Description

I had a random text saying that they saw my profile on indeed and were offering an online job. I was suspicious but hopeful because I really need a remote job right now. They had this person: Sarah Miller contact me on Telegram. She asked this: Please provide the following information in order to pay you and subsequent incentives and wages Name: Age: PayPal/Cash APP Username : I felt like this was pretty harmless so I gave her that info. She then had me verify that she had the right PayPal info. This was what she sent next. “Now, I'm going to share with you 10 links to task videos. You will get $1 for each link. Send me 10 screenshots after completing 10 video likes and I will pay you $10 Click on the link, watch the YouTube video for 5 seconds and like it, then take a screenshot and send it to me” She sent me 10 links to YouTube videos such as Chanel. I did the tasks and took screenshots to send to her. She praised me then said “Please wait, I will report your completion progress to the company and you will be paid $10 by finance. Once you have received the $10, please send me a screenshot of your receipt.” I got the money and sent a screenshot as confirmation. “Congratulations on getting an internship for a job well done. Did you enjoy this online work?” I said yes, “I'm sure you'll love this job, it doesn't take a lot of time and can be done with just a cell phone. Have you participated in similar work before?“ I said no, “No matter any new things, we need to put into practice to study and learn, so that we can more quickly grasp all the knowledge and experience we want. As long as you dare to try and learn new things, then you can always get unexpected gains, making money is a very deep learning, a reasonable match can let you get a very substantial return, sometimes only one day's earnings may even exceed your hard work in January's salary. I have a team of about 200 people, most of whom have never been exposed to this job before, and now that my team members are making money, they are all very grateful to me and I am very confident that I can get you the income you want“ I said that I wanted to continue. “Next I will tell you some work rules. Your probation period is 3 days. When you become a formal employee, you will be paid $10 for each video like. Our company is currently with YouTube, and both parties have partnered to help bloggers gain exposure through video incentives, while requiring employees to stay on the job for long periods of time in order to provide steady support for the merchant's currency. After completing the three-day task, you can become a formal employee, sign a labor contract, and receive a $1,000 joining bonus. You will have the opportunity to invite friends to join your team. For each friend you invite, you will receive a $100 reward. After becoming a formal member, the monthly salary is about $5,000-7,000. In addition, you can also enjoy paid annual leave, maternity leave and other statutory holidays! If you understand, please reply: Yes“ I said yes “Under the premise of these generous rewards, you are required to follow the task rules. All tasks are closely interconnected and must be completed in sequence without skipping any of them. You will only be eligible for the corresponding rewards after completing all tasks. If you skip any task without authorization, you will not be able to proceed with the remaining tasks. Repeated violations may result in disqualification from the job. Please strictly adhere to the task rules to ensure smooth progress On the first day, you'll be paid $1 per video. On the second day, you'll be paid $1.50 per video. On the third day, you'll be paid $3 per video. On the fourth day, you'll be paid $10 per video. That's all for today, I wish you and your family all the best! I will invite you to join the working group tomorrow at 1:00 PM EST, and the task will start at 1:30 PM. Please turn on your Telegram message notifications and call permissions so that I can notify you in time.“ I then thanked her, “You're welcome, don't forget your mission time tomorrow, have a nice day and see you tomorrow ??????” So altogether I was sent $20. Because I received real money, so I decided to keep going tentatively. The next day she had me join a group chat. “https://t.me/+qJUOixoxrlw0ZTE9 Join the group! To ensure an orderly and efficient work environment, only full-time employees can currently contribute. New members must complete at least three days of work tasks and become full-time employees before their contribution rights are unlocked. This rule is intended to maintain the professionalism of the group content and protect everyone's work experience. Please complete your daily tasks diligently. If you have any questions, please contact me directly. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation, and I look forward to having you become a valuable member of the team!“ There were tons of “people” there, saying very strange things. Constantly complimenting the job, saying how much money they’ve made, all with very unnatural wording that sounded inhuman. She then messaged me: “Today is your second day of work, do you remember I told you yesterday that when you work for 3 days, you can become a full member?” I said yes, “Full member benefits: 1. Stable income of $100 - $500 or more per day 2. Become a full member to receive a $1,000 membership bonus 3. You can share this job with your friends, and when your friends join, you will receive a $100 bonus” I asked about the general time frame of the job. “There will be 22 tasks today. A set of tasks will be released every 30 minutes. Each time a task is released, it only takes you 1-5 minutes to complete it.” I asked if we start working at the same time everyday, “No, please don't worry, I will inform you when the work starts every day” “OK, you have joined the task working group. Please pay attention to the group information. The new task will be released at 1:30 pm. After the task is released, you only need to send me a screenshot after completing it.“ I did the tasks and sent her the screenshots as proof. “Okay, you did a great job. That's three dollars. I'll pay you when your paycheck reaches $6. The next assignment is at 2:00. In this job, there is one other job. If you are lucky enough to encounter a Lucky Mall order, you must cherish the opportunity. The Lucky Mall order will double your commission, with a profit of 30%-60%. The task is very simple and only takes 10 minutes to get more profits.“ I asked about how I would encounter it since she was being vague, but she just said it’s random and “simple enough for anyone to complete.” Another group of tasks was posted and I did them all as well. “Total wages for this task: $6. Please wait. The finance department is paying your wages. Congratulations on receiving your first paycheck today. Keep working hard and you'll earn more. The next assignment is due at 2:30 PM.“ I received the $6 as well without issue. But then the “Lucky Mall Mission” showed up: “Congratulations, you have encountered the Lucky Mall mission. Completing tasks will increase your income with a profit of 30%. Now I will guide you to complete mission 12. ??Task 12: ??A Option: Pay $36, Commission 30%, Earn $10.8, Get $46.8+ (1-3 Orders)?? ??B Option: Pay $56, Commission 30%, Earn $16.8, Get $72.8+ (1-3 Orders)?? ??C Option: Pay $86, Commission 30%, Earn $25.8, Get $111.8+ (1-3 Orders)?? Merchant guarantees and pays a million dollar deposit, fully refunded in 10 minutes! Safe and secure! Note: Lucky Mall is now live! If you have decided on the amount, please contact your company's business manager, who will guide you on how to complete the task and receive the task commission“ I found that confusing and asked for a better explanation. “Prepaid Merchant Mission: Our primary goal is to increase currency visibility and stability. We help merchants create authentic data and earn cashback and rewards. We have an indemnification agreement with merchants, eliminating any risk. Our commission is 30% of the prepaid amount. This is a prepaid task. I suggest you choose option A, the prepayment is $36. After the task is completed, your funds and profits will be returned to you, a total of 36+10.8+6=$52.8“ This is when I was fairly confident that this really was a scam, but I decided to poke a little and see for sure. I’ll type the whole conversation now. Me: May I ask why I have to pay money for this mission? SM: We need real user payment and transaction data to increase our transaction volume. It's like going to the cinema; you have to buy a ticket before you can watch the film and then leave a review afterward. This is something AI can't replace; otherwise, companies wouldn't pay users high salaries to do this. Me: Am I allowed to decline this particular mission? SM: You only need to pay $36 upfront and it only takes 10 minutes to complete the task. Once you are done, you can earn $52.8 Me: I don’t want to pay for a mission SM: When I introduced the task rules to you yesterday, I said that you are still in the internship period and the tasks need to be completed in order. When you become a formal employee, you can skip the tasks. You can rest assured that you have now received a $26 mission salary, which means you only need to add $10 to participate in the mission. I don't have to cheat you of your $10. Me: This feels like a scam unfortunately… https://careers.wbd.com/global/en/recruitment-scams https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/1004196 If I can’t skip tasks that require me to put in money, I don’t want this job. SM: Who sent this to you? Me: I googled it because it seemed fishy to me SM: What you need to know is that no matter which company, there will be negative news. If you just see a little negative news and generalize it, I think this is a one-sided view. Me: Have fun scamming other people who are desperate for money. I’m way too smart to fall for something like this. Goodbye. SM: If I just want to cheat you out of $10, I don't need to pay myself. It's obvious now that you're the one cheating me, you've cheated me out of $26, right? Liar, give me back my money At this point I didn’t answer anymore. It was very clear to me that she was panicking trying to convince me to continue and then turned it on me when I called her out on it. A few minutes later, she actually texted me on my personal number: “**** liar, pay back.” Thankfully I was very wary and smart about it, so I managed to escape the scam without losing money. In fact, I got to keep the $26, though that wasn’t all that much.