Have you been approached online by someone asking you to perform tasks in exchange for a commission? This is possibly an employment scam. In this article, you can read more about this type of fraud.
How do I recognize employment scams?
You are approached online, for example, via WhatsApp, Instagram, or LinkedIn, by a person pretending to be an employee of a company. The person does not work at the company and there is also a chance that the company does not exist at all. In this case, the name of the company is being misused by malicious individuals.
The contact person asks you to perform tasks in exchange for money. These are mostly simple tasks that do not require training, such as reviewing companies on Google or liking YouTube videos.
To receive the "earned" credits, you need to have or create an account with a cryptocurrency exchange. You are also asked to create an account on the company’s portal to track your earnings. This website is entirely fake and gives the illusion that you are earning money.
After completing your tasks, you receive a small amount of money (in cryptocurrency), building the trust that you are dealing with a legitimate party. After one or a few payments, trust is established. You are then placed in a group chat and start performing more tasks, with the requirement that you must first deposit money.
Next you are contacted by an account manager from the company with the message that if you want to receive your deposit and so-called profit back, you need to make a significantly higher deposit to the wallet address of the "company." You will never see this money again.
If you are approached to perform tasks for money via social media, remember:
- The chance of being scammed is high.
- Companies never ask you to deposit funds first to earn more money later.
- Companies pay in fiat currency like euros and you should always receive a pay slip.
What should I do if I have fallen victim to an employment scam?
If you have fallen victim to an employment scam, we ask you to do the following:
- Stop contact with the scammer(s) immediately.
- Gather as much information about the perpetrator as possible and report it to the police.
- Report the fraudulent behavior to the parties that have received or sent funds on your behalf (e.g., the bank and the exchange in question).
If you have doubts about whether you are in contact with a suspicious party or have noticed suspicious activities on your account, please email us at fraud@bitvavo.com.
Example
| Description | Image |
| The link in the search bar does not correspond with the name and is slightly different. For example here, where an 'r' is added that might be barely noticeable. | |
| A high payout is promised, for example 300-500 euro per day for a part time job. Or 2000 euro per week. |
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| The website may even show up in sponsored links on Google. You can see this is the fake website, looking at the link. |