Ambition would like to alert our community to the continued rise in scam activity involving individuals impersonating recruitment consultants, including our own employees.
These impersonators often lure jobseekers with promises of high-paying roles or side-income opportunities, and typically operate via LinkedIn, Telegram, WhatsApp, and other messaging platforms. To appear credible, they may use stolen logos or images, employee photos, fake business cards, or fraudulent social media accounts.
Below is an example of a Phishing text a client recently received:
Please note that these individuals who are sharing fraudulent job opportunities and asking people to disclose their personal information or soliciting money payments, are not employed by Ambition.
We encourage you to take extra precautions if you receive unsolicited messages or emails asking to provide your personal/confidential information.
Please verify the authenticity of such requests before providing your information (i.e. full name, personal identification number, CV, etc.).
New scam alert - "CV formatting fees"
A new scam has recently emerged on LinkedIn, where scammers impersonate recruiters from well-known agencies. They often share legitimate job postings to appear credible and create urgency. After a jobseeker expresses interest, the scammer requests a CV, then claims it’s “not up to standard”.
Victims are then directed to a third-party email or platform and asked to pay a small fee to “reformat” the CV. In several cases, these so-called recruiters had little to no LinkedIn presence, suspicious job histories, and minimal digital footprints.
At Ambition, we never charge jobseekers for any part of our service - so if you are ever asked for payment, be aware that this is a scam.
To help protect yourself against potential scammers, please note the following recruitment practices employed by Ambition:
1) Verified email address
All email communication from Ambition will be sent from our official email domains. These are:
We will never use Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or any other free online mail services to communicate with jobseekers.
2) Formal interview process
While Ambition’s recruiters may reach out proactively about job opportunities, we never issue job offers without a formal interview process. Any formal job offers presented by Ambition employees will be sent from our official email domains (e.g. @ambition.com.hk).
3) No requests for payments from jobseekers
Ambition will never ask for any form of payment as part of the recruitment process – this includes service fees, visa or background check costs, or any other charges.
4) Never share confidential personal information or documents without verifying the request and recipient
Ambition may request scanned copies of passports/identity cards or driver’s licences at later stages of the recruitment process.
However, these requests will always come from an @ambition.co.uk email address and will only be required when you are already in a formal interview process.
This is part of regulatory requirements by the UK government which require all firms to check a candidate's right to work in the UK before hiring.
Do ensure that you verify that you are communicating with an Ambition employee before submitting your identification or passport number. For further information on Ambition's data protection and privacy policy, please click here.
Ambition will never ask for your credit card or bank account details as part of our recruitment process. Please be cautious if you are requested to do so.
Additional Ways to Protect Yourself from Job Scams:
1) Do not respond to text messages and calls from unknown and suspicious numbers.
You can check if a Consultant works for Ambition by checking out meet the team page. Please be aware that some scammers have impersonated our employees so please reach out to a consultant via the email address or phone number listed on our website if in need of verification.
2) Do not transfer money to people you do not know or have not met, even if they claim to be representing a company.
3) Do not share personal and sensitive information such as your back account/credit card details, passport number or phone number.
4) If in doubt, reach out to us to check if a message is legitimate
If you wish to verify the legitimacy of a message, email or phone call that you receive from an individual claiming to be from Ambition, you can contact us directly on +44 (0)20 7404 4004, email info@ambition.co.uk or reach out to one of our Consultants directly, through the email/telephone number displayed on our website (do not reply directly to the message received).
Please avoid any further communication with the individual or click on any links within the message until you have verified that the message you received is from an Ambition consultant.
