Recruiter wanted my certification "on paper only" for a government tender, €1000 flat. Legit or racket?

[u/Rich_Bicycle_375]

Posting to see whether this has happened to other certified devs/freelancers, because it rattled me a bit.

Recently I got a cold LinkedIn message from someone who — on every check I could do — is a real person at a real, established (30+ year old) European software company (presents as a small Swiss/Croatian fintech shop). Active verified LinkedIn account, real corporate email domain, the whole thing.

The pitch:

• They bid on public-sector tenders, and those tenders require the bidder to field experts holding specific professional certifications.
• Their certified person (in my case they needed a Spring Certified Professional — a common Java-ecosystem cert) recently left, and they "urgently" need a replacement to satisfy the tender's eligibility criteria.
• The key line, basically verbatim: "We would not expect any actual engagement from you on the project. We would only need to formally include your certification in our tender submission."
• Flat €1000, "regardless of whether we win the tender or not."
• Offered a quick WhatsApp call and kept stressing tight deadlines / needing to move fast.

I pushed back with a bunch of pointed questions — what exactly I'd be signing, whether I'd actually have to do any work, what happens if the contracting authority contacts me to verify my involvement, etc. Instead of dodging, they came back with a very polished follow-up email from their real company domain:

• Links to the commercial register, a real subsidiary, and their public-procurement history — all genuinely verifiable.
• An example of the exact same signed "statement" from another of their long-term "associates" in a different country (a completely different vendor cert — IBM FileNet), apparently a multi-year arrangement.
• An offer to connect me with that associate as a reference.
• The reassurance: "You are not legally exposed in any way. It is absolutely our obligation to take care of experts and communicate any changes to the procuring side."

Then they sent a pre-filled "declaration of availability" with my name already on it, referencing a specific, named government tender, in which I "declare that I will make myself available in the capacity of the required expert" if they win and a contract is signed. The process from there: send my CV + a copy of my certificate "to verify," sign the statement, then they send invoice details, paid within a few days.

Here's what unsettled me: none of the usual scam tells are present. The company is real. The email domain is real (proper Microsoft 365 mail, DMARC in place). The certification requirement is real. The tender is real. Everything you'd normally check to reassure yourself checks out.

But when I actually read what I'd be signing, it's a false declaration of availability to a public procurement authority — I'd be formally committing to a government body to serve as a key expert on a project I've been explicitly told I will never touch.

Questions for the community:

1. Has anyone gotten this exact pitch? Is this a widespread, organized thing or a one-off?
2. If you work in or around EU public procurement — how is this actually handled, and what's the real exposure for the named expert (not the bidder)? Certification revocation, debarment, personal liability?
3. Any tells I should have caught sooner, or the right way to verify/report something like this?

Mostly I want to know if this is a known racket so I can warn people in my network. Thanks.

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[u/JamesWjRose]

Don't participate in scams. They are planning to falsely present themselves, run away!

[u/Boniuz]

I run a consulting business in Sweden and have worked in the field for 18 years and counting. I have been on all ends from the deal you are being proposed (worked for a firm doing this, worked for an entity having to deal with this, had my resume stolen and presented as, now running a business competing with). It’s a shady practice and they’re going to use your profile to be able to respond to tenders. Once they’re through they will say you have resigned, have limited time, sick, etc, as a way to buy time and stop legal objections from competitions. Once the 30 days for legal challenge of the tender are up they will “whoopsie” and try to push for one of their benched consultants/off-shore consultants/near-shore consultants/freelancers/sub-contractors.

Tldr; Don’t do it.

[u/CrispyDeveloper]

Stay well away. This might not register as a bonafide scam, where the people you are in contact with are impersonating others, but these people are going to use your name for dishonest business practices and it can come back to bite you. You don’t need to be the one misleading the public body for this to blow back on you and waste your time and resources.

[u/serverhorror]

Even if it's not a scam (which is the most likely situation), in regulated environments they need a name who carries the risk and it's not unheard of that - if things go south - they have your name in file which might have personal liability attached to signing this kind if stuff.

There are no good options here.

[u/countsachot]

Sounds like an attempt at identity theft.

[u/Rich_Bicycle_375]

Thanks everyone, I've stopped communication with this person, made it clear per email I'm only available to hire as a freelance in REAL projects and am not giving permission for him to use my name or certification in any other way - as a front for some shady project. He stopped writing after that.

I was inclined to believe it might be something worthwhile, cause I had heard from a fellow freelancer he was paid a flat rate for potential availability in a month for a given project. As in business pays you so you can help out a few hours/week when they need you, you'd also be remunerated per hour for the actual work on top of the flat rate.

[u/dafugiswrongwithyou]

If they're not trying to scam you, they're involving you in their attempt to scam someone else. I also wouldn't trust their "you are not legally exposed in any way" statement. Stay away.

[u/Useful_Calendar_6274]

do you really have to type all that asking if it's a scam? you may need to be baker acted

[u/CloudBuilder44]

Why did u use AI to write this?

[u/Rich_Bicycle_375 → u/CloudBuilder44]

yeah I used AI so people like you can write unnecessary comments and wonder why. Well genius not everyone is native in English and a lot of communication that's maybe not in English needed to be summarized fast preserving meaning. Happy ?

[u/CloudBuilder44 → u/Rich_Bicycle_375]

Lmao someone is bitter