Job offer on WhatsApp or Telegram: the "task" scam

Job offer on WhatsApp or Telegram: the "task" scam

"Hi, I'm Emma from a recruitment agency. We've got a flexible remote role: earn £100 to £300 a day liking videos or rating hotels from your phone. Interested?" If you've had a message like this from a number you don't know, on WhatsApp, Telegram or by text, you're looking at one of the most common online job scams around: the task scam. It starts by paying you small amounts to win your trust and ends by asking you to "top up" more and more money that you'll never see again.

How does the "task" scam work?

The script is almost always the same, and knowing it is the best defence:

1. The unexpected offer. A message from an unknown number, often with a profile picture of a smiling person and the name of a well-known company or a recruitment agency. Nobody asked for your CV or interviewed you.
2. Easy tasks, real pay. They ask you to like YouTube videos, follow accounts, rate products or leave reviews. For the first few tasks they genuinely pay you a few pounds, usually by bank transfer or in cryptocurrency. That small payment is the bait.
3. The group and the platform. They add you to a Telegram group full of "colleagues" celebrating their earnings (they're accomplices or bots) and ask you to register on a website where your "balance" goes up.
4. The "prepaid tasks". To unlock better-paid tasks or a "commission", you have to deposit money first, often in cryptocurrency. The balance on the website keeps growing, but it's only a number on a screen.
5. You can't withdraw. When you try to cash out, there's always an obstacle: "your account has a negative balance", "you made a mistake on the task", "you need to pay a fee or tax to release the funds". Every payment leads to another.

There's a second risk: sometimes they ask you to receive money into your account and pass it on as part of the "job". That's money laundering, and whoever lends their account (a "money mule") can face serious legal consequences and have their bank account closed.

What are the warning signs?

• Nobody interviewed you and you never applied for the role.
• Very high pay for very little work: "£200 a day for liking videos".
• Contact only by WhatsApp or Telegram, never by work email or an official careers page.
• A well-known company name with no way of checking it: no contract, no recruiter you can find, no official site.
• They ask you to pay something to start, to unlock tasks or to withdraw your earnings. A real job pays you; you never pay it.
• Cryptocurrency as a payment method.
• Requests to receive and forward money through your account.
• Groups full of enthusiastic people showing screenshots of huge earnings.

What should I do if they've just messaged me?

1. Don't reply and don't click any link they send.
2. Block and report the number in WhatsApp or Telegram. In WhatsApp, open the chat, tap the name or number and choose "Report".
3. If you want to check the offer, look up the company yourself through its official website or a recognised job board. Real recruiters don't usually make first contact with a vague message to a random mobile number.
4. Never send money, your ID or bank details to anyone you've only met over a messaging app.
5. Forward the text to 7726 if it arrived by text, free on most networks, as the NCSC explains.

What if I've already paid or sent my details?

1. Stop paying now. No fee, tax or "unlock" will release your money. Every payment leads to another.
2. Call your bank on 159 or the number on the back of your card. Explain that it's a scam and ask them to try to stop or recover the payments.
3. If you sent cryptocurrency, getting it back is very hard; still, report it and keep the wallet addresses and transaction IDs. The FCA explains how crypto scams work.
4. If you sent a copy of your ID, be alert to accounts opened in your name. Consider protective registration with Cifas, and keep an eye on your credit file.
5. If you received money and passed it on, tell your bank at once and explain what happened. It's better to come forward than to be found.
6. Watch out for "recovery" offers. People promising to get your money back for a fee are usually the same scammers.

Where do I report it?

• Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or Police Scotland on 101, with screenshots, numbers, website addresses and payment receipts.
• Citizens Advice can help you check whether something is a scam and report it through its consumer service.
• JobsAware, the UK's not-for-profit service for workers, also gives advice on fake job offers.
• NoCall: report the number in the spam numbers directory.

Frequently asked questions

They really paid me for the first tasks. Doesn't that prove it's legitimate? No. That first payment is part of the scam: a small investment to make you trust them before they ask you for much more. It's exactly what makes this trick work.

Is it illegal to like posts or write reviews for money? Writing fake reviews is misleading and breaks the rules of most platforms, and fake reviews are banned under UK consumer law. But the real problem is that the "job" is just bait to get you to deposit money.

They want me to pay a tax before I can withdraw my balance. Should I pay? No. HMRC doesn't collect tax like that, and no real platform blocks your earnings until you pay. That balance doesn't exist: it's a number on a fake website.

How did they get my number? Usually from data breaches, bought databases or simply generating numbers at random. It doesn't mean they know anything else about you.

In short

If someone offers you easy money for liking videos or writing reviews and then asks you to pay to keep earning, it's a scam. Don't pay, don't send your ID, don't let your account be used to move money, and report it. And if one of these messages has reached you, report the number in the NoCall spam numbers directory: your warning could stop someone else falling for it.