Why a Salary That Seems Too Good to Be True Probably Is
The salary is the hook. Scammers understand that a figure that is significantly above market rate for a role creates a powerful emotional response — excitement, hope, the feeling that this could change everything. They calibrate those figures deliberately. Not so high that they seem impossible, but high enough to make the job feel worth pursuing urgently, without stopping to ask questions.
How to benchmark a salary quickly
You do not need a salary database to know when a figure is unrealistic. You need two data points: what similar roles actually pay, and what the listed role actually requires. A data entry position requiring no experience in Lagos does not pay 250,000 naira per month. A customer service role for a company with no verifiable existence does not offer European wages. When the salary is dramatically higher than comparable real roles, that gap is information.
Why scammers use high salaries
The inflated salary serves two purposes. First, it creates urgency — you want to act quickly before someone else takes the role. Second, it makes the later payment request seem more proportionate. If the job pays 500,000 naira per month, a 50,000 naira registration fee can feel like a reasonable investment. That calculation is exactly what the scammer is engineering.
The market rate check
Before applying to any role with an unusually high salary, spend two minutes checking similar listings on real job boards. Jobberman, BrighterMonday, LinkedIn, and Indeed all carry real listings you can use for comparison. If the role you are looking at pays three or four times what comparable real listings offer, treat that discrepancy as a red flag — not a lucky break.
Use the tool
Paste the listing into isthisjobreal.org. One of the specific checks the AI performs is salary benchmarking against realistic market rates for the role and location. If the salary is out of range, it will flag it — along with any other warning signs present in the listing.
About the author
Todd Jensen spent years managing digital employment operations across Africa and South Asia. He built isthisjobreal.org because he got tired of watching job scams hurt people who could not afford to be hurt. He hosts The World of Work podcast at theworldofwork.buzzsprout.com.
Not sure whether a job listing is real?
Paste it into the free Job Scam Checker for an instant review of its warning signs.