Remote Workers Caught Faking Location; Face Termination

Employers Detect Location Spoofing Among Remote Staff

Corporate forensic teams and background verification firms are reporting a rise in location spoofing cases, particularly affecting employees working remotely or in hybrid models, as well as gig workers. Employees are being scrutinized for allegedly misrepresenting their actual work location, with discrepancies surfacing through random audits, compliance checks, or client reviews.

Investigations reveal some individuals used devices like travel routers configured with cloud-based servers to create the illusion of working from their designated base locations while operating from elsewhere. One widely cited instance involved an employee at an unnamed MNC who was terminated after being flagged for location spoofing while working remotely from South Asia, despite configuring systems to appear as if they were in the US.

Detection Methods Shift from Surveillance to Audits

Amit Rahane, a partner at EY's forensic and integrity services, noted that location spoofing is a tangible issue businesses are actively addressing. "Companies are detecting such cases through compliance audits, security reviews, and client checks rather than active surveillance," Rahane stated. He cautioned that employees often underestimate the data captured by corporate systems, many of which were enhanced during the pandemic to monitor practices like moonlighting and remain in place.

Ashok Hariharan, co-founder and CEO of identity verification platform Idfy, added that companies need to verify specific actions, such as whether a gig worker genuinely attempted a delivery at a customer's residence. He explained that location spoofing can be identified by combining IP and VPN intelligence with GPS-based checks. Rahane further clarified that most companies avoid direct surveillance due to privacy concerns, with detection primarily occurring through established auditing and compliance procedures.