Fake Job Offers in Cameroon: How to Spot a Recruitment Scam

A job offer that asks you for money to get the job, file your application or "reserve a place" is almost always a scam. A real employer pays you; it does not get paid to hire you. In Cameroon, the Labour Code also provides that job placement is carried out free of charge for workers (Labour Code, section 112).

Scammers mostly target young people looking for their first job: fake recruitment notices copied from real companies, fake concours, "recruiters" who can only be reached on WhatsApp. Here is how to spot them, what to check and what to do if you have already paid — whether you are in Douala, Yaoundé, Buea or Bamenda.

1. You are asked to pay: "application fees", "training fees", a "mandatory" medical check with a designated doctor, a badge, a uniform, insurance. This is sign number one. In one case reported by the press, the National Employment Fund (FNE) denied a fake notice recruiting 2,428 service-station staff in its name; applicants who had sent their file were then called back to pay "recruitment fees" (Journal du Cameroun, April 2023).
2. Payment goes by Mobile Money to a personal number. A company or a government body does not ask you to send money to "Mr X" on an MTN or Orange number.
3. Mass hiring and an unrealistic salary: hundreds or thousands of posts at once, pay far above the market for an unskilled job, "no interview needed".
4. The recruiter only exists on WhatsApp or Facebook: no physical address, no website, no landline, a free email address that is not the company's, mistakes in the letterhead and stamps.
5. You are rushed: "last places", "reply before tonight", "don't tell anyone about this offer".
6. You are promised a concours place or a government job for money: "I have connections", "guaranteed place". Nobody can sell an admission (see below).
7. Jobs abroad, an "international NGO" or "network marketing": visa or ticket costs to pay upfront, or a "job" where you pay a sign-up fee and must recruit others. In June 2026, the gendarmerie presented in Yaoundé thirteen suspects of a fake-recruitment network that promised well-paid jobs, including abroad, under the cover of network-marketing companies, and urged the public to report any suspicious recruitment activity (Camer.be, 23 June 2026).

No admission to a public-service concours can be bought. In 2019, the Minister of Public Service warned against fake Facebook profiles in his name promising success in concours for money, and stated that admission to an administrative concours must never be bargained over (Digital Business Africa, July 2019). In November 2025, MINFOPRA denied a fake communiqué announcing the "special recruitment of 31,600 young people", stating that no special recruitment had been launched (237online, November 2025).

One nuance: some real concours charge official registration fees, set in the opening order (arrêté) and paid through the channel it names, with a receipt or transaction number. The scam is paying a person to be admitted, or paying for a concours that does not appear on the official website. To check a concours: minfopra.gov.cm (public service) and minesup.gov.cm (higher-education schools). Everything is explained in our guide to concours in Cameroon.

• Does the company exist? Search its name online, with and without the word "scam" (or "arnaque"). Find its official website or page and check the offer is there.
• Call the company yourself, on the number from its website or a directory, not the one in the ad.
• An offer attributed to the State? It must appear on the website of the ministry concerned or of the FNE (fnecm.org).
• The interview takes place somewhere identifiable (the company's premises, a public place), in daytime. Tell someone close the address and time.
• Never give your Mobile Money PIN, a code received by SMS, or the original of your ID card or diplomas (copies are enough).
• Read before you sign: a contract states the job, the salary and the employer. Compare the salary offered with the minimum wage (SMIG) and salaries in the sector.

1. Stop all payments, even if you are promised a refund against one "last fee".
2. Keep the evidence: screenshots of the messages and the ad, phone numbers, Mobile Money transaction references.
3. Contact your operator (MTN, Orange) through its official customer service to report the transaction and the number.
4. File a complaint at the nearest police station or gendarmerie brigade, with your evidence.
5. Alert the company or government body being impersonated through its official channels, so it can publish a denial.
6. Report the account on Facebook or WhatsApp, and warn friends and family: the same scammers often target a whole group.

SangoServices never asks a job seeker for money to get work or to apply, and takes no commission on what you earn. Workers: the profile and the directory listing are free, with no time limit; creating CVs and letters is free, and with a listed profile every PDF is free too, without limit. Without a listed profile, the first CV and the first letter as PDFs are free, then 100 FCFA per new document. No commission. The only payments possible are made in the website or the app, when you choose a paid service yourself — never by sending Mobile Money to a personal number. If someone asks you for money "on behalf of SangoServices", it is a scam.

SangoServices does not verify every employer, nor the listings found on other sites that we gather: apply the same rules to them. If an employer or a listing asks you for money, use the "Report" button and choose the reason for a request for money or fees; you can also write to us from the contact page. Further reading: safety and trust on a job platform and making money online without being scammed.

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