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How to Spot Dodgy Employers and Job Scams

Last updated: 11 July 2026

Most New Zealand employers are decent. The minority who aren’t rely on the same handful of tricks, and they rely on you being new, broke, and far from home. Every trick on this page has been pulled on real travellers — none of them work on someone who’s read about them first.

Before you even apply

• “Pay us to get the job.” Visa sponsorship fees, placement fees, “registration” fees, mandatory paid training before you start — charging a worker for a job is illegal in New Zealand. Walk away and report it.
• Jobs that exist only on WhatsApp. No business name, no address, wages quoted suspiciously high, pressure to commit before viewing. Real employers survive basic questions; scams don’t.
• Working-for-accommodation deals that smell like jobs. A few hours’ help for a bed is one thing; full days of labour “paid” only in lodging usually means someone owes you wages. If it walks like a job, minimum employment rights apply.
• Do the two-minute check. Search the employer on Farmdoor, read what past workers said, and ask in the forum. No presence anywhere plus big promises equals slow down.

Red flags in the first week

• No written agreement after being asked. You’re legally entitled to one — see your work rights.
• Anyone taking your passport “for safekeeping” or “until the bond is paid”. Never lawful. Keep your documents; photograph everything you sign.
• Cash only, no payslips, hours kept in the boss’s head. Records protect workers; their absence protects someone else. Keep your own daily hour log in your phone from day one.
• Deductions you never agreed to — van rides, gloves, “admin”, fines for slow work. Deductions need your written consent.
• Accommodation you can’t leave. Overpriced on-site beds tied to keeping the job, sudden bond conditions, eight to a room at motel prices. Do the maths on your real hourly rate after “rent”.

The visa threat — and why it’s hollow

The exploiter’s favourite line is “complain and you’ll be deported”. It’s the opposite of how New Zealand actually treats this: reporting exploitation is protected, investigated, and there’s a dedicated visa pathway so workers can leave an exploitative job without losing status. Read the official guidance on migrant exploitation and Immigration NZ’s help for victims. The person breaking the law in that conversation is not you.

If you’re already in it

1. Secure yourself first — documents, money, somewhere to stay. If you’re in danger, call 111.
2. Collect quietly: photos of rosters and accommodation, screenshots of messages, your own hours log, names of witnesses.
3. Get free help — every contact (Employment NZ, Immigration NZ’s exploitation line, Citizens Advice, Community Law) is on our resources page. You don’t have to pick the right agency; any of them will point you to the right one.
4. Then warn the next person. A factual, specific review — dates, numbers, what was promised versus paid — is exactly what Farmdoor exists for.

Guides cover the general rules — your situation is your own. For official, current details always check the government links above, and see our resources page for who to contact when something isn’t right. And before you accept a job, check what other travellers said about the employer on Farmdoor’s employer reviews.