Signs that a profile may not be what it seems
None of these signs proves anything on its own, but two or three together are a reason to slow down and check more carefully.
- Replies that answer a question you did not ask, or ignore the one you did
- Perfectly polished messages that never mention a detail from your post
- A profile photo that looks like a stock image or a studio portrait with no context
- Work history with vague descriptions and no specific tools, tasks or results
- A refusal to join a short live video call for any reason
- Pressure to move to a private channel or to pay before any work is done
- Different names in the profile, the payment details and the email signature
- Instant availability for any hours, any task and any rate
Run a short live video call
A 15 minute video call with cameras on is the single most useful check. You see that a person exists, that they match the profile photo and that they can hold a conversation in real time. Ask about a past task in detail, such as how they managed a calendar for a busy executive or how they handled an angry customer email. Real experience shows in specifics: the steps they took, what went wrong, what they would do differently.
Ask questions only a real person can answer
Ask something that requires them to look at your situation, not a general answer. For example, ask them to read your role post and tell you which task they would start with and why, or to spot what is missing from your brief. A copied or generated reply tends to restate your post. A real reply adds a question or a judgement of its own.
- Which of my tasks would you start with, and why
- What would you need from me in the first week
- What is unclear in my post
- How would you handle a request that arrives outside your hours
Use a paid trial task
A paid trial task of two to four hours shows you how the person works, not just how they talk. Pick a task from your real list, give a clear brief and a deadline, and pay for it at the agreed rate. Watch three things: the questions they ask before starting, the quality of the result and how they report back. A trial also protects the assistant, because their time is paid even if you do not continue.
Check that the identity stays consistent
The name on the profile, the name in the call, the name on the work agreement and the name on the payment details should match. If you are asked to pay a different person or company with no clear reason, stop and ask why. Consistency across these points is one of the strongest everyday signs that you are dealing with the person you interviewed.
Ask for references you can reach
An experienced assistant can usually name a past client who is willing to confirm the work. Ask for a reference and a way to reach them, then send a short message with two questions: what the assistant did and whether they would hire them again. Respect that some clients prefer privacy, so treat a missing reference as one data point, not a verdict.
Watch the first weeks
Verification does not end at the hire. In the first two weeks, look for steady patterns: the same writing style, the same working hours and a consistent voice on calls. A sudden change in all three can mean the work has been passed to someone else. Our virtual assistant onboarding checklist builds these checks into the first 14 days.
Read the written work closely
Treat every message as an early look at how the person you would hire writes. Real people make small, consistent choices: the same greeting, the same way of listing steps, the same level of detail. They also refer back to things you said earlier in the thread. A sequence of messages that each sound like a different author, or that never pick up on a detail from a previous reply, deserves a direct question. Ask the person to describe, in a few lines, how they would organize your inbox, and compare it with their earlier messages.
Agree on the work arrangement in writing
Put the essentials into a short work agreement before the first paid hour: names of both parties, the hours, the rate, how and when payment happens and a confidentiality clause. A real professional welcomes this, because it protects them too. Hesitation to put their own name on a simple agreement is worth noting.
Limit access while trust builds
Even with a verified person, give access step by step. It protects both sides, because clear permissions make it easy to see who did what.
- Share passwords through a password manager, never in chat or email
- Create a separate account or seat for your assistant where the tool allows it
- Turn on two-step verification for every account you share
- Start with read access to finance tools and add more later
- Keep payment approvals with you
- Remove access the same day a working relationship ends
How Aides verifies every assistant
On Aides the identity check happens before a profile goes live, not after a problem. Every assistant passes a government ID check and a liveness check run by our identity verification provider. The liveness check confirms that a real person is present and matches the ID. Only adults can list a profile. Profile photos are the assistant's own, and AI personas are not allowed. Read the full process on the verified virtual assistant page.
- Government ID check before the profile goes live
- Liveness check to confirm a real person matches the ID
- Adults only
- The assistant's own photo on every profile
- No AI personas
- Skills test results shown on profiles
On the Business and Enterprise plans you also get an identity verification report per hire as a PDF, which is useful for your own compliance records. See all plan details on the virtual assistant cost page.
Our checks and yours work together
Our verification answers the question of whether the person is real and who they are. Your call, trial task and references answer the question of whether they are right for your work. Use both. Together they remove most of the risk that comes with hiring someone you have not met in person.
Hire a verified person with confidence
Search assistants by skill and time zone, start a conversation and run a paid trial task before you commit. You pay your assistant directly with no agency markup. To prepare, read our guides on virtual assistant tasks and human virtual assistant vs AI assistant, then hire a virtual assistant.