Hi! We found your profile on LinkedIn. Our company is hiring remote Data Entry Specialists at $45/hour, flexible hours, no experience needed. The interview is done over Telegram with our HR manager.
This is the fake-job scam. It doesn't want your labour; it wants a payment from you or your bank details, and it is patient enough to run a whole "interview" first.
The pattern
- Unsolicited contact by text, WhatsApp, Telegram or a LinkedIn message from a new profile.
- Pay that doesn't match the work. $40-60/hour for data entry, "chat support" or "package reshipping" with no experience required.
- Interview by chat only. No video call, no phone call, the "HR manager" is a first name and a Telegram handle.
- You're hired within a day. Real hiring takes longer than that.
- Then the money moves in the wrong direction. Either: - they send you a check to "buy equipment from our approved vendor" - the check bounces days after you've paid the vendor (them); or - you must pay for training, a background check, a starter kit or software; or - they need your bank login or ID documents "for payroll" on day one.
Quick checks that take five minutes
- Search the company name plus "scam" and plus "careers". A real company has a website with a careers page that lists the role.
- Look up the recruiter on LinkedIn. A real recruiter has a history, connections and posts, not a profile created last month.
- Ask for a video interview. Scammers refuse or stall.
- Look at the email domain. Real companies use
@company.com, not@gmail.comor a lookalike like@company-careers.net.
Rules that end the conversation
- Never pay to get a job. No real employer asks for money, ever.
- Never deposit a check and forward part of it. That is the scam, every time.
- Never share bank logins, card photos or ID scans before you've had a real interview and a signed offer.
Paste the message
Scamed highlights the pay claim, the "interview via Telegram" line and the equipment/check sentence, and checks the company domain's age.