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How to Tell a Fake Government Job Notification From a Real One

Sarkari Naukri Khabar  •  All India

Every recruitment season produces a second, parallel season of fakes, forged advertisements, cloned websites, WhatsApp forwards announcing vacancies that do not exist, and people who take money to arrange a government post. They are not hard to spot once you know that a genuine recruitment has a fixed shape: an advertisement number, a named recruiting body, a notification hosted on that body’s own domain, and a payment that goes to the government rather than to a person. This guide sets out the six checks that settle it, the one rule that makes the whole question simple, and what to do if you have already paid.

The one rule that settles most cases

A government job is never arranged, promised, or sold. It is advertised, applied for, and won on a written exam or a merit list. Nobody (no agent, no relative of an officer, no coaching centre) can place you in a post.

That single fact answers most questions people bring. If money is being asked for anything other than an application fee paid on an official portal, it is a fraud. There is no version of this that is real.

The rest of this guide is for the harder case: an advertisement that looks genuine and may or may not be.

Check 1: the advertisement number

Every real recruitment carries an advertisement number, printed at the top of the notification and used in every subsequent notice about it. Examples from real recruitments: CSBC Advt 01/2026, BPSSC Advt 07/2026, RRB CEN 04/2026, UPPSC A-2/E-1/2026.

A forgery usually has no such number, or has one that appears nowhere else. Search for the exact number. A genuine advertisement number returns the recruiting body’s own page, corrigenda, and date extensions. A fabricated one returns nothing, or only the message you were sent.

Check 2: the domain the PDF sits on

This is the strongest single test, and it takes five seconds.

A real notification is hosted on the recruiting body’s own website, and government sites in India sit on gov.in or nic.in. Bihar Police recruitment is on csbc.bihar.gov.in and bpssc.bihar.gov.in; Bihar service certificates are on serviceonline.bihar.gov.in; UPPSC is on uppsc.up.nic.in.

Look at the address bar, and read it from the RIGHT. The domain is the part immediately before the first single slash. In "bpssc.bihar.gov.in/apply" the domain is bihar.gov.in, genuine. In "bpssc-bihar-gov.in.recruitment-apply.com/apply" the domain is recruitment-apply.com, and everything before it is decoration designed to be misread.

Hyphens where dots should be are the commonest disguise. bihar-gov-in.com is not a government website. Neither is any address ending .in.net, .org.in-recruitment, or similar.

Check 3: where the fee goes

A real application fee is paid at the end of the application, on the recruiting body’s own portal, through a normal payment gateway, net banking, card, or UPI to a merchant.

A fraud asks for money in ways a government body never uses: UPI to a personal number, Google Pay or PhonePe to an individual, bank transfer to a personal account, or cash. It also asks at the wrong time, before you have filled anything in, or "to confirm your selection", or "for the medical file".

And note what never happens: no government recruitment asks for money after the exam. Not for a joining letter, not for a training seat, not to release a result. If the money comes after the exam, the answer is no, whoever is asking.

Check 4: the language of the message

Real notifications are dull. They state a post, a number of vacancies, dates, and a pay scale, and they leave you to decide.

Frauds sell. The markers are consistent: urgency that does not fit a government timetable ("only 2 days left, apply immediately"), a promise of the outcome rather than the process ("direct joining", "no exam", "100% selection"), a vacancy count with no post names, and a salary quoted as a monthly figure rather than a pay level.

Another marker is a message that is only a link, with a shortened address. Government departments publish notifications, not link-only forwards.

Check 5: go to the source yourself

Do not click the link you were sent. That is the whole trick, a cloned page that looks correct and takes your details.

Instead, open the recruiting body’s website by typing its address yourself, or by searching for the department name, and find the notification in its own notices list. If the recruitment is real it will be there. If it is not there, it does not exist, regardless of how convincing the PDF looked.

This also protects you against the case where the advertisement is real but the link is not, a genuine recruitment, and a fake application portal collecting fees for it. That combination is common and is the hardest to spot any other way.

Check 6: dates that contradict themselves

Forgeries are assembled from older notifications and the dates rarely survive the edit. Look for an application window that closes before it opens, an exam date earlier than the last date to apply, a year that does not match the advertisement number, or a "last date" that has already passed while the message says apply now.

On a genuine notification these are consistent, because the same office prints them all and a corrigendum is issued when one changes.

If you have already paid

Act the same day. The chance of recovery falls sharply after that.

• Call 1930, the national cyber crime helpline, and report it. This is the number that can attempt to freeze a transfer.
• File a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in with the transaction details.
• Tell your bank immediately and ask them to raise a fraud claim on the transaction.
• Keep everything: screenshots, the number that contacted you, the UPI reference, the PDF. Do not delete the chat in anger; it is the evidence.
• Report it to the recruiting body too, on their official contact address. They issue public warnings, and yours may prevent the next person paying.

A short version to remember

Six things, and any single failure is enough to walk away.

• No advertisement number, or one that appears nowhere else.
• The PDF or form is not on a gov.in or nic.in domain belonging to the recruiting body.
• Money is asked for by UPI, to a person, or at any time other than the application fee step.
• The message promises selection, joining, or an outcome rather than an exam.
• The notification cannot be found on the department’s own website.
• The dates contradict each other.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can anyone arrange a government job for money?

No. A government post is won through an advertised recruitment and a written exam or merit list. Nobody can place you in one. If money is being asked for anything other than the application fee on the official portal, it is fraud. There is no genuine version of it.

How do I check whether a notification website is real?

Read the address from the right. The domain is the part just before the first single slash, and a genuine Indian government site ends in gov.in or nic.in. In "bpssc.bihar.gov.in/apply" the domain is bihar.gov.in, real. In "bpssc-bihar-gov.in.something.com" the domain is something.com, fake. Hyphens replacing dots are the commonest disguise.

Is it safe to apply through a link sent on WhatsApp?

Don't. Open the recruiting body's website yourself by typing the address or searching for the department, then find the notification in its own notices list. A genuine advertisement circulated with a fake application link is common and cannot be spotted any other way.

A recruitment asked for money after the exam. Is that ever genuine?

Never. No government recruitment charges for a joining letter, a training seat, a medical file or the release of a result. The application fee is the only legitimate payment, and it is taken during the application.

What should I do if I have already paid a fraudster?

Act the same day. Call 1930, file at cybercrime.gov.in, tell your bank to raise a fraud claim, and keep every screenshot, number and reference. Do not delete the chat. It is your evidence.

How can I tell a forged advertisement from a real one?

Check that the advertisement number appears on the department's own site, and check the dates against each other. Forgeries are assembled from older notifications, so they often show an exam date before the last date to apply, or a year that does not match the advertisement number.

ℹ️ Government rules, fees and processing times can change. Always confirm the current position on the official portal or at your block office before acting.

Last updated: 23 Aug 2026