There’s a new job scam that is hitting cellphones across the United States. It promises an incredibly easy job you can do from home and make hundreds of dollars a day.
Is there a catch? Oh, you can count on it.
It’s likely that different operators are running the scam because it has a lot of things in common, but there are differences. For example, the companies offering the job are different, and even the supposed work may vary from one version of the scam to another.
ConsumerAffairs recently saw one text message from wqtdnb712@gmail.com that offered this version of the scam:
“Hi, My name is Rosa and I’m a recruiter at Investing. We need a team of part-time assistants. The online work hours are flexible and you can work from home without any restrictions. The salary ranges from at least $50 to $1,500 per day. All you need is a smartphone or computer to do the work, You will be paid immediately at the end of each working day. If you are interested, please contact me at WhatsApp (number deleted). You must be at least 20 years old.
The WhatsApp contact is consistent in all versions of the scam, mainly for the security of the scammer. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls by default.
Some messages say you must be at least 22 years of age, others, like this one, specify 20. It’s almost like they are trying to target young people in their 20s.
What are they after?
What exactly is the lucrative work they are willing to pay hundreds of dollars a day for? A ConsumerAffairs reporter who engaged with the text sender was told they would be paid to go into Google Play and post 5-Star reviews for certain apps.
What are the scammers hoping to gain? Most likely it is the target’s personally identifying information. If it’s supposed to be a job, then the “employer” at some point will ask for your Social Security number and other information that will make it easy to steal your identity.
This falls in the category of “If it’s too good to be true, it’s a scam.” If you get one of these texts, it’s best to ignore it.
