AuthBridge, the country’s leading trust and authentication technology company, today released its Workforce Fraud Files 2025, a discrepancy report which analyses six months of background verification data from October 2024 to March 2025. The report reveals a widespread issue of misrepresentation and fraud in the Indian workforce, with significant discrepancy rates found across both the white-collar and gig economies.
The report highlights a 6% discrepancy rate for white-collar employees and a 4% rate for gig workers, raising alarms for businesses across various sectors. According to the findings, a bad hire can cost up to one-third of an employee’s first-year salary.
Mr. Ajay Trehan, CEO & Founder, AuthBridge, said, “The findings from our latest ‘Workforce Fraud Files 2025’ discrepancy report underscore the pressing need for change across the industry. In an increasingly competitive job market, candidates are under immense pressure, leading many to misrepresent their credentials. This not only impacts a company’s bottom line but also raises serious concerns about workplace safety and customer trust. It’s clear that relying on outdated hiring practices is no longer an option. The data from the report shows that discrepancies often emerge after a job offer is made, leading to significant time and budget waste. The time has come for organisations to move towards instant and ongoing verification models that are tailored to the specific role and its associated risks”.
Key Findings: A Deeper Look into Workforce Fraud
The analysis, based on millions of candidate cases, exposes critical vulnerabilities in current hiring processes, with post-offer background check discrepancies leading to substantial time and budget losses. It reveals that employment and resume checks remain the most error-prone areas, with cases of exaggerated job histories, false salary claims, and fabricated qualifications aimed at improving job prospects.
- White-Collar Workforce: An overall discrepancy rate of 6% was found, with the IT, banking, and telecom sectors being the hardest hit. The most common issues include:
- Resume Mismatches: 17% of resumes did not match the candidates’ actual credentials.
- Employment Verification: 13% of employment checks failed due to inflated salaries, fabricated work experience, and contract violations.
- Moonlighting: 5% of white-collar employees were found to be moonlighting, particularly in the tech and startup sectors.
- Education Checks: 5% of education checks flagged discrepancies, with fake certificates and degrees from blacklisted institutions being the primary issues.
- Court Records: 2% of court record checks revealed issues such as assault, theft, and fraud.
- Gig Economy: Gig workers showed an overall discrepancy rate of 4%. The findings point to serious concerns for customer safety in industries such as e-commerce, food delivery, and transport, due to issues including court record offences and fake identities. Noteworthy discrepancies include:
- Address Verification: 20% of cases failed address verification checks, often due to temporary accommodations or frequent relocations.
- Legal History: 3.5% of gig workers were found to have a legal history, with the most common offences being assault, theft, and traffic-related violations.
- Impersonation: The report identifies impersonation as a major challenge, in which a different individual completes the delivery than the one who checked in at the warehouse. This practice has resulted in issues such as pilferage, missing cargo, and fraud.
- Leadership Risks: High-profile cases, such as financial misreporting in senior hires, emphasise the need for deeper due diligence beyond referrals.
To uncover past misconduct, undisclosed liabilities, or potential conflicts of interest, we recommend conducting checks such as Social Media Checks, Financial Integrity, Reference, and Competency Assessments. These help gather in-depth intelligence on the candidate and mitigate future hiring risks.
Industry Deep Dives
- Pharma reported the highest discrepancy rate at 16%, driven by inflated experience claims and unverifiable referrals.
- BFSI/Financial Services recorded an overall discrepancy rate of 11.69%. The most alarming finding was that 29% of cases showed employment misrepresentation, with candidates inflating tenure or company names, or failing to disclose a history of termination.
- Telecom recorded 11.34%, with frequent address mismatches and instances of moonlighting.
- IT/ITES had an overall discrepancy rate of 9.46%. The report found that nearly 1 in 5 candidates in the IT sector lied on their resumes, with common red flags including inflated job titles and exaggerated tenures. The sector also recorded 5% dual employment, especially in remote roles.
Strengthening Verification Practices
To combat rising fraud trends, AuthBridge outlines key measures that organisations can adopt to close hiring gaps, reduce fraud risks, and build a more trusted workforce.
AuthBridge recommends:
- Adopting instant and ongoing verification to detect risks such as moonlighting or criminal activity without delay.
- Designing role-based verification protocols with deeper checks for sensitive or leadership positions, including financial integrity and behavioural assessments.
- Implementing real-time facial recognition and device binding to prevent impersonation in gig and delivery-based roles.
- Using early warning tools like UAN checks at advanced hiring stages to flag fraudulent applications before offers are made.
To help organisations hire and verify with confidence, AuthBridge offers two powerful solutions: AuthLead and GroundCheck.ai.
AuthLead is a specialised tool for senior-level hiring that goes beyond basic checks to build a 360-degree leadership profile, including independent references, financial integrity reviews, litigation history, and cultural fit assessments, helping organisations appoint trustworthy, well-aligned leaders. Its newly introduced GroundCheck.ai, India’s first AI-powered platform for instant, on-ground customer, merchant, and vendor verification, covers 20,000+ PIN codes and tackles challenges such as fragmented networks and slow turnaround times, delivering speed, scale, and accuracy in one solution.
As India’s workforce adapts to new models of working and employee onboarding, such as hybrid or remote work and gig economies, Workforce Fraud Files 2025 emphasises a significant challenge for employers to prioritise speed, scrutiny, and innovation in their hiring practices.
With a global presence across 190+ countries and a track record of conducting 15 million verifications each month, AuthBridge continues to lead the global identity verification landscape—combining cutting-edge AI with responsible innovation.
