Just when we thought we’d seen every trick in the candidate scam playbook, along comes Cluely—an AI tool that shows up, kicks down the door, and laughs in our face like a robot with a sense of irony.
We first told you about our experience being "catfished" by fake job candidates and shared our tips on how to avoid these scams. However, just as we level up our hiring strategies, scammers are evolving with AI tools like Cluely.com and sophisticated social engineering tactics that quietly hijack our talent pipeline. So, recruiters, listen up! Whether you are sourcing highly technical software engineers or entry-level programmers, the stakes have never been higher. It’s not just about hiring the right candidate. It’s about making sure the person you’re hiring is real, qualified, and actually the person on the other side of the screen.
What is Cluely?
Cluely.com is marketed as an AI-powered interview preparation platform. It offers mock technical interviews, curated coding questions, and even real-time answer coaching. Sounds great—until candidates start using it to fake live interviews.
The result? A candidate who nails the interview but can’t push a single line of code.
Some candidates are:
- Feeding technical questions into Cluely mid-interview
- Using AI-suggested responses in real time
- Creating a polished illusion of coding mastery with little to no actual experience
For a recruiter screening a remote developer, this could look like a slam-dunk candidate—until the codebase crashes two weeks post-hire!
How Tech Recruiters Can Outsmart AI and Interview Impostors
- Use Live Technical Assessments - Platforms like CoderPad or HackerRank help recruiters watch candidates code in real time, limiting the opportunity to consult AI tools or use a proxy.
- Screen with Behavior-Driven Interview Questions - Ditch the generic "What’s the difference between REST and SOAP?" in favor of, “Tell me about a time you debugged a production outage under time pressure.” Ask candidates questions like, “How would you refactor a monolithic legacy app into microservices?” These questions assess experience, not Google fluency.
- Require On-Camera, Screen-Sharing Interviews - Make sure candidates show their face, share their screen, and explain their thinking as they solve problems. Bonus: ask them to whiteboard concepts live using tools like Miro or Excalidraw.
- Verify Portfolio Projects - If a candidate links to GitHub or past work, ask them to walk you through their code. Inconsistencies between their answers and the project architecture should be treated as a red flag, and don't hesitate to ask for clarification.
- Test Collaboration with Pair Programming - Live pair programming exposes both skill and communication—two things AI can't convincingly fake (at least not yet :).
Final Thoughts
As AI tools like Cluely.com continue to blur the lines between preparation and impersonation, it’s never been more important for recruiters to validate skills, confirm identity, and dig deeper than a polished résumé or flawless interview.
At Tevpro, we don't just find developers—we verify engineers who can handle the weight of real-world complexity. Whether you're hiring a single backend developer or building an offshore product team, trust starts with a smarter recruiting process.
Let’s make sure you’re not hiring a chatbot in disguise. We love to hear from our community. Reach us on X, LinkedIn, or send us an email.
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