You've seen the fake "remote closer" academies, the jobs that ask for a training fee, the recruiters who vanish after you send your documents. Here's a 10-point checklist to verify any US employer before you give them a minute of your time — and then I'm going to run my own company through it, in public, point by point.
Why I Wrote a Checklist That Could Be Used Against Me
I'm Ryan Smith, founder of Cinch Home Buyers in Cary, North Carolina. We buy, renovate, and sell homes across the state, and we hire remote salespeople from Latin America.
Every serious candidate I talk to has a scam story. Someone paid $200 for a "certification" that led nowhere. Someone worked two weeks for a "US company" that was a Gmail address, then got ghosted on payday.
That caution is not paranoia. It's pattern recognition, and it's correct.
So instead of asking you to trust me, I'd rather hand you the tools to verify me — and every other employer you ever talk to. A legitimate company loses nothing when you check it. A fake one loses everything.
Any employer who gets offended when you verify them is telling you exactly who they are.— Ryan Smith, Founder, Cinch Home Buyers
The Checklist: Points 1–5
1. A real domain with a careers page
A real company has a real website on its own domain, and the job you're applying for exists on that site — not only in a Facebook post or a WhatsApp forward.
Check that the domain is more than a landing page. Look for an about page, real content, real activity. A site thrown together last month to collect applications is a red flag.
2. A named founder or leadership you can actually find
Search the founder's name plus the company name. You should find something: interviews, a LinkedIn profile, local press, community presence. Scammers hide behind logos and stock photos. Real owners have a trail, because they've been building something for years.
3. Google reviews of the actual business
Not reviews of the "job opportunity" — reviews of the business itself, from its real customers. A company that genuinely operates has customers, and customers leave reviews. Read a handful. Do they sound like real transactions in a real city?
4. State business registration
Every legitimate US company is registered with a state government, and most US states let anyone search that registry online for free. Search the state's Secretary of State business registry for the company name. If a company claims to be American but appears in no state registry, stop.
5. A live video interview
Scammers overwhelmingly interview by text — Telegram, WhatsApp chat, "our hiring manager will message you." A real employer wants to see you and talk to you, and will show their own face on camera. If the entire process happens in a chat window, walk away.
The Checklist: Points 6–10
6. Zero fees, at any stage, for anything
This is the brightest line in the entire list. Training fee, equipment deposit, background-check charge, "activation" cost, software license — it does not matter what they call it. If money flows from you to the employer, it is a scam. Full stop. There is no legitimate version of this.
7. A written offer with rate, schedule, and payment rail
Before you work an hour, you should have it in writing: how much, in what currency, paid how often, through which platform, on what schedule. "We'll figure out payment later" is not an offer. It's bait.
8. A company email domain
Offers and hiring communication should come from an address at the company's own domain — not from a free Gmail, Hotmail, or Outlook account. Setting up company email costs a few dollars a month. A "US company" that won't spend it is not a US company.
9. References or a public track record
Ask what the company has actually done. Years operating, volume of business, existing remote team members. You're allowed to ask, "Can you show me evidence this company is real and has been paying people?" Watch how they react to the question.
10. The first payment arrives on time
Everything before this is theory. The final verification is the first payday: did the money land, in full, on the date promised, through the rail agreed? Until that happens, keep your guard partially up — and if an employer's first payment is late with excuses, believe the evidence, not the apology.
One more thing about this list before we flip it around: the whole thing takes under an hour. Points 1 through 4 are searches you can run tonight from your phone. Points 5 through 9 are things you observe and ask during a normal hiring process, without being rude to anyone.
An hour of checking versus weeks of unpaid work for a ghost. That's the trade. Nobody who has been burned once ever calls it too much effort.
We’re hiring remote junior salespeople across Latin America right now. $1,000–$1,200/mo USD base + commission, US hours, real promotion ladder. We never charge fees at any stage.
See the Remote Sales RoleNow Run Cinch Through Points 1–5
Fair is fair. Here's my company against my own checklist.
1. Real domain and careers page. Cinch Home Buyers has operated at its own domain since 2021, and every role we hire for — including the Remote Junior Salesperson in Acquisitions & Dispositions — is posted on our own careers page, with the pay range printed on it.
2. Named founder you can find. That's me, Ryan Smith. I founded the company in 2021 in Cary, North Carolina. Search my name with the company's. I'm not hiding behind a logo.
3. Google reviews of the real business. We hold a 4.9-star Google rating from more than 60 reviews — from actual North Carolina homeowners we've done business with, not from "students" of a program. We also hold an A+ rating with the BBB.
4. State registration. We're a registered North Carolina business. The North Carolina Secretary of State runs a free public search — look us up. It takes two minutes and I'd genuinely rather you do it than take my word.
5. Live video interview. Every hire we make talks to a real person on camera. You'll see faces, ask questions, and get straight answers. If you want to know what that conversation covers, I wrote about it in what a US sales interview actually looks like from Latin America.
And Points 6–10
6. Fees. We never charge fees at any stage. No training fee, no equipment deposit, no background-check charge, nothing, ever. If anyone claiming to represent Cinch ever asks you for money, it is not us — report it.
7. Written offer. Our offer states the base — $1,000–$1,200 per month USD as a contractor, plus commission — the schedule (US Eastern hours), and the payment rail before you accept. Nothing is "figured out later."
8. Company email. All hiring communication comes from our company domain. If you get a "Cinch" message from a free email account, treat it as fake.
9. Track record. Founded 2021. More than 250 properties bought across North Carolina. And we already employ remote team members in Latin America today — you would not be an experiment.
10. First payment, on time. We pay in USD via Wise, Payoneer, or Deel, on schedule. I've written a full breakdown of how those rails work in getting paid in USD from Latin America, because I think you should understand the mechanics before you accept any job — ours included.
If money ever flows from the worker to the employer — for training, equipment, verification, anything — it is a scam. There are no exceptions, and no legitimate company will ever ask.
What the Checklist Really Measures
Notice what this list is actually testing. Not whether a company is big, famous, or polished. It's testing whether they'll let you look.
Verification is friction, and only one kind of employer fears friction: the kind that can't survive it.
A real company treats your due diligence as a compliment. It means you're careful, and careful people make good salespeople — we'd rather hire the candidate who checked our state registration than the one who didn't ask a single question.
There's a second thing the list measures: how an employer behaves under mild pressure. Scam operations depend on urgency — "the position closes tomorrow," "we need your decision tonight." Urgency is how they stop you from doing exactly what this checklist tells you to do.
So treat pressure itself as a data point. A company confident in what it offers gives you room to verify it. A company rushing you past verification has already told you what verification would find.
And notice what's not on the list: how professional the website looks, how friendly the recruiter sounds, how exciting the pay number is. Scammers are excellent at all three. The checklist deliberately ignores everything that can be faked in an afternoon and tests only what takes years to build — registration, reviews, reputation, and a payroll history.
Use It on Everyone — Including Us
Save this checklist. Run it on every remote offer you receive from now on, no matter how good it sounds. Especially when it sounds good.
Run it on us, too. Check the registry, read the reviews, ask us the awkward questions in the interview. We answer every application within 48 hours, and we'll happily sit through all ten points.
The employers worth working for will pass without flinching. The ones who get defensive, rush you, or dodge a single point on this list have already answered the only question that matters.