RefAssured Survey Finds AI Resume Use Rising as Candidate Fraud Grows

RefAssured released a report finding that recruiters and hiring managers increasingly encounter candidates who misrepresent their qualifications, experience or identity. The company surveyed 646 job seekers, staffing recruiters, corporate HR professionals and hiring managers in the United States from July to early September 2026.

Among HR professionals and hiring managers, 84% said candidate fraud was more common than three years earlier, compared with 76% of staffing recruiters. Almost all respondents in both groups had caught some form of misrepresentation. False skills claims were more common than identity fraud, with 61% of HR and hiring managers and 54% of recruiters encountering candidates who listed skills they lacked.

Generative AI was common among job seekers. The survey found that 74% had used tools including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity to write or edit a resume, while 88% had tailored resumes with keywords from job descriptions. In addition, 78% believed AI resume tools made it easier to appear qualified for work they had not performed.

Only 16% of HR professionals and hiring managers completely trusted automated screening tools to detect fraud without human involvement. That figure fell to 11% among staffing recruiters. Although 51% of job seekers had been screened or interviewed by a chatbot or AI recruiter during the previous 12 months, 61% preferred a human recruiter.