Festive hiring seen at 2 lakh, Apna.co rolls out AI safety system, claims 45% fraud cut in pilot

As the country immerses itself in the much-awaited festive season and companies ramp up hiring to meet growing demand, job scammers also get to work, defrauding thousands of innocent people each year. Indians lost over ₹22,800 crore to cyber fraud in 2024, with job-related and part-time/WFH scams emerging as the single largest category of complaints, as per the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. Job-related scams, alone, may have cost India roughly ₹5,100 crore, estimates suggest. 

The hardest hit are frontline roles such as e-commerce, logistics, telecalling, customer support, and warehouse operations, where hiring is most intense ahead of the festive season and freshers are most vulnerable.

To tackle the rising instances of fraud in hiring during the peak festive season, Bengaluru-based professional networking platform Apna.co has unveiled a new system called ‘Apna Safety’, which aims to prevent job scams and protect job seekers during the festive hiring surge. 

The unicorn startup's AI-powered recruiter verification system delivered strong results in its August and September 2025 pilot. “More than 1,46,000 recruiters were verified through AI checks, leading to a 45% reduction in fraud exposure for job seekers. Within two months, safety-related complaints on Apna’s Play Store listing fell by 60%, and the app reached a 4.7 rating on the Play Store, the highest among jobs platforms in India,” the company said.

The data shows that over half of verified cases were related to opportunities for freshers and first-time job seekers, a group historically most targeted by scamsters. The platform allows candidates to verify a recruiter’s authenticity by entering a phone number on the Apna app. Recruiters are flagged as active, blocked, or unregistered, and suspicious profiles can be reported through the same flow, the company says.

“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. With AI-powered Apna Safety, we are setting a new standard for verification and accountability in the hiring ecosystem and moving decisively toward a scam-free job market,” says Nirmit Parikh, Founder & CEO of Apna.co.

Notably, fraudulent job practices remain one of India’s most persistent employment risks. Common tactics include fraudsters impersonating recruiters from various companies and asking for fake registration fees, security deposits, or training/course charges, as well as demanding that candidates open bank accounts, transfer salaries, or purchase digital products as a condition of employment.

Festive hirings expected to hit 2 lakh  

The 2025 festive season is likely to generate about 2 lakh jobs, more than two-thirds (70%) of which would be in the gig space, according to a report by NLB Services. The key sectors that are going to see maximum jobs include retail, e-commerce, logistics and consumer services. 

Overall, hiring is expected to rise by over 25% from last year, driven partly by GST reforms introduced by the Modi government, which are likely to reach consumers as companies pass on the benefits. The report also shows that the surge in hirings could be the maximum across tier-2 and tier-3 cities, while cities like Delhi and Mumbai will continue to lead in terms of volume.

How does Apna Safety work?

Using multiple layers of verification, the platform checks legitimacy against GST, PAN, and CIN records, while recruiter details are validated using Aadhaar. The system then cross-references this information with domains, legal business names, and digital activity patterns to generate a credibility score. Recruiters who fail these checks are restricted or blocked, protecting candidates from fraud at the start of their search.

The system also flags common scam patterns within the app. Candidates are alerted to red flags such as demands for registration fees, security deposits, training charges, opening bank accounts, salary transfers, or pressure to buy digital products as a condition of employment.