How employers are cracking down on location spoofing
What's the story
Corporate forensic and verification firms have reported a rise in location spoofing, particularly among hybrid and gig workers. The practice is often uncovered during audits, compliance reviews, or client checks, according to The Times of India report. Some employees have even used travel routers or similar devices to hide their real work location, resulting in disciplinary action including termination from their jobs.
Case study
Employee's termination highlights risks of location spoofing
An employee at a multinational corporation was fired for location spoofing while working remotely. The individual had been with the company for years but returned to his home country in South Asia last month due to a family emergency. To avoid detection, he used a travel router with a cloud-based server to make it seem like he was working from the US.
Detection methods
Using existing systems to detect location spoofing
Amit Rahane, a partner at EY's forensic and integrity services, said companies are detecting location spoofing through compliance audits, security reviews, and client checks. He emphasized that many employees underestimate how much data is captured by these systems. "Several controls were introduced during COVID to monitor moonlighting, such as IP tracking and login analytics—and these systems remain in place," he said.
Privacy concerns
Companies prefer not to actively monitor employees
Ashok Hariharan, co-founder and CEO of identity verification platform Idfy, said companies want to confirm if a gig worker went to a specific location. He suggested that location spoofing can be detected by combining IP and VPN intelligence with GPS-based checks. Rahane added most companies avoid active surveillance due to privacy concerns, with detection typically occurring through security audits or compliance checks.