A new wave of fraudsters are posing as recruitment officers who give you an online job and then steal your cryptocurrency, and then refuse to pay you. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) put out a notice, warning the public about the new breed of scammers and their tactics.
They prey on people’s misunderstanding of how cryptocurrency works and people’s desperation for jobs in the midst of economic turbulence. After employing someone, the scammers require the victim to make cryptocurrency donations in order to “unlock” the rest of their paycheck.
“The FBI warns of scammers offering victims fake work-from-home jobs, typically involving a relatively simple task, such as rating restaurants or “optimizing” a service by repeatedly clicking a button,” reads the memo. “Scammers direct victims to a fake interface, which shows victims are earning money, though none of it is available to them to cash out.”
The fraudsters then claim that you need to pay them cryptocurrency in order to free up those payments so they can cash out. Unfortunately, no matter how much you send, it will never be unlocked.
They may also charge the victim cryptocurrency just to land the position, or for “training.”
At the same time, companies that claim to help recover cryptocurrency are riddled with scammers. They’ll request access to your wallet to “help” find your transactions. Many victims of the employment scam reach out to companies like this for help, only to be hit by another vicious attack.
The FBI issued several warnings to protect yourself, including:
- Don’t send financial or personal information to anyone that you don’t know online.
- Never send money to an employer. Real companies will never require you to pay to unlock your paycheck.
- Never give money to services that claim to recover cryptocurrency.
- Be cautious of jobs being offered through suspicious online websites or links.