Fake Recruitment Agency Poland: KRAZ Check 2026

It's 9:40 p.m. and your phone buzzes. 'Job confirmed. Warehouse near Poznań. Send PLN 3,500 today for the work permit file, or the slot goes to someone else.' The recruiter has a polished website, a profile photo in a suit and a promise that 'everything is 100% legal'. What you don't have is a way to check. Here's the good news: Poland keeps a public list of legal employment agencies, called KRAZ. A fake recruitment agency in Poland rarely survives ten minutes of checking it. Let's do it together, before a single złoty leaves your account.

So what is the KRAZ register, and why check it before paying?

KRAZ stands for Krajowy Rejestr Agencji Zatrudnienia, the National Register of Employment Agencies. An agency can run recruitment services in Poland only after it is entered in this register, and a legal agency holds a certificate for the type of service it offers. The register is public. You can search it by agency name, register number, NIP (tax number) or KRS number, and it shows which certificate the agency holds and when it was issued. The official search is here: KRAZ register on praca.gov.pl. General information for foreigners is on gov.pl/web/cudzoziemcy.

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How do you check an agency in the KRAZ register, step by step?

You don't need Polish, a lawyer or a laptop. A phone and ten minutes are enough. Do it before you pay, before you sign and before you send your passport scan.

1. Ask the agency, in writing, for its full company name, NIP, KRS number and KRAZ register number. A real agency gives these without drama. A fake one starts to hurry you.
2. Open the official KRAZ search on praca.gov.pl.
3. Search by name, register number, NIP or KRS. Try at least two of these, because small spelling differences hide results.
4. Compare the details. The company name and NIP in the register must match your contract, invoice and the bank account you are asked to pay into.
5. Look at the certificate type and issue date. An entry for one kind of service (for example job placement) is not an entry for another (for example temporary work).
6. No entry, or details that don't match? Stop all payments and don't sign anything.

One honest warning: scammers sometimes copy the name or NIP of a real company. So the check isn't finished until the company on the register, the company on your contract and the name on the bank account are the same one.

What can a recruitment agency legally charge a job seeker?

Under the Polish act on employment promotion (art. 19d), an agency may not take money from people it finds work for, beyond the costs it actually incurred when sending someone to work abroad: travel, visa, medical tests and document translations. A prohibited fee can mean a fine of at least PLN 3,000 for the person who took it. You can read the background in the Polish legal sources, for example on the Gdańsk labour office site. In plain words: if someone in Poland asks you to pay 'for the job', 'for the permit file' or 'for the slot', treat it as a red flag until proven otherwise.

Red flags worth saving to your phone:

• Money demanded before any written contract or employer name.
• Payment to a personal account, a wallet or crypto instead of a company account.
• No NIP, no KRS, no KRAZ number, or 'we are not allowed to share it'.
• Pressure: 'pay today or lose the place'.
• A guaranteed Karta Pobytu (Polish residence permit) or a guaranteed visa. Only the authorities decide that.
• You are asked to prepare the work permit paperwork yourself and pay for it, even though in most routes the employer files it.

That last point matters. In most routes it is the employer who starts the procedure. We explain who files what in Oświadczenie vs Work Permit for Pakistani Workers: Only 4 Countries Qualify (2026).

KRAZ looks clean — does that mean the job is real?

Not automatically. KRAZ tells you the agency is registered. It does not tell you the employer exists or that your paperwork is correct. Since 1 June 2025 the act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions for entrusting work to foreigners applies. Employers submit statements and work permit applications electronically through praca.gov.pl, and work must be entrusted on the basis of a written contract. A temporary work agency also needs the relevant KRAZ entry to employ a foreigner as a temporary worker. The text is published in the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw 2025, item 621).

So after KRAZ, ask four more questions:

• Who exactly is my employer, with name, address and NIP?
• Is there a written contract, in a language I understand, before I start work?
• Which legal basis does the employer use: a work permit or a statement (oświadczenie)? When will it be filed?
• Does the pay match the contract type? In 2026 the minimum wage is PLN 4,806 gross per month for an employment contract.

Not sure what your employer must give you? Read Kenyan Workers in Poland: 9 Documents Your Employer Must Provide in 2026. The list is useful for workers from any country.

What if you've already paid a fake agency?

It happens to careful people too. It doesn't mean you're finished. Act in this order:

1. Stop paying anything more, even if they promise a refund after 'one last fee'.
2. Save the evidence: chat screenshots, voice notes, bank transfer confirmations, the contract, the names and numbers they used.
3. Run the KRAZ check above and write down the result.
4. Report it to the Polish police. If you are still abroad, your embassy can tell you how to report from there.
5. If you're already in Poland, check your own status first: do you have a valid permit, and is anyone actually your employer on paper?

If a job collapsed and your permit depends on it, deadlines start running. See Lost Your Job in Poland? 15 Working Days to Tell the Urząd — Karta Pobytu Rules 2026. We can't promise you'll get the money back, but we can help you protect your legal stay while you deal with it.

Practical tip: before any transfer, screenshot the agency's KRAZ result and put it next to the company name and bank account on your contract. If the three don't match exactly, don't pay.

An illustrative, composite example: Imran, a welder from Dhaka, was asked for a 'file fee' by a recruiter who never named an employer. He ran the name and NIP through KRAZ and found nothing. He stopped, kept the chats, and later found a registered agency with a written offer and no upfront fee. The point isn't the happy ending. The point is that the check took him ten minutes.

Got an offer and you're not sure about it? Send us the company name and NIP before you pay. Legal Solutions — 98% approval rate. Drop us a WhatsApp — we read every message.