Remote job scams: how they work and how to spot one

Remote job scams are job offers that do not exist. The scammer wants your money, your personal details, or both. The official pages we read describe a similar pattern in three countries. The FTC describes remote offers sent by email or text as one way in. This guide covers how remote job scams work, in the words of those agencies. For the short list of warning signs, see job posting red flags.

We read the five sources listed on this page on 2 November 2026. We add nothing that is not on them.

How the scams reach you

• Ads and job sites. The FTC says scammers advertise jobs and business opportunities through online ads, job sites and social media. They appear on real job sites, including LinkedIn.
• A message from a “recruiter”. The FTC describes scam recruiters who claim to work for a big-name employer and contact you by email or text with a remote job offer, sometimes from a personal phone number or email account.
• Your own CV. Report Fraud describes the case where you post your CV or details on job sites, and someone claiming to be an employer or an employer’s agent contacts you.
• Unexpected texts and chat apps. Scamwatch lists an unexpected approach by text message or by apps such as WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram as a warning sign.
• Well-known names. Scamwatch says scammers pretend to hire for high-profile companies and online shopping platforms, and impersonate well-known recruitment agencies.

What the scammer wants

Scamwatch says the goal is to steal your money and your identity details, and that often the job does not exist at all. Report Fraud says there is no job, and any fees paid go straight to the fraudsters. The FTC says scammers want your money, your personal information, or both.

How the story usually runs

Report Fraud describes a common route:

1. You are contacted, asked to fill in a questionnaire, and perhaps interviewed by phone.
2. You are told you got the job.
3. Then come arrangements. If the job is abroad, they talk about travel, accommodation and visas, and refer you to an “agency” that charges a fee.
4. After one fee, a second fee appears, and so on. The agency arranges nothing.
5. They may ask for your bank details “to set up salary payments”, and use them to steal from your account.

The FTC adds that scammers move quickly. They send an official-looking offer and paperwork asking for your financial details, “for direct deposit”, before you have interviewed. Real employers, it says, do not ask for this until they have interviewed and hired you.

Scamwatch describes other kinds. It names task-based job scams, money mule scams and pyramid schemes, and warns about jobs that involve moving money, buying things or receiving packages for someone else. It also says some scammers pay a small amount for a first task to build trust, and warns that you will not get back money you send.

Warning signs, in one place

These come straight from the sources:

• Anyone asks you to pay: for training, equipment, a recruitment fee, a visa fee or a security check.
• A check arrives and you are asked to send part of it back.
• You are asked for ID, bank or card details before an interview.
• The recruiter writes from a personal email address, not a company one.
• The offer comes unexpectedly by text or a chat app.
• There is no real interview, and you are pushed to act fast.
• You are told to top up an account with your own money, or cryptocurrency, to “complete tasks”.

What to do

• Do not pay. The FTC says honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job.
• Check independently. Use contact details you already trust or found yourself, not the ones in the message.
• Search the name of the company or recruiter with “scam”, “review” or “complaint”, as the FTC suggests.
• If you have paid or shared details, contact your bank or card provider at once. Scamwatch also says to change your passwords. In Australia and New Zealand it points to IDCARE for free help.
• Report it. The FTC points to ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Scamwatch takes reports in Australia. Report Fraud takes them in the UK. Report it too in the app or site where you saw the ad, as Scamwatch advises. Elsewhere, ask your bank or national police or consumer agency.