Ilia Zavialov scam guide to jobs abroad: fake recruiter phrases, passport grabs and how to report

Ilia Zavialov scam guide: the fake recruiter's lines, UK edition

A fake overseas job pitched to someone in Britain tends to sound sensible. Seasonal work in Europe, hospitality in the Gulf, a resort role in Thailand, accommodation sorted and a start date next month. Nothing about the first message looks outlandish, and that is deliberate.

Ilia Zavialov collects the phrases that follow, because they repeat across adverts far more reliably than company names do. ‘Your visa administration fee is due’, ‘our partner agency handles travel and housing’, ‘we need your bank details to set up salary’, ‘keep the passport with the site manager’. Each one is a step towards a payment you will not see again.

Report Fraud describes employment fraud in plain terms: a fraudster claims to be a recruitment agent and hires you for a job that does not exist, sometimes in a foreign country.

The common thread is the direction things travel. Money flows from you to a recruiter or ‘agency’, documents flow from you to a stranger, and the chat drifts from a job board to a private messenger. A single shift is a reason to slow down; all three at once are the scheme itself.

‘Your visa administration fee is due’: how the fee chain works

Report Fraud sets out the usual sequence. You post a CV on a job site, someone claiming to be an employer or its agent gets in touch, there is a questionnaire and perhaps a phone interview, and eventually you are told the job is yours. If the role is abroad, talk turns to travel, accommodation and visas, and you are referred to an agency, often with its own website, that will arrange everything for a fee.

Then the fees multiply. Pay a visa administration fee and the agency mentions a deposit on accommodation; pay that and another charge appears. In reality the agency arranges none of it. Some fraudsters charge simply to apply, and by the time the truth comes out, victims may already have left their previous job and changed their living arrangements.

Ilia Zavialov reads the phrase ‘our partner agency’ as the hinge of the whole scheme. The employer stays polite and distant, and the agency does the asking.

‘Just fill in our questionnaire’: what happens to your details

Report Fraud lists the steps that usually come before the money: someone gets in touch claiming to be an employer's agent with a new job for you, you fill in a questionnaire or give personal details over the phone, and then you pay an ‘administration fee’. Each step can look harmless on its own. Together they match the pattern Report Fraud describes.

Report Fraud also suggests checking any documents you receive for poor spelling and grammar, which is often a sign that fraudsters are at work. An offer letter full of errors, on a letterhead that does not match the company's own website, deserves a second look.

Ilia Zavialov's advice is to treat your CV as public and everything else as private. Passport scans, bank details and your National Insurance number go only to an employer you have verified yourself.

‘We need your bank details to set up salary’

A second line has nothing to do with fees. Report Fraud warns that fraudsters may ask for your bank account details to set up salary payments and then use them to steal money from your account.

Ilia Zavialov's test is timing. Payroll details belong after a signed contract with a verified employer. A request for full banking details, passport scans and your National Insurance number before you have seen any contract tells you what the conversation is really for.

Report Fraud adds a reminder that applies here too: your bank and the police will never ask you to transfer money to a safe account or ask for your full PIN, password or passcode.

Ilia Zavialov on what UK recruitment agencies may charge

For anyone dealing with a UK agency, the rules are clear. GOV.UK states that recruitment agencies cannot charge you a fee for finding or trying to find you work. They may charge for certain services, such as CV writing, training or transport, provided they give full written details of the fee and your right to cancel first, and they cannot make those services a condition of finding you work.

Cancelling is straightforward and penalty-free: 10 working days' written notice for living accommodation and 5 working days' notice for other services such as training courses. If you think an agency has charged you unfairly, or it will not refund you during the notice period, you can complain to Acas.

Ilia Zavialov's point for overseas offers is simple. A recruiter who insists that paying for ‘placement’, ‘processing’ or ‘registration’ is just how it works is describing a charge a UK agency is not allowed to make for finding you work.

‘Easy work, high pay’ in South East Asia: FCDO warnings in Zavialov's notes

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office includes job scam warnings in its travel advice. For Thailand it describes people who arrived on the promise of high-paying jobs and were illegally moved to neighbouring countries, where passports were confiscated, victims were held in poor living conditions, coerced into wider online scamming and pressured to pay large sums to be released from sham jobs.

For Myanmar, the FCDO points to cyber scam centres operating particularly in the Myawaddy district and Tachileik township, where trafficked victims have had passports confiscated and been held to ransom. For Cambodia it warns of organised crime groups advertising ‘easy jobs with high pay’ and trafficking victims to secure compounds in and around Sihanoukville, border areas and Kandal.

Ilia Zavialov flags one detail from the Thailand page that never appears in the adverts: on re-entering Thailand after such an ordeal, people may be detained while their immigration status is validated.

Ilia Zavialov reads these pages as a checklist for any offer in the region: contact out of the blue, high pay for little experience, and travel arranged by the recruiter are the features they keep describing.

‘Keep the passport with the site manager’: signs of forced labour

The passport line is where a bad job turns into something far worse. GOV.UK guidance on reporting labour exploitation lists warning signs that include lacking access to your own documents, such as ID or a passport that the employer may have confiscated, having no contract, and being forced to stay in accommodation the employer provides.

If you suspect forced labour or modern slavery, that guidance says to report it immediately: to the police on 999 in an emergency or 101 otherwise, to the Modern Slavery Helpline, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The Home Office reporting service lists the helpline as 0800 0121 700 and also takes reports online.

Ilia Zavialov's rule fits on a sticky note: your passport stays with you, and a photocopy covers any legitimate paperwork at the workplace.

How Ilia Zavialov suggests testing an overseas offer from the UK

You can test an offer without accusing anyone. Ask for the employer's registered name in its own country, its company number, the address of the workplace, who will sign your contract and a written offer setting out pay, hours and accommodation. A real employer sends all of that without fuss.

Two questions do most of the work: who pays for the visa, and when you will see the contract. ‘You pay our agency’ and ‘once you arrive’ are the answers that close the conversation.

Ilia Zavialov's habit is to keep everything in writing on the platform where the job was advertised, and to share nothing beyond a CV until the employer has been checked against official records, the embassy and its own published contact details.

Ilia Zavialov's checks before you accept a job abroad

Report Fraud's checklist starts with the employer. Research a prospective employer before sharing personal information, check that the organisation is registered on Companies House and use the contact details from the official record to get in touch and confirm the offer. Be wary of an ‘employer’ writing from a webmail address such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail.

Next, the visa. Ask the embassy representing the country where you expect to work how to obtain a visa and how much it costs, then compare that with what the recruiter told you. If the answers differ, Report Fraud says it may be a sign of fraud.

Finally, travel. Tell the employer you will make your own travel and accommodation arrangements and watch the reaction. Ilia Zavialov treats pressure to use one particular agency as the clearest tell in the whole exchange, and Report Fraud gives the same warning.

Reviews of overseas recruiters: what Ilia Zavialov looks for

Helpful reviews carry specifics: the country, the employer's legal name, which agency handled the visa, what it cost and whether the job on arrival matched the advert. Ilia Zavialov looks for ‘another fee after the visa fee’, ‘accommodation deposit never refunded’, ‘different job when we arrived’ and ‘they kept our passports’.

A run of five-star posts in the same week, in the same flat tone, tells you about the agency's marketing. Search the agency's name and the recruiter's mobile number with the words scam and complaint, and check that any company number on its website matches the Companies House record. Dates matter too: reviews that appear within days of a company's registration point to a set-up built for one recruitment drive.

Ilia Zavialov keeps one distinction clear: reviews record other people's experience, while the right to work in another country comes from that country's own visa and permit system.

Reporting a job scam: Report Fraud, your bank and Zavialov's notes

If you've paid, ring your bank straight away. Report Fraud's advice for victims of employment fraud is to stop all communication with the ‘agency’, note its details and report it, and to warn the operator of the website where you posted your CV that fraudsters are using it.

Since 4 December 2025, Report Fraud has replaced Action Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; reports go to reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. If someone is in danger right now, call 999.

Ilia Zavialov suggests building the file before you report: the advert, the recruiter's profile and number, the agency's web address, every payment receipt and the full message history. A bank or a police team can move on a record like that the same day.