A fake recruiter may contact you through SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram or social media with an easy work-from-home job, high salary or paid review task.
How victims are trapped
The scam may first pay a very small amount to create trust. Later, the victim is asked to deposit increasing amounts to unlock premium tasks, commissions or withdrawals. Fake appointment letters, websites and HR profiles may be used.
Red flags
- A job offer without a proper interview or application.
- Registration, security, training-kit, laptop, recharge or document-verification fees.
- Pressure to move the conversation to Telegram or an unknown app.
- Requests for OTPs, banking credentials, screen sharing or remote-access software.
- Email sent from a free or misspelled address instead of the employer’s official domain.
Before accepting a job
Visit the employer’s official website yourself, use its published contact details, confirm the vacancy and check the recruiter’s identity. A genuine employer should not require repeated deposits to release salary or commission.
If money or account access is already lost
- Call your bank or payment provider immediately and ask them to block the transaction or account.
- Call the national cyber-fraud helpline 1930 as quickly as possible.
- File a report at cybercrime.gov.in.
- Preserve screenshots, phone numbers, UPI IDs, transaction references, emails and chat history.
Official reference
Read the I4C advisory on fake job-offer SMS fraud.