The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns job seekers not to fall for “work-from-home” job scams and that it may be a plan to steal crypto.
The FBI issued a warning on June 4 regarding increased fraudulent employment advertisements for work-from-home positions. The scammers will approach their prospective victims with unsolicited calls or messages, offering a relatively straightforward task, such as rating restaurants or “optimizing” a service by repeatedly clicking a button.
The victims may even believe they are earning money, as the scammers will direct them to a fake interface that indicates they are earning money (although they will never be able to pay it out).
The deception is particularly effective when the victim is instructed to make cryptocurrency payments to the fictitious employer to “unlock” additional work. However, the fees are remitted directly to the scammer.
The FBI observed that you must make cryptocurrency payments to your employer as part of your employment.
Red flags that may indicate fraud include job descriptions that employ the term “optimization” excessively and those that do not require references during recruitment.
Unsurprisingly, an expanding number of individuals are falling prey to the trap, given the growing popularity of the work-from-home lifestyle. Statista data indicates that the proportion of remote laborers worldwide will increase to 28% by the conclusion of 2023.
Additionally, remote employees are permitted to establish their residences.
In a recent interview with Cointelegraph Magazine, Dominic Frei, a crypto consultant based in Canggu, stated that he relocated his wife and two small children from Switzerland to Bali for a more suitable climate and lifestyle.
Only months have passed since the FBI disclosed an alarming statistic regarding the volume of crypto-related fraud in the United States in 2023.
On March 9, Cointelegraph cited a report from the FBI that demonstrated a 53% increase in investment losses involving crypto, from $2.57 billion in 2022 to approximately $3.94 billion in 2023.
People fall prey to one of the most prevalent crypto schemes: romance scams. This is the process by which a criminal creates a fabricated online identity to captivate the trust and devotion of a victim. Subsequently, the criminal fabricate a narrative to entice the victim to send cryptocurrency, only to disappear.