Caution Urged Over Home Ministry Hiring Post

New Delhi, Januaryt 17, 2026: A massive wave of engagement has been generated on LinkedIn by a job advertisement allegedly linked to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The post, which promises a lucrative monthly salary of ₹1.2 lakh for a Social Media Manager role at the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), has been widely circulated among job seekers. However, beneath the attractive exterior of the offer, serious allegations of “data farming” have been raised by vigilant users and digital security experts.

The Anatomy of an Appealing Trap

The controversy was ignited when a post by a high-ranking social media head at I4C began appearing on thousands of feeds. In the advertisement, a contract-based position was described as requiring only three years of experience while offering a pay scale significantly higher than the industry standard for such a tenure. The inclusion of a simple Google Form as the primary application method has been flagged as a primary red flag, as official government recruitments are typically processed through secure, dedicated departmental portals.

Concern has been expressed that the high salary and low experience requirements were strategically designed to maximize the volume of applications. It is suggested by critics that the primary objective of such posts may be “data farming”—the systematic collection of resumes to build a vast database of personal information. Once thousands of candidates have submitted their names, phone numbers, and professional histories, this data is often perceived to be a valuable commodity that can be sold or misused for targeted phishing campaigns.

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Identifying the Patterns of Deception

The skepticism surrounding the post is rooted in the deviation from established administrative norms. It is noted that legitimate vacancies within the Ministry of Home Affairs are usually gazetted and listed on the official MHA or I4C websites. When a job is posted exclusively via a personal social media account without a corresponding listing on a verified government domain, the authenticity of the recruitment is often questioned by the online community.

Warning signs are being highlighted by career coaches who urge job seekers to look beyond the numbers. The use of urgent language and the absence of a detailed, technical job description are frequently associated with fraudulent listings. Furthermore, the lack of a formal corporate email address for inquiries has further fueled the theory that the post serves as a “resume farm” rather than a genuine hiring drive.

Protecting the Professional Identity

A call for increased digital literacy among job seekers is being echoed as the video and post continue to trend. It is recommended that resumes be shared only through verified company websites or reputable recruitment agencies that have a proven track record of transparency. The vulnerability of the youth, driven by a competitive job market, is seen as a key factor that allows these “too good to be true” offers to go viral.

As the discussion continues, the importance of reporting suspicious activity to LinkedIn’s moderation team is being emphasized. It is hoped that the awareness generated by this incident will lead to stricter verification processes for high-profile government roles. For now, the “₹1.2 lakh” post remains a stark reminder that in the digital age, a high-paying job offer can sometimes be a disguised attempt to harvest the very identities of the applicants.