Is Your Offer Letter Genuine? 8 Checks Before You Resign

How can I check my offer letter is real or fake?

Think of verification in three layers. First, does the company exist and match what the letter says? Second, is the person who sent the offer genuinely connected to that company? Third, did the hiring process look like a real one: interviews, a role that fits your profile and no request for money?

A fake offer often passes one layer but fails another. A scammer can copy a real company's logo and registered address, which passes the first layer, but cannot send email from the company's real domain or answer when you call the company's official switchboard. Work through all eight checks below, not just the first one that looks reassuring.

The 8 checks before you resign

• 1. Verify the company on the MCA portal. Search the Ministry of Corporate Affairs master data by name or CIN. Check that the company is active and that the registered office matches the letterhead.
• 2. Check the sender's email domain. Offers from free email services, or from domains that are slightly misspelt versions of the real company domain, are a major warning sign.
• 3. Call the company yourself. Find the HR or main number on the company's official website, call it, and ask them to confirm the offer, the recruiter's name and your reference number.
• 4. Check the recruiter. Look for a long-standing professional profile, a work history at that company and mutual connections. A new profile with few connections is a concern.
• 5. Review the interview process. A genuine offer usually follows at least one real interview with people from the team. An offer after a WhatsApp chat, or with no interview, should be treated with suspicion.
• 6. Look for any payment request. Registration fees, training charges, laptop deposits, uniform costs or background verification fees are typical of scams.
• 7. Read the letter closely. Check the legal entity name, CIN, registered office, signatory name and designation, salary structure and joining location. Errors and vague details matter.
• 8. Verify GST and office details. For companies that state a GSTIN, search it on the GST portal and match the legal name and address. If possible, visit or video call the office.

What should a genuine offer letter contain?

Formats vary, but a genuine offer letter from an established Indian employer usually names the exact legal entity, such as "XYZ Technologies Private Limited", not just a brand. It normally gives the registered office or corporate address, your designation, CTC with at least a basic breakup or a reference to an annexure, joining date, work location, probation, the conditions attached to the offer, and the name and designation of the person signing.

A letter that names only a brand, has no entity, gives a salary with no breakup, or is signed by "HR Department" without a name is not necessarily fake, but it gives you less to verify. Ask for the missing details. A real employer can supply them within a day.

Red flags vs signs of a genuine offer

Can I check my offer letter online?

Not through any central register. Some large employers have their own candidate portals where your offer appears after you log in, and some put a QR code or reference number on the letter that links to their own verification page. If your employer offers this, use the official website to reach the portal, not a link inside the email.

The public checks you can do online are about the company: MCA master data for incorporation, status and registered office, the GST portal for registration details, and the company's official website and careers page for the role. For overseas jobs, check that any recruiting agent is registered with the Ministry of External Affairs on the eMigrate portal; recruitment for overseas employment by unregistered agents is not permitted under the Emigration Act, 1983.

After you join, your EPF passbook gives a useful confirmation. Once the employer starts PF contributions, they appear against your UAN on the EPFO member portal under the employer's establishment name.

What kind of fake offers are common in India?

Several patterns appear again and again. Large-brand impersonation uses the name and logo of a well-known IT company, airline or bank, with a fee demanded for "onboarding" or "background verification". Work from home task scams start with small paid tasks, such as liking videos or rating hotels, and then ask you to invest money to unlock higher earnings. Overseas job offers promise high salaries abroad and ask for visa or processing fees, sometimes leading to people being trafficked into illegal work. Data harvesting offers exist mainly to collect your PAN, Aadhaar, bank details and photos, which are then misused for loans or SIM cards.

None of these needs a sophisticated letter. They succeed because candidates are eager and do not want to look suspicious by asking questions. A real employer will not mind you verifying the offer.

Can a placement agency charge you?

Many reputable recruitment firms are paid by the employer, not the candidate. If an agency asks you for money, ask for its registration details, a written agreement and a receipt, and check its reputation independently. Be especially careful with overseas jobs. Recruiting agents for emigration must be registered under the Emigration Act, 1983, the service charges they can collect from workers are limited by the rules, and the eMigrate portal lists registered agents. Payments to unregistered agents are a common route to fraud and, in the worst cases, to people being stranded abroad.

Wherever possible, pay only by traceable methods, never in cash, and never into a personal account.

Is sending a fake offer letter a crime?

Yes, in many cases. Using a fake job offer to take money or valuable documents from you can amount to cheating under Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and pretending to be someone else, such as a real company's HR manager, can be cheating by personation under Section 319. When it is done using email, websites or messaging apps, Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 also covers cheating by personation using a computer resource. Making a fake document with a company's seal and signature can also attract the forgery provisions of the Sanhita.

Whether a particular case is prosecuted depends on the facts and the evidence, so preserve everything.

A police complaint and a cyber crime report are separate routes and you can use both. The portal complaint helps banks act quickly to freeze money; the police complaint starts the criminal case. Note the complaint or acknowledgement numbers, because your bank and the police will ask for them.

What to do if you think your offer is fake

• Stop payment and do not share any more documents, OTPs or bank details.
• If you have paid, call your bank immediately to try to stop or reverse the transaction.
• Report at the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or call the 1930 helpline as soon as possible.
• Inform the real company whose name was misused, through its official website or careers page.
• Keep screenshots of messages, emails with full headers, payment receipts and the offer letter.
• If you shared Aadhaar or PAN, watch for unknown loan or SIM activity and consider locking your Aadhaar biometrics through the official UIDAI service.

Before you resign: protect yourself even with a genuine offer

A genuine offer can still be withdrawn. Before you send your resignation, make sure the offer is accepted in writing, the conditions in it are ones you can meet, and any background verification has been started or completed. Ask when you will receive the appointment letter, which employers must now issue under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

If the role, salary or joining date changes between the offer letter and joining, ask for a revised letter. Written terms are what you will rely on if something goes wrong later.