Second, seemingly legit, job posting that’s contacted me after the fact to download Signal/Telegram. I’m in now way going to do it, not that dumb, just wondering if this is a new trend I’m not aware of?
The scam is not downloading Signal. The scam will come later when they say “You just got the job! I will send you a check to purchase your remote work supplies”.
Do not deposit the check. At all. No matter what. It is not a legitimate check. It will never be a legitimate check. No matter how real the check looks, I guarantee that no company works like this! Do not respond to them. Block their number and ignore them for the rest of your life.
What happens is: The check is fake and you deposit it. By law, your bank is required to credit your account with the check’s value within a couple of days. HOWEVER: Just because your account gets credited the amount, doesn’t mean the check is fully processed. The scammer will tell you to buy WFH supplies from a “trusted vendor”. You are “buying” your supplies from the scammer, using the money credited to your account. Then, in 2-3 weeks, the bank will reject the check as fake. They will subtract the value from your account and you will have paid for your “supplies” using your own money. You will never receive the “supplies” or get your money back. The bank might even suspend your accound because of the fraudulent check.
A youtube channel that I follow actually released a video today about employment scams. In the section where he talks about red flags, compare them to the messages you just received. I bet you’ll notice some similarities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9g-y8wVzws
Imagine in the world where we do stock trades that are measured in the milliseconds and it takes 2-3 weeks to process a check. This involves 3 things: establish communication with the bank, verify the account, verify the funds are available. If yes = transfer. Unreal that we enable these scammers still.
so many variations of this type of scam. From renting an apartment or home to buying a home (scammers posing as escrow).
Funnily enough, not 2 weeks later, I ran into this. Totally felt this was going to be a scam, but was curious how/when the hook would be cast. Done over Text then Teams. Censored due to likely not real names/phone number that I don’t want to dox.
Everyone musing that it’s a legit offer, It’s a pretty common tactic. OP is right to be wary and seek advice. I had someone try #5 on me last week. I enjoy messing with them so I toyed with them until I got several phishy links to the play store in an effort to help me locate Telegram. In OP’s case I would assume it’s either social engineering or phishy hyperlinks. It’s almost like trading for a Shako in D2, you know the dude is probably going to tell you he has to put something in his chest real quick to make room or “accidentally” click off the trade hoping you won’t check it again.
I didn’t get scammed, I just bought a perfect emerald cap at slightly above market rate 😭