A job offer that seems too easy

No real employer makes you pay it to start, deposit money before you can withdraw your pay, or send on money it mailed you.

If it’s happening now

They want money first: a deposit or “recharge” to keep doing tasks or to withdraw, or a fee for training, a starter kit, or equipment. Don’t pay it. If an app shows earnings, they aren’t there. Screenshot the dashboard, the chats, and your payments, then stop replying.

You deposited their check, and now they want some of it sent on. Don’t send anything. Call your bank on the number on your card and say you think the check is fake. A fake check can take weeks to bounce, even after the money shows as available.

They want your Social Security number, a photo of your ID, or your bank account before you’ve interviewed and been offered the job. Don’t send it. Real employers ask for those after they’ve interviewed and hired you.

A text, WhatsApp, or Telegram message offers you work you didn’t apply for. Don’t reply, not even YES. The FTC says real employers don’t recruit that way. If it names a real company, ask that company, on a website or number you find yourself, whether the recruiter is real. If it came as a text, forward it to 7726. In WhatsApp or Telegram, report it in the app.

Packages are coming to your house for you to repack and ship on. Don’t ship anything else. Keep what’s there and report it (steps below).

They want you to take in payments and send them on. Stop, and don’t send on anything you still have. Whatever they call the job, that’s moving money for criminals. Tell your bank today.

What to say

• I deposited a check from someone who offered me a job, and I think it's fake. I haven't sent any of it on. Can you flag it and tell me what happens next?

• I sent money because of a job scam. It went out on [date] by [Zelle, wire, or the app]. Can you try to stop or recall it? I need a case number.

• If you won't reverse it, can you send me that decision in writing?

• Money from people I don't know came into my account for a job, and I sent it on. I think it was a scam, and I've stopped. What do you need from me?

• Someone says they're recruiting for your company. Their name is [name]. Can you tell me if that person and that job are real?

If something already left your hands

Stop answering them. Then call your bank or the payment company on the number on your card or in its app, and ask for a case number.

You paid them: a deposit, a recharge, a fee, equipment

Paid by credit or debit card? Call the number on the card and ask to dispute the charge. Steps: credit or debit card.

Paid another way? Ask the bank or the app to stop or reverse the payment. You sent it yourself, so it may count as authorized, and money sent this way often isn’t refunded. Ask anyway. If the answer is no, ask for the decision in writing, then file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.

Paid in crypto? Report it to the exchange in its app, or call the Bitcoin ATM company at the number on the machine or your receipt. For crypto or a wire, also file at ic3.gov at the same time, with the app’s web address, usernames, and transaction IDs. Steps by payment: crypto or a Bitcoin ATM, bank transfer or Zelle, payment app, Western Union or MoneyGram, gift cards.

You deposited their check

None of it sent yet: tell the bank you think the check is fake, and leave the money where it is.

Already sent some: when the check bounces, the bank takes back the full amount of the check, and what you sent comes out of your own money. Ask the bank to stop or recall what you sent, as above. Don’t deposit anything else they mail you. If the check came in the mail, report it to the Postal Inspection Service too.

You sent your Social Security number, ID, or bank details

1. Freeze your credit with all three bureaus. It’s free, and you can lift it for a real employer’s background check. Equifax 888-298-0045, Experian 888-397-3742, TransUnion credit freeze (online).
2. Go to IdentityTheft.gov and follow the steps for what you gave out. If someone has already used it, report it there for a recovery plan.
3. Get an IRS Identity Protection PIN. It stops someone else from filing a tax return with your Social Security number.
4. Gave your bank account for “direct deposit”? Tell your bank and watch for withdrawals you didn’t make. Gave a password? Change it from a device you trust, and set up a passkey or an authenticator app where you can. More: I gave out a code, password, or card number.

You received or shipped packages

Stop. Don’t ship anything else. Keep the labels, the messages, and anything still in your house. Report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service as well as the FTC (below), and say what you still have.

You moved money for them

Money from strangers came into your account and you sent it on, as a “payment processor,” in crypto, or in gift cards. The Justice Department calls that being a money mule. Its advice: stop talking to them. If any of their money is still in your account, don’t send it on. Tell your bank, and ask whether you should change accounts. Then report it: file at ic3.gov with the messages and every transaction. If you’re worried about where you stand legally, talk to a lawyer.

Then report it

Save the chats, the ad, the app’s web address, and every receipt first. Save evidence without spiraling. Then report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to the job site or app where you found the ad.

Anyone who offers to get your money back for a fee, including people who say they’re the FBI, IC3, the FTC, or a lawyer, is running a second scam. Someone offers to get my money back.

What it looks like

Many start with a text, WhatsApp, or Telegram message you didn’t ask for:

Hi, I’m Emily, a recruiter with Brightwell Staffing. We’re hiring remote online assessors: 60 to 90 minutes a day, $200 to $500 a day, paid daily. Interested? Reply YES.

Others are ads on real job boards, or a recruiter on LinkedIn using a real company’s name and logo. If there’s an interview, it’s often a text chat. Recruiters for real companies usually write from a company address, not Gmail or Yahoo. But a company address, a polished website, or a video call proves nothing. The three common versions:

• Task jobs. Rate products, like videos, or “optimize” apps, in sets of 40. A small first payout makes it look real. Then the app says your balance is below zero, or that you need to “charge up” your account, and you have to deposit crypto to keep going or to withdraw.
• Check jobs. Equipment money, mystery shopping, personal assistant, caregiver. You deposit their check, then send part of it to a “vendor,” buy gift cards, or return an “overpayment.”
• Reshipping jobs. “Quality control” or “delivery operations.” Packages bought with stolen cards arrive, you remove the receipts and ship them on, and the paycheck never arrives.

You deposited a $2,850 equipment check yesterday from a remote job you got after a text-chat interview. Today it shows as available.

WhatsApp +1 (614) 555-0139

Today 8:52 AM

Good morning Dana. Did the equipment funds reflect in your account?

Yes, it shows $2,850 available.

Great. Please send $2,480 by Zelle to our approved vendor, Tallis Digital (payments@tallisdigital.com), so your laptop and software ship today.

Keep the remaining $370. That covers your first week of training.

The vendor needs payment by 3 PM for delivery before orientation Monday.

The money is in your account. What do you do?

• Send the $2,480 now so the laptop arrives in time
• Call your bank first, and send it if they say the check cleared
• Send nothing, and tell your bank you think the check is fake

Show the answers

• Wrong move Send the $2,480 now so the laptop arrives in time Available isn't the same as good. Banks have to make deposits available quickly, and the FTC says it can take weeks to find out a check is fake. When it bounces, the bank takes the $2,850 back from you, and the Zelle payment usually can't be pulled back.
• Wrong move Call your bank first, and send it if they say the check cleared The bank can only tell you what it knows today, and a fake can take weeks to come back. Even if the check were good, a real employer pays its own vendors.
• Best move Send nothing, and tell your bank you think the check is fake A real employer doesn't mail you a check to pass on to a vendor. Tell the bank while the money is all still there. If it bounces, the bank takes its $2,850 back and you've lost nothing.

A check from a job you haven't started, with instructions to send part of it on, is the scam. The money showing up in your account is how it works.

Day 6 of a remote "app optimization" job. On day 2 the app paid you $18.40. Since then you've sent it $300 in crypto.

corvellboost.com/task

CorvellBoost

Product Optimization · Set 2 of 3
Task 27 / 40

Double task: double commission

Account balance: -$612.40
Total earnings: $1,486.20

Your balance is below zero. Recharge $612.40 (USDT) to submit this task. Earnings can be withdrawn when the set is complete.

Contact your mentor for the recharge address.

Your mentor says that if you stop now, the $1,486.20 is lost. What do you do?

• Recharge the $612.40. The app already paid you once, so it does pay out
• Ask your mentor to take the $612.40 out of your $1,486.20 in earnings
• Stop sending money, screenshot the dashboard, chats, and transfers, and report it

Show the answers

• Wrong move Recharge the $612.40. The app already paid you once, so it does pay out The small first payout is how they get you to trust the app. The FTC describes this exact pattern: small payouts first, then deposits to unlock earnings that were never there.
• Wrong move Ask your mentor to take the $612.40 out of your $1,486.20 in earnings They'll say the system can't. The $1,486.20 is a number on their website. There's no money behind it to take from.
• Best move Stop sending money, screenshot the dashboard, chats, and transfers, and report it The $300 you sent is real. Report it today to the exchange or Bitcoin ATM company you used, and at ic3.gov.

Paying this deposit won't get the earnings out. Stop now, whatever the screen says you'll lose.

You looked up Harlow Medical Supply yourself, applied on its careers page, had two video interviews, and signed an offer there. You start Monday.

Before your first day: new-hire forms

H

Harlow Medical Supply People Team <onboarding@harlowmedicalsupply.com>

To: Dana Reyes

Tue 10:42 AM

Hi Dana,

Welcome to Harlow. Before Monday, please sign in to the candidate portal (the same account you used to apply) and complete your new-hire forms: W-4 tax withholding, direct deposit, and Section 1 of Form I-9.

On your first day, bring original documents for the I-9, such as a U.S. passport, or a driver's license and a Social Security card. The full list is in the portal.

Questions? Reply here or call me at (614) 555-0172.

Priya Nair
People Team, Harlow Medical Supply

The forms want your Social Security number and bank account. What do you do?

• Sign in to the portal the way you did when you applied, and fill in the forms
• Hold off, and ask to do the forms in person on your first day
• Ask Priya to email you the forms so you can fill them in and send them back

Show the answers

• Best move Sign in to the portal the way you did when you applied, and fill in the forms You applied, interviewed, and got an offer before anyone asked. Tax and payroll forms do need your Social Security number and bank account. Signing in the way you did when you applied, from the careers page you went to yourself, keeps you on the real site.
• Okay Hold off, and ask to do the forms in person on your first day Safe, and some employers will let you. But you've already done the checking that matters: you applied on their site, interviewed, and got an offer there.
• Wrong move Ask Priya to email you the forms so you can fill them in and send them back Your Social Security number and bank account don't belong in an email. The portal you already use is where they go.

Tax and payroll forms need your Social Security number. Give it after an offer, on the company site you reached yourself, not in a chat or an email reply.

What they’ll ask for

“Recharge your account to finish the set.” Stop. Paying it won’t get the earnings out.

“Pay for your training, starter kit, or certification.” The FTC’s line: don’t pay to get a job, or to get paid. One real exception: a job that needs state fingerprinting can mean paying a fingerprinting site the state lists. You pay that site, not the recruiter.

“Deposit this check and send the rest to our vendor.” A real employer pays its own vendors.

“Buy gift cards for a client.” Or your “new boss” texts asking for them. Don’t buy gift cards for anyone who contacts you to ask, or read out the PINs. Check with your manager on a number you already have.

“Send your Social Security number, license, and bank details so we can onboard you.” Only after you’ve interviewed and been offered the job, and only on the company’s own site that you went to yourself, or in person on your first day.

“Receive packages, take out the receipts, and ship them to this address.” The FTC: reshipping goods is never a real job.