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£46,000 recovered for a victim of a fake job scam
Published September 2, 20260 min read
Amount lost
£56,700
Amount recovered
£46,000
Duration
8 months
Our client was looking for work and had put their CV on job sites such as Reed, Indeed and CV Library. They were then contacted by a “recruiter” on WhatsApp who said they found their CV on Indeed and they were impressed by their experience.
They offered our client a remote work from home job in which they could earn money from completing tasks for a large company who needed expertise such as theirs. The recruiter told our client they would be trained and paid for the training, and after that they could start earning large commissions through the company's platform.
They were asked to review hotels through the platform, with the scammers claiming that large companies pay for this to increase their marketing presence. Our client was asked to add deposits to the account to simulate ‘reviewing’ the room.
Our client was asked to complete a set of tasks, which increased in value each task, before they could eventually withdraw their earned commission. The final set of tasks became very expensive and our client was told the only way of earning the money is to complete the set.
Our client, forced to complete the set, eventually wanted to withdraw their money. They were then told by the scammers that they needed to pay withdrawal fees to release the funds.
This is when our client realised they might have been the victim of a scam.
Refundee provided guidance and support
Our client contacted us not knowing if they should pay the withdrawal fees to release their funds. Our expert team provided clear guidance and support explaining to the client that this is a scam and they should not pay any further money to them.
We conducted a thorough review and made our client aware that they may have a chance of recovering their money through UK banking regulations.
We submitted a bespoke report to our client’s bank outlining why they should be refunded. Unfortunately, the bank rejected the initial claim, however we utilised our experience to escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We submitted further evidence and proved why the bank was at fault for the loss, with the Financial Ombudsman deciding in our favour and instructing the bank to repay our client £46,000 that they lost to a job scam.
Summary
A WhatsApp 'recruiter' offered paid hotel-review tasks, then demanded withdrawal fees to release the commission. We advised our client not to pay, built the case under UK banking regulations and won at the Financial Ombudsman, recovering £46,000 of £56,700.
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