, describe a different job from the one promised, or suddenly need money for “fines” or “fees”. You can contact the services on this page yourself, you don’t need their permission if you’re worried they’re at risk, and you won’t get them into trouble by asking for advice.