Main conclusions
Cases of employment fraud are on the rise. Beware of implausibly lucrative job offers.
Fraudulent job postings have three common characteristics: high salaries, flexible hours, and minimal work experience requirements.
Report all cases of fraud to the appropriate authorities, change passwords that become known to the attackers, and freeze bank accounts if you have already transferred money.
Cases of employment fraud are on the rise. Learn how to spot and report fake job advertisements to protect yourself and others. Read more in our latest article in the series “How to recognize fraud.”
Although employment fraud is not a new practice, it has recently become more common due to the profound and lasting impact of the pandemic on the labor market. In fake job postings, scammers offer flexible hours, the ability to work from home, and salaries well above industry standards, but require little to no skills or work experience.
Don't be fooled by unrealistic promises: perfect jobs don't exist. Most likely, such an enviable "employer" will at some point ask you to pay a deposit so that you can take advantage of the stated benefits, and then disappear - along with your money.
In this article, you'll learn how employment scams work, the four stages they typically involve, and a real-life example.
Four stages of a fraudulent scheme
Contact with the victim
Fraudsters posting fake vacancies usually contact potential victims through instant messengers and social networks, both regular and professional. Such advertisements and offers often have three things in common: an attractive salary, part-time or flexible hours, and minimum requirements for professional skills and experience.
“Job duties” may include booking hotels, posting fake reviews, rating products on a shopping platform, and other simple tasks.
Gaining trust
Once a potential victim responds to the ad, the scammer provides job details—just as a real recruiter would. At this stage, it is important to pay close attention to how the vacancy is described to you.
For example, a scammer may provide a platform where you need to register and complete tasks. This platform may have VIP levels, which increase salaries, commissions, and rewards for new users. Experienced scammers will go even further and provide fake company registration documents to gain the victim's trust.
The "employer" may even pay a small amount to complete a few simple tasks. However, this payment is a bait that makes the victim believe that everything is fine and lulls his guard.
Involvement
At some point, the scammer will ask the victim to deposit money under some false pretence—for example, to achieve a higher VIP level on the platform and receive additional rewards. The attacker may even try to convince the victim to invite friends and relatives to “work.”
Disappearance
At the last stage, problems suddenly arise with receiving wages. The scammer tries to convince the victim to transfer even more money under various pretexts, such as tax payments or minimum withdrawal fees.
Eventually, when the victim begins to understand what is happening, or loses a significant amount of money, the scammer closes access to the platform and stops communicating.
Example from life
A user (let's call him Mark) received a WhatsApp message from a recruiter.
The recruiter wrote that a London-based digital marketing company was offering a part-time job with a high salary (~1000 USDT per week) paid into an encrypted wallet.
What's more, candidates require minimal job skills and can work flexible hours, and all they need is a phone with internet access.
Mark, interested in the offer, registered on the company's platform following the recruiter's instructions. To get the first 40 jobs, the recruiter asked Mark to deposit 500 USDT, which he did. After completing the tasks, Mark discovered that he could not withdraw money from the platform. The scammer then demanded another 1,000 USDT from Mark so he could get his original deposit back.
Mark realized that he had fallen for the scammers, but it was too late.
To summarize, we list the main warning signs in this story.
The scammer makes contact through an informal channel, in this case WhatsApp.
The work is suspiciously simple and does not require professional skills or experience.
The candidate is promised a flexible schedule and the ability to work from anywhere.
The salary is unrealistically high - 100-300 USDT per day for such little effort.
How to Protect Yourself from Employment Scams
Do your own research
Make sure that the email address from which they are writing to you belongs to a real company. Fraudsters usually use free email services such as Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook. Sometimes they contact the victim through Telegram, Instagram or Whatsapp - all of these channels can be called informal. Real recruiters rarely use them.
Collect information about the company, visit its website. If the interface seems strange to you, and you need to register to learn more, do not click anything and leave the site.
Beware of unrealistic offers
If the vacancy is incredibly profitable, you should be wary. Offers that promise easy work, quick money, and flexible hours are most likely scams.
Don't respond to jobs if you have to pay to work on them.
Employees should never pay work-related expenses out of their own pocket—especially through an anonymous and irreversible cryptocurrency transaction. No self-respecting company will demand money from you.
If you are asked to post a deposit to get paid, don't do it. This is a classic scam.
Pay attention to what information is required from you
Be especially careful if you are asked to provide personal information or documents during an interview, such as a driver's license, passport, or Social Security number. If you are asked for this information at the very beginning of the interview, you should be wary.
Avoid jobs that don't require experience
A real job, especially a high-paying one, requires the candidate to have skills and experience.
If you are not interviewed, are not asked to provide a resume or proof of professional experience, and the recruiter is pushing you to agree and start working as soon as possible, most likely you are dealing with scammers.
If you have become a victim of scammers
Knowing that you have become a victim of scammers is devastating in itself, but if you don't take action right away, the damage can be even greater.
Report the incident to local law enforcement agencies, block the scammer on social networks and instant messengers, and, if possible, change your phone number. If you have already transferred money, freeze your accounts and change your passwords immediately.
If you used your Binance account to make a transaction or suspect that it has been hacked, please contact our support team immediately.
Additional Information
(Academy) 8 Common Bitcoin Scams and How to Avoid Them
(Blog) How to Recognize a Scam: Crypto Investment Scams to Watch Out for
(Blog) How to Recognize a Scam: A Complete Guide to Identifying the Most Common Cryptocurrency Scams
(Blog) Binance launches anti-fraud campaign with law enforcement agencies
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