The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning about scammers who deceive victims into paying cryptocurrency by pretending to be remote job providers.
As per the warning, scammers are making cold calls and emails, offering people fake jobs which usually sound too good to be true. These remote jobs typically require workers to “optimise” a service by continuously clicking on a button, or they may involve simple tasks like rating restaurants. Employees can perform these jobs from home.
Scammers will either pose as a fictitious recruiting agency or will mimic a well-known one. When the victim is meant to receive payment, the scam really begins.
They are invited to sign up for a platform that allows them to track and monitor their pay, but in order to “unlock” the service, they must pay a small amount of cryptocurrency. The money is lost forever after they make the payment.
Fake Platforms
The platform appears to be “working” on the surface, which exacerbates the situation. Victims have the ability to “track” their payments and even view their revenue streams. But since everything is a scam and the money is fake, they will never be able to take any of it back.
In order to safeguard themselves, the FBI advises citizens to be wary of unsolicited job offer messages and to refrain from opening attachments, downloading files, or clicking on links in these messages.
The FBI cautions, “Never send money to an alleged employer,” and advises consumers not to pay for any services that promise to help them get their money back from lost cryptocurrency investments.
Finally, it is always advisable to report any financial or personally identifiable information to the FBI IC3 rather than sending it to individuals who are making unsolicited job offers.
In the world of cybercrime, fake jobs are nothing new. In actuality, the notorious North Korean state-sponsored threat actor Lazarus Group helped to popularise them over time.