Today, talent acquisition leaders aren’t just reviewing résumés—they’re defending their workforce. Inbound applications are spiking as much as 800%, as applicant tracking systems (ATS) and recruiting teams have become prime targets for increasingly sophisticated imposter applicant rings. These are not just fake profiles. They are fabricated or stolen identities designed to bypass background checks, onboarding, and even embed inside organizations as “imposter employees.”

The impact is broader than lost interview capacity. Imposter hires introduce cybersecurity and breach vulnerabilities, siphon productivity from engineering & security, and people teams, and in extreme cases, as confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice, have enabled nation-state actors to infiltrate U.S. firms.

Background checks and employee verification processes remain foundational. But they were never built to catch synthetic identities or adversaries operating at this scale. That’s why the industry is evolving, pairing background screening with real-time identity verification to stop fraud at the front door.