1️⃣ You came across the job on social media or through an unsolicited message from a ‘recruiter’

You may be looking for a job and have put your CV on sites such as; Indeed, Reed or CV library. Fraudsters will see this and present themselves as a ‘recruiter’ claiming they want to offer you a remote job, where you can earn money for easy work. This will make it more believable to victims as they are already searching for a job and a legitimate looking recruiter messages to offer a new opportunity. Scammers can also offer jobs on social media and offer easy, remote work, which you can do in your own time.

2️⃣ The Job offer

The ‘job’ the scammers will ask you to do is usually that of completing tasks in their platform, this can be in the form of reviewing hotels or products. The scammers will say that this is a job you can do in your own time and you can earn more commission the more tasks that you do. Sometimes the scammers have cloned genuine companies, which means that they may initially show you a website that is in-fact a legitimate company. When you search the company name on Google and TrustPilot, it will all seem genuine. However, when it comes to completing the job, they will send you another link to their ‘portal’ which is a fraudulent website. It is really important to check the URL of the links they send, if they are different to the original company website - it is a scam. 

3️⃣ Payments through cryptocurrency

The premise of the job is to complete ‘tasks’ that simulate purchasing products in order to improve a company's sales. You will come across a task that will bring your account into a negative balance. You will be expected to pay money into the account, in cryptocurrency, to continue to the next task. You will be told by the ‘customer service’ that you will be refunded your deposits and receive any commission made at the end of the set of tasks.

 It is important to say at this point, that cryptocurrency is not a regulated currency and the majority of legitimate jobs would not pay their employees this way.

4️⃣ The payments and commission keep increasing

Fraudsters will continue you to encourage to pay money into the platform and the commission you are earning increases with that too. They will present ‘special offers’ for a limited time period in order to pressure you to pay further funds. The fraudsters control the platform and therefore can fake the commission you seem to be earning by completing the ‘tasks’. The fraudsters will say you have to complete all the tasks before you withdraw, pushing you to keep paying until you reach the end of the tasks.

5️⃣ The request for funds don’t stop

The tasks become more and more expensive over the coming days, until you are expected to make deposits of thousands of pounds. These ‘premium tasks’ are described by the scammers as ‘lucky’ and that it means you’ll receive more commission. 

It will get to a point that being able to pay becomes impossible. The scammers may suggest that you take out loans, use credit cards or borrow from friends to continue depositing money, so that you can finish the set of tasks. 

The scammers will maintain there is nothing they can do until the set is completed. They will say that the only way to withdraw your money is to reach the end of the set as it is company policy. 

6️⃣ Withdrawal fees

Regardless if you pay to reach the end of the set or not, they will not return your money. They will continue to make excuses, suggesting you need to pay tax and fees for withdrawals until either you cannot afford it or they remove you from any further communication. 

A legitimate company would never ask you to make payments as part of your job, especially not in cryptocurrency. 

These scams are very sophisticated and the scammers are experienced so it can seem very convincing. 

You can read more about red flags of job/task scams here.

If you are experiencing any of the issues above, or concerned about your situation you can check if you’re eligible by, starting your claim.