NRWA Launches Job Seeker Safety Center as Career Scams Surge Nationwide

Free resource helps job seekers spot fake recruiters and impersonated résumé writers, verify who they're really dealing with, and know what to do next

BALTIMORE, Aug. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Résumé Writers' Association (NRWA) today announced the launch of its Job Seeker Safety Center, a free public resource built to help job seekers recognize career-related scams, verify who they are actually dealing with, and know what to do if something goes wrong. The center is live now at resumeexperts.thenrwa.org/job-seeker-safety-center.

The launch responds to a job search fraud problem that has moved from occasional warning to sustained national trend. According to the Federal Trade Commission, reported losses from job and employment agency scams jumped from $90 million in 2020 to $501 million in 2024, a more than five-fold increase in just four years. The rising adoption of artificial intelligence has accelerated the trend, giving scammers the tools to fabricate convincing recruiter profiles, offer letters, and even video interviews in minutes.

One version of this fraud strikes directly at the NRWA's own membership. A scammer poses as a recruiter with a specific job opening, makes contact with a job seeker, and after a promising start, says the résumé has problems that must be fixed before it can be submitted for the role. The job seeker is then steered to a "recommended" service to have it rewritten for a fee. The scheme works in part because it preys on something nearly every job seeker already worries about: whether their résumé is good enough. The rewrite service may hold no real credentials, and the recruiter and the job opening are often invented from the start. It borrows the language and legitimacy of professional résumé writing to defraud the people that language is supposed to protect.

"Job seekers are being asked to hand over their contact information, work history, and sometimes their money to people they've never met, based on nothing more than a polished message," said Cathy Lanzalaco, President of NRWA. "Polished used to be a signal of legitimacy. It isn't anymore. We've had members watch scammers lift their actual name, photo, and credentials and build a fake profile around them, so the person a job seeker is talking to looks exactly like a real professional. It isn't just a stolen name. It's a stolen reputation, used to convince someone to trust a person who was never actually there. We established the Safety Center because job seekers deserve a straightforward, independent place to slow down and check their footing before they act."

The Job Seeker Safety Center organizes its guidance around three questions job seekers are actually asking: how to tell whether a recruiter or offer is real, how to verify a résumé writer's or career coach's credentials before paying for services, and what steps to take if they've already shared money or personal information with a scammer. It also points job seekers to the NRWA's directory of members and explains what the association's NCRW (Nationally Certified Résumé Writer) and NCOPE (Nationally Certified Online Profile Expert) credentials actually represent, so consumers know what they're checking for and why it matters.

The NRWA is the only nonprofit professional association in the résumé writing and career services industry, credentialing its members through peer-reviewed standards for nearly three decades. At a moment when AI has made it harder than ever to tell real expertise from a convincing imitation, the NRWA is the independent standard-bearer job seekers, employers, and journalists can rely on to know what legitimate looks like.

NRWA's members and leadership are available to speak with journalists covering job search fraud, AI's impact on hiring and the job search, and the broader erosion of consumer trust in career services. The NRWA can provide data, expert commentary, and referrals to credentialed professionals for stories on this topic.

Media Contact

Name: Cathy Lanzalaco
Title: President
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 410.449.4478

About NRWA

The National Résumé Writers' Association (NRWA), now also known as NRWA: The Association of Career Strategy & Branding Professionals, is a nonprofit professional association dedicated to standards, ethics, and demonstrated expertise in career strategy and branding. NRWA sets the standard for the profession through its NCRW (Nationally Certified Résumé Writer) and NCOPE (Nationally Certified Online Profile Expert) certifications and connects job seekers with credentialed professionals through resumeexperts.thenrwa.org. Learn more at www.thenrwa.org.

SOURCE National Resume Writers Association