AI didn't invent hiring fraud. It made it harder to see. Candidates are using AI to prepare more effectively, and recruiters are struggling to tell preparation from inflation. At an HRM Asia webinar with Veremark, panellists argued the question has moved from whether a CV matches a role to whether the experience behind it is real. * Josephine Tan * August 11, 2026 AI has not created a new category of hiring fraud. What has been done is make an old one considerably more convincing - and considerably harder to catch at the stage where most organisations still look for it. That was the framing running through The Rise of AI Hiring Fraud: What People Leaders and Talent Acquisition Teams Across Asia-Pacific Need to Do Now, a webinar hosted by HRM Asia in partnership with background screening provider Veremark. Moderated by Dr Damini Chawla, the session brought together Elanie Ooi, Vice-President of People and Culture at Veremark, and Alisa Koh, Recruitment Operations Manager at Allegis Global Solutions. An opening poll suggested the audience was still early in its AI journey. Attendees from Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand overwhelmingly described their organisations as cautiously exploring AI in recruitment or not using it in any meaningful way - with few reporting established or experimental programmes. An old problem, better disguised Ooi opened with a case that made headlines last year, in which a cybersecurity firm unknowingly hired someone using a stolen identity and AI-enhanced imagery. The candidate cleared multiple video interviews because everything looked authentic; once onboarded, the individual attempted to install malware. "AI did not create a new type of fraud," Ooi said. "It made an old one much more convincing." Veremark's screening benchmark data points in a similar direction. Drawing on a database of around half a million cases, Ooi said that CV gap analysis produced the highest discrepancy rate of any check, surfacing issues in 51.7% of cases where it was applied. She was careful to note that most of those discrepancies are not deliberate deception - some reflect genuine error or poor record-keeping. The key point is narrower: what appears on a CV does not always tell the full story. For Koh, the line between preparation and misrepresentation is not new, but it has become harder to draw. Responsible use, in her view, is AI helping a candidate communicate real experience more clearly - structuring a CV, organising examples, and preparing for a conversation. It crosses over when the tool is used to inflate experience or imply ownership and accountability the candidate never had. She pointed to CV matching as a live concern at Allegis Global Solutions. Candidates are using AI to rewrite resumes so they mirror the job description almost exactly, and because many screening processes still rely on keyword matching, a thin profile can read as strong. The question for recruiters, Koh argued, is shifting from whether the experience behind it is genuinely there. The checks that find the least One of the sharper findings concerned where organisations put their screening budgets. Ooi said database checks - fast, automated, and often mandated by policy - uncover discrepancies in less than 1% of cases. Employment verification flagged issues in more than 15%, and education verification in more than 21%. Asked where a CHRO with a limited budget should invest first, Ooi nominated employment verification, on the basis that employment history underpins most hiring decisions. She also suggested that HR leaders ask their screening providers a single question: which of our checks actually uncover discrepancies? An answer grounded in data enables an informed decision; one grounded in tradition or compliance alone signals an opportunity to rethink the programme. Koh added a timing dimension. Verification concentrated at the end of the process means identity or credential issues surface only after an offer has been accepted, by which point sourcing and interviewing costs are already sunk. Organisations handling this well, she said, apply a risk-based approach - deeper checks for fully remote or technical roles with access to sensitive systems - and move identity or credential verification forward, often between final interview and offer, or run employment and education checks in parallel. Candidate experience need not suffer as a result. What frustrates candidates, Koh noted, is rarely verification itself but repeated requests for the same information and silence about what happens next. Interviewing for evidence Both panellists returned to the interview as the point where human judgement still does distinctive work. Koh described the moment that makes her pause: a candidate's account sounds polished, but the evidence behind it is missing. Her follow-ups probe for the difficult decision, the stakeholder who pushed back, and what a project sponsor would identify as their contribution - questions that are harder to rehearse. Equally, she cautioned against treating non-traditional profiles as warning signs. Career breaks, non-linear paths and AI-assisted preparation are not, in themselves, cause for concern. Ooi also flagged a gap after day one. Veremark's report found only around 15% of organisations conduct post-hire screening, leaving the remainder relying on information that may have aged since the initial check - as licences lapse, conflicts of interest emerge, and employees move into roles with greater data access. Her closing challenge reframed the whole exercise: instead of asking whether hiring is compliant, ask whether it is confident. "Compliance sets the minimum standard," she said. "Confidence is what helps you to make better hiring decisions."

Veremark and the International Swim Schools Association partner to make safe hiring standard in swim schools worldwide. ISSA member schools gain a trusted route to background screening and qualification checks, so every swim teacher is verified and safe to work with children from day one. Veremark, the global background screening and workforce verification provider, has partnered with the International Swim Schools Association (ISSA), the global peak body for swim schools, to help member schools strengthen safeguarding through verified, consistent hiring. Swim schools work with children every day, which makes recruitment the most sensitive part of running one. ISSA members report that finding and retaining qualified teachers is among their hardest shared problems, and that safeguarding standards can be difficult to hold consistent across staff, sites and countries. Screening a new teacher often still means paperwork, chasing referees and manual record-keeping. The partnership pairs ISSA's work in education, research and accreditation with Veremark's screening platform, which covers checks in over 180 countries. Through it, ISSA member schools can: * Run background and identity checks built for safe recruitment * Verify right to work and swim-teaching qualifications before a teacher starts * Keep child-safety checks consistent across every teacher, site and country * Manage and track every check in one place, cutting admin and follow-up Oliver Lobb, Partnership Manager at Veremark, said: "Swim schools carry a level of trust most employers never face. Parents hand over their children and assume everyone at the poolside has been properly checked. Working with ISSA, we can turn that assumption into a certainty for member schools, wherever they operate." Emily McNeill, Global Partnerships Executive at ISSA, said: "Our members tell us recruitment is their biggest challenge, and safeguarding is the part they can least afford to get wrong. This partnership gives them a single, reliable way to verify every hire, so they can focus on teaching more children to swim safely." The partnership is live now. ISSA member schools can find out more at veremark.com/partners/issa or by speaking with the Veremark team. About Veremark Veremark is a global background screening and workforce verification company on a mission to help the world trust faster. It runs more than 40 types of check across 180+ countries, from criminal record and identity checks to right to work, employment history and qualification verification, all managed through one platform. Veremark is ISO 27001 certified and has offices in the UK, USA, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the UAE. Learn more at veremark.com. About ISSA The International Swim Schools Association is the global peak body for swim schools, connecting aquatic educators, industry leaders and partners worldwide. ISSA raises the quality, safety and accessibility of learn-to-swim education through education, research, accreditation, networking and international collaboration. Learn more at issaswimschools.org.