An employment scam occurs when job seekers are targeted and taken advantage by fraudulent entities with promises of gainful employment. They will try to recruit you with a job offer through unsolicited email or text messages, online classified ads, job posting websites, or through personal messages on social media.
Although many different types of employment scam exist, they often all follow the same pattern:
- You’re offered a job without an in-person or virtual interview
- You are asked to receive money via a cheque or deposit to your bank account
- You are instructed to withdraw a portion of that money—the remaining amount being your compensation or commission.
- Your asked to convert the withdrawn portion into cryptocurrency and send it back to the company through a provided crypto wallet address
The money you received is likely from an unknowingly compromised bank account or from illicit activity. Once you send the crypto to the company you will likely get a notice from your bank to inform you that the money you deposited was fake and will be withdrawn from your account. You will be left at a loss, having already sent the crypto to the scammers.
If you need to report an incident or you have fallen victim to this type of scam, reach out to our Live Chat support or submit a request at support@kraken.com.
Additional resources for reporting and learning about fraud:
- https://www.ssa.gov/scam/
- https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2020/cryptocurrency-investments.html
- https://www.ftc.gov/imposter
- https://ic3.gov/
- https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-cryptocurrency
- https://www.fbi.gov/news/podcasts/inside-the-fbi-holiday-scams-120120
- https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/report-signalez-eng.htm
- https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/scams-fraudes/victim-victime-eng.htm
- https://eba.europa.eu/contacts/complaints/frauds-and-scams
- https://www.ebf.eu/ebf-media-centre/cyberscams/