Is that job offer a scam? How to spot fake recruiters and overpayment fraud
Fake job offers come in several distinct flavours. The overpayment scam: you're hired as a remote worker (data entry, mystery shopper, personal assistant), receive a cheque larger than your pay, and asked to send back the difference via gift card or wire transfer. The cheque later bounces and you lose every cent you forwarded.
The reshipping variant (also called a 'parcel mule' job) hires you as a 'logistics coordinator' to receive packages, repackage them, and ship overseas. The packages contain goods bought with stolen credit cards — you become unknowingly involved in fencing stolen property.
A third growing type is the task-based crypto scam: you're asked to complete simple online tasks (rating restaurants, 'boosting' product listings) and initially paid small amounts to build trust, before being told you need to deposit cryptocurrency to 'unlock' your accumulated earnings. The deposit disappears and so does the recruiter.
🚩 Red flags to watch for
- ▶The recruiter found you cold via WhatsApp, Telegram, or LinkedIn and offered a job you never applied for.
- ▶The salary is unusually high for vague or minimal work — '$500/day for 2 hours of light administrative tasks'.
- ▶You're asked to use your personal bank account to receive and forward money on behalf of the company.
- ▶The company has no verifiable web presence, or the website domain was registered very recently (check with a WHOIS tool).
- ▶You're asked to buy gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency as part of your job duties.
- ▶An upfront fee is required for training materials, a background check, or equipment.
- ▶An offer letter arrives almost immediately with no real interview, and there's pressure to start today.
✅ What to do
- 1Research the company: search the name + 'scam' or 'review', check business registries (Companies House in the UK, state registries in the US), and look up domain age with WHOIS.
- 2Never use your personal bank account to receive and transfer money for any employer — this is illegal money mule activity regardless of whether you knew it was fraud.
- 3Never buy gift cards or cryptocurrency at a stranger's instruction — this is the single most reliable red flag across all job scams.
- 4If you've already received money: do not spend it. Contact your bank and explain the situation — the funds may originate from fraud and your account could be frozen.
- 5Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov (US) or Action Fraud (UK).
📣 Where to report (by country)
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Action Fraud
- Police Scotland — call 101
🇦🇺 Australia
🇨🇦 Canada
🌍 Everywhere else
- Contact your local police and your bank immediately
- If money was sent, ask your bank about a recall request — act within hours
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Common questions
Why would a scammer send me more money than my pay?
The overpayment is deliberate. They're not accidentally sending too much — the entire point is to get you to forward real money back to them while the original deposit is fraudulent (a fake cheque, a stolen bank transfer). By the time the bank reverses it, your 'refund' is gone.
Can I get in trouble even if I didn't know the job was a scam?
Potentially yes. Forwarding money for a third party — even unknowingly — can make you a money mule under criminal law. Banks take this seriously. Contact your bank honestly as soon as you suspect a problem.
The recruiter is on LinkedIn and their profile looks real. Is it definitely a scam?
LinkedIn profiles are trivially easy to fake or hijack. Check: does the company have real employees on LinkedIn? Does a Google search find real news or reviews about the company? Did you apply to this job, or did they contact you out of nowhere?