Consumer Watch with Natasha Pirrottina: Beware of the traps and red flags amid spike of work from home scams

New year, new job! But watch out for job scams that hope to steal your money, rather than make you any. Social media or encrypted message platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram are currently flooded with job scams, offering easy employment online with no experience needed and the added benefit of working from home. The phony jobs require people to perform tasks for a commission, such as leaving fake “five star” reviews on food delivery services apps and online shopping platforms, or liking and following social media accounts. Some people are asked to purchase products before leaving a false review, so they appear as a “verified buyer” on the platform. Victims often have to send evidence of their “work” to an “auditor” (i.e. scammer), and are led to believe they are helping a business’ profile with their fake positive reviews. But it’s got nothing to do with the reviews, it’s about scamming you out of your hard-earned money. Scammers will request money through bank transfer or crypto currency to cover taxes, keep your account active or to cover conversion rates when paying out your “earnings”. To secure the job, victims are deceived into investing a substantial amount of money with the false promise of high returns. They will be encouraged to create an account where they are often asked to provide forms of identification as well. Once the person realises there won’t be any payment or promised return, the scammers then begin a harassment campaign for further payments. One person reported losing nearly $2000 to a job scam where she was assigned tasks to rate products online. After setting up a cryptocurrency account, she initially earned $400 and felt positive about the new job. She was then asked to deposit her own money into the account to continue receiving tasks and was also added to a group chat with scammers posing as other excited employees encouraging the newcomers to invest in this “wonderful opportunity”. Sadly, these job scams generally target new parents, retirees, international students and people living with disability. However, anyone could become caught in a scammer’s web. WA ScamNet has already received several reports of these scams this year. The victims have lost almost $60,000 in total. Keep an eye out for the red flags and practice the pause — take a moment to consider if the job is too good to be true. Scammers are highly sophisticated and may post ads on legitimate job websites or on social media to appear as genuine businesses. Be alert to any vague job descriptions and communications conducted through social media and message platforms. Verify company information through your own internet searches and be suspicious if there is no physical address. Beware of job offers made without a formal interview and never provide payment upfront, especially by cryptocurrency. It’s unlikely you’ll ever get your money back and you should never have to pay a fee to secure employment. If you think you have fallen prey to a job scam, cease and block all contact with the scammers, contact your bank and report the scam to ScamNet – scamnet.wa.gov.au or call 1300 30 40 54. Also be on high alert for follow up scams where fraudsters contact you again claiming to be a fund recovery agency able to help retrieve the lost money. This is also a scam and should be ignored. Natasha Pirrottina is senior regional officer for Consumer Protection in the Mid West