Crypto scammers target job hunters with fake TikTok ads

Crypto scammers are creating fake advertisements on TikTok to target job seekers, and one user has lost roughly $8,000.

The scam came to light after a Leicester man was defrauded of £6,000 (about $7,620) in crypto payments after fraudsters promising a lucrative employment opportunity extracted funds from the victim.

A report from LeicestershireLive stated that the victim was led to scammers after he saw an advertisement in early August claiming to offer work with “no experience needed.” The ad led him to apply for a job titled “data provider user” with a company called Clickaine, advertised as an “international app marketing firm.”

Clickaine is a Czech marketing company whose name was used in the scam unwittingly. The firm has denied involvement in the scheme.

The fraud began with the bad actors contacting the victim on WhatsApp, posing as a recruiter. They offered a monthly salary of up to £4,650 (approximately $5,800), plus commission for just an hour of work daily, with the wage to be paid in USDT. As such, the victim was asked to open an account with the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com. 

While the job involved completing simple online tasks, the unusual requirement was that the victim make a cryptocurrency payment before each task. The scammers provided a specific wallet address to send the deposits, which were necessary to start the task and would be refunded along with a commission.

At first, the victim’s experience seemed promising. He made small crypto deposits, completed his tasks, and received returns along with a commission, giving him a false sense of security.  

However, the deposits escalated from £30 initially to as high as £8,000. As soon as the larger deposits were made, the funds were not returned. When the victim shared his experience on TikTok, many other alleged victims reached out to him with similar experiences, suggesting that the incident was not an isolated one.

TikTok’s community guidelines prohibit such fraudulent activities, but this has not stopped crypto scammers from preying on unsuspecting users. Last year, a report from crypto.news pointed to a surge in fake crypto giveaways, with scammers using deepfake videos of celebrities like Elon Musk to mislead users.

These scams and bogus adverts extend beyond TikTok, with platforms like Facebook and X also plagued by such incidents. For instance, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently identified over 600 ads that were misleading or promoted a crypto scam.

Earlier this year, blockchain security firm SlowMist warned about a surge in phishing links posted by accounts that mimic genuine crypto-focused projects on the microblogging platform.