As India gears up for its peak hiring season, Apna.co, the leading jobs and careers platform, has launched an innovative initiative called Apna Safety. This AI-powered system aims to combat job scams, offering a robust verification process for recruiters to ensure job seekers are protected during this festive hiring surge.
The need for such a system is underscored by alarming statistics. In 2024, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) reported that citizens lost over ₹22,800 crore to cyber fraud, with job-related scams making up a significant portion of complaints. Estimates suggest these scams alone cost the economy approximately ₹5,100 crore, particularly affecting vulnerable freshers seeking employment in high-demand sectors such as e-commerce and logistics.
Innovative Features of Apna Safety
During its pilot phase in August and September 2025, Apna Safety demonstrated impressive results. The system verified more than 146,000 recruiters, resulting in a 45% reduction in fraud exposure for job seekers. Notably, safety-related complaints on the Apna app’s Play Store listing dropped by 60%, contributing to a high user rating of 4.7, the best among job platforms in India.
Apna Safety allows candidates to authenticate recruiters by entering their phone numbers on the Apna app or via the website. The system assesses recruiters as active, blocked, or unregistered, with users able to report suspicious profiles directly. This multi-layered verification process checks company legitimacy against official records such as GST, PAN, and CIN. It verifies recruiter details using Aadhaar and cross-references this information with legal business names and digital activity patterns to create a comprehensive credibility score.
Additionally, the AI system identifies common scam tactics, alerting users to potential red flags such as demands for registration fees, security deposits, or training charges. By integrating these alerts into the job search experience, Apna Safety enhances candidate awareness and promotes trust in the hiring process.
A Commitment to Job Seeker Safety
Commenting on the launch, Nirmit Parikh, Founder and CEO of Apna.co, emphasized the urgency of addressing recruitment scams. “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,” he stated. Parikh highlighted that in the third quarter of 2025, Apna facilitated over 2.7 crore job applications, showcasing both the scale of opportunity and the responsibility to ensure a safe hiring environment.
As India continues to navigate the complexities of job recruitment, Apna Safety represents a significant step toward creating a more secure and reliable job market. By leveraging AI technology, Apna.co not only aims to enhance verification processes but also to establish a new standard for accountability within the hiring ecosystem. With initiatives like this, the company is committed to fostering an environment where every job seeker can pursue opportunities with confidence, dignity, and safety.
