A breakdown of every red flag in Brainner: what it means, how it is detected, and how to use it to spot fake applicants in your pipeline.

Understanding Red Flags: A Guide for Recruiters

🚨What red flags are (and what they aren't)🚨

Red flags in Brainner are signals designed to give recruiters more information about a candidate, not automatic verdicts. A flag on its own rarely tells the full story. Its purpose is to help you look at the candidate as a whole (resume content, experience, contact details, and these signals combined) so you can identify fake applicants and cut down the noise in your pipeline.

The best way to use flags is as an extra layer of context on top of your normal screening. A single flag can be a light signal worth noting. Several flags on the same candidate, or a flag combined with inconsistencies in the resume, build a much stronger case for a closer review.

For phone, email, and LinkedIn checks, Brainner uses third-party data sources that specialize in fraud detection and identity enrichment. This gives you access to signals that would be impossible to build or maintain in-house.

Below is a breakdown of every flag, grouped by category.

VOIP or non-personal phone number detected

The phone number belongs to a VOIP provider (such as Google Voice or TextNow) or is a non-personal line (virtual, shared, or business). Based on our analysis with clients across real cases, this is one of the strongest indicators of fake applicants, since fraudsters rely heavily on these numbers because they are easy to create and dispose of.

That said, there are legitimate scenarios where candidates use virtual lines, either for certain types of roles or in specific regions. When hiring for those cases, the recruiter should factor in that context before treating the flag as decisive.

Phone number associated with fraud activity

The phone number appears in fraud databases maintained by our data providers. This is a strong signal and worth close review, especially if the candidate is progressing to later stages.

The email address has been linked to fraudulent or abusive behavior by our data providers. Treat this as a high-priority signal.

The vendor identified the email as recently created. There is an important nuance here: our vendor's database is extremely large, and it is possible the vendor only indexed the email recently even though the account itself is older. On its own, this should be treated as a lighter flag. When it appears together with other flags, it gains much more weight and becomes a meaningful signal.

Email address cannot reliably receive emails

The email failed deliverability checks. It could be a typo, a disposable address, or a mailbox that no longer exists. Regardless of qualifications, if you cannot reach the candidate the process cannot move forward.

Disposable or system-generated email detected

The email address comes from a disposable email service (such as Mailinator, Guerrilla Mail, or similar temporary inbox providers) or shows patterns typical of system-generated addresses. Legitimate candidates almost never use these to apply for a role, since they need a reliable way to receive updates from the recruiter. This is a strong signal that typically points to a candidate who does not intend to be reachable or is trying to hide their real identity.

The candidate did not include a LinkedIn URL in their CV or in the pre application questions. Most legitimate candidates in today's market have a LinkedIn presence and share it openly, so an absent URL is worth noting.

LinkedIn profile is private or URL is invalid

This flag covers two different situations, and the right response depends on which one you are looking at:

The candidate's LinkedIn profile may be set to private, which means it can only be accessed when logged into LinkedIn. In this case, we recommend the recruiter open the profile directly. If the profile loads and you can review the information, treat the flag as informational and analyze the content yourself.

If the URL is broken or leads nowhere, treat the flag as high. There is no profile to verify against, which removes one of the main ways to validate the candidate's identity and background.

Candidates with unusually few connections may have recently created or fake profiles. Real professionals typically accumulate connections over years of activity, so a very low count is worth noting alongside other signals.

A newly created profile is not proof of fraud by itself, but combined with other signals it can indicate a profile made specifically to support a fake application.

Professional history differs between LinkedIn and resume

The work history (companies, roles, titles, or dates) shown on the candidate's LinkedIn does not match what appears on the resume. This is a meaningful signal, since fake applicants often invent or inflate experience on the resume that is not backed by their actual LinkedIn presence.

There are legitimate cases too: a candidate may not have kept their LinkedIn fully up to date, or may have chosen to omit certain roles. Small discrepancies (a missing side project, a slightly different job title) are usually not a concern on their own. Large discrepancies (entire roles or companies that do not appear on LinkedIn, or dates that do not line up) are worth investigating.

Resume shows signs of automated generation

The resume file contains metadata suggesting it was produced by an automated tool rather than written manually. Fraudsters and low-effort applicants often use AI or template generators to create resumes at scale. When you see this flag, look for coherence between the resume content and the candidate's stated background, and pay attention to overly generic language or claims that do not match the depth of the described experience.

The goal is not to filter out every risky candidate automatically. The goal is to give you the signals you need to spend your time on real applicants and quickly identify the ones designed to waste it.

Understanding Red Flags for Fake Applicants

This tutorial shows you how to create automation rules in Brainner that trigger automatically based on identity check outcomes. 

Once this setup is complete, Brainner will automatically act on every identity check result as soon as it is ready. High Risk candidates can be archived immediately under the rejection reason of your choice, while candidates who pass can be advanced to the next stage without any manual intervention. Combined with resume screening automations, this creates a single workflow that handles both fit and fraud detection on autopilot.

You need admin or settings access in Brainner to create and manage automation rules within a position.

The Identity Check feature must be active on your Brainner plan. If you are unsure, contact your Customer Success Manager.

Open the job position in Brainner and navigate to the Automations tab. Click on it to start creating a new rule.

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Enter a name for the rule. This will serve as your reference when managing multiple automations within the same position.

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Step 3: Select the Identity Check Trigger

When configuring the trigger, you will see two options: candidate evaluation, which is based on resume screening results such as score and criteria, and identity check, which is based on the outcome of the identity verification. Select Identity Check as the trigger for this rule.

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Select the identity check outcome and set the condition. For this example, we will archive candidates flagged as High Risk. Then choose the action Archive and select the archive reason that best fits your workflow. The available reasons will depend on your ATS configuration and may include options such as Underqualified, Spam, Fake Applicant, or Other. Once saved, any candidate flagged as High Risk will be automatically archived using that reason.

You can also create a rule to advance candidates automatically. For example, set the condition to No Issues and choose the action Advance to move verified candidates to the next stage in your pipeline without any manual step.

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Create a second rule using the identity check trigger.

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Automation rules run in the order they are listed. In this example, the High Risk archive rule runs first. If that condition is not met, Brainner moves to the next rule. You can reorder rules at any time by dragging them into the priority sequence that fits your process. If you also have resume screening rules, you can decide whether they run before or after the identity check rules.

Combining Identity Check and Resume Screening Rules

Brainner allows you to mix triggers within the same automation setup. For example, you can archive candidates who score below a threshold on resume screening and also archive those flagged as High Risk on identity check, all within the same position and managed from the same Automations tab. Rule order determines which condition is checked first.

Contact your Customer Success Manager or reach out to our support team at support@brainner.ai.

How to Set Up Automation Rules Using Identity Check Results

This tutorial walks you through the configuration needed to automatically push Brainner's candidate results into your Greenhouse custom fields.

Once this setup is complete, every time Brainner finishes screening a candidate, the results will be automatically sent to the corresponding custom fields in their Greenhouse profile. This allows your team to filter candidates, trigger hiring rules, generate reports, and make faster decisions without leaving Greenhouse.

You need admin or settings access in Brainner to enable the ATS result-syncing options and enter field keys.

You need admin access in Greenhouse to create and manage custom fields under Configure Custom Options.

Step 1: Enable Result Syncing in Brainner

 and enable the options: "Save evaluation results in application profile" and "Save identity check results in candidate profile." This is where you will paste the field keys after creating them in Greenhouse.

*Note: You can decide which information to send.

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Step 2: Create the Evaluation Application Fields in Greenhouse

In Greenhouse, go to Configure, then Custom Options, then 

*Important note: use application fields for resume screening, as it is related to each application.

*Important note: use candidate fields for resume screening, as it is related to the candidate.

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Step 3: Paste Custom Fields URL in Brainner

After saving each field, copy and paste each field key into the matching fields in Brainner..

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Once all field keys are entered in Brainner, click Save Changes. To verify, import new candidates in Brainner, once processed, open the candidate and application profiles in Greenhouse and confirm the custom fields are visible and populated with Brainner data.

Enabling or Disabling Syncing Independently

The evaluation results and identity check results can be toggled independently. If you only want to sync one of them, simply disable the other option in Brainner's ATS settings before saving. You can update this at any time.

Once configured, each candidate profile in Greenhouse will display the Brainner Score, the full evaluation report, the identity check outcome, and the identity check report as separate custom fields. You can use these to build filters, apply hiring rules, and standardize your screening decisions across your pipeline.

How to Send Brainner Results to Greenhouse Custom Fields

This tutorial walks you through the configuration needed to automatically push Brainner's candidate results into your Ashby custom fields.

Once this setup is complete, every time Brainner finishes screening a candidate, the results will be automatically sent to the corresponding custom fields in their Ashby profile. This allows your team to filter candidates, trigger hiring automations, and make faster decisions without leaving Ashby.

You need admin or settings access in Brainner to enable the ATS result-syncing options.

You need admin access in Ashby to create and manage custom fields under the Admin panel.

 and enable the following options: "Save evaluation results in candidate profile" and "Save identity check results in candidate profile."


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Step 2: Create the Evaluation Custom Fields in Ashby

In Ashby, go to Settings, then Admin, then Custom Fields. Create the corresponding new fields:

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After creating each field, copy and paste each field's URL into the matching fields in Brainner.

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Click Save Changes in Brainner. To verify, import new candidates in Brainner, once processed, open the candidate profile in Ashby and confirm the custom fields are visible and populated with Brainner data.

Once configured, each candidate profile in Ashby will display the Brainner Score, the full evaluation report, and the identity check status and report as separate fields. You can use these to build automations, apply filters across candidate pipelines, and standardize your hiring decisions.

How to Send Brainner Results to Ashby Custom Fields

Learn how to run Brainner's Identity Check independently — detect fake applicants without running a full criteria-based analysis.

If your main priority is detecting fake applicants, you can run the Identity Check independently — without setting up a full criteria-based analysis. This allows you to use your credits efficiently and focus only on what matters most at that stage of your hiring process.

Watch the video below to see how to set it up step by step:

How to Run the Identity Check Independently

Get started with Brainner in three steps: search your job, customize your criteria, and shortlist candidates. Focus on the matches that count.

Getting Started with Brainner: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to add new members to your team in Brainner. Log in, open the Members tab in Settings, and invite people by name and email.


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How to add New Members to my Team

In this guide you will know how to fully configure your Workable integration with Brainner.

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Setting up the Workable integration

In this guide you will know how to fully configure your Recruitee integration with Brainner.

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Setting up the Recruitee integration

In this guide you will know how to fully configure your Lever integration with Brainner.

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Setting up the Lever integration

In this guide you will know how to fully configure your Greenhouse integration with Brainner.

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Setting up the Greenhouse integration

Best practices for defining resume screening criteria in Brainner. Set clear, objective criteria to evaluate candidates accurately and fairly.

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