The job that doesn't exist

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Scammers are always hiring. They just don't want to employ anybody.

This one has grown faster than almost anything else on this site. Reports to the FTC about job scams nearly tripled between 2020 and 2024, and reported losses went from $90 million to $501 million. That's the FTC's own published comparison, and it's the number we'll stand behind. The quarterly figures that circulate for 2025 trace back to dashboards rather than a published report, so they're not here.

And it doesn't only hit young job-seekers. It hits people re-entering the workforce after a layoff, people supplementing a fixed income, and retirees looking for part-time work. It hits anybody who has ever thought I could do something from home.

The offshore and oil rig version

If you live on the Gulf Coast, this is the one you'll meet.

The pitch is specific and it's plausible. A rotation offshore, two weeks on and two weeks off. Six figures, no degree required, training provided. Sometimes it's a rig. Sometimes it's a pipeline job, a maritime contract, a camp job in Alaska or North Dakota.

It's believable because the real jobs exist, they really do pay well. And the real hiring process really does involve certifications and travel. That's what makes the fake fees sound normal.

Then the costs start:

• A safety certification you must pay for up front. BOSIET, HUET, offshore survival training.
• A medical exam through their approved clinic.
• A background check fee.
• Travel and lodging to the muster point, to be reimbursed on your first check.
• Work permits, visas, or a TWIC card processed through their "agent."
• Gear: boots, coveralls, a laptop for the office role.

Each one is modest. Each one is promised back in the first paycheck. The paycheck never comes, and often the fees keep coming until you stop.

The rule that ends it: real employers pay you. You never pay them.

A real offshore operator does not collect money from applicants. If certification is genuinely required, you enroll with the training provider yourself, directly. You don't wire money to a recruiter who arranges it. And a real recruiter will happily tell you the operator's name. You can then call on a number you look up yourself.

The other shapes it takes

The unsolicited text or WhatsApp message. The FTC's guidance is blunt about this one. Ignore generic, unexpected texts, WhatsApp, or Telegram messages about jobs, because real employers don't contact people that way.

The fake recruiter for a real company. They use a big-name employer's identity, a personal email address rather than a corporate one, and a fast-moving process. You may get an official-looking job offer and onboarding paperwork demanding your financial information before anyone has even interviewed you. The recruiter will push for that information before answering your questions about the job.

The equipment purchase. You're hired, congratulations, now buy the laptop and the monitor through their preferred vendor, reimbursed later.

The task or "gamified" job. Rate products, like videos, click links, complete sets. Your balance climbs on a slick dashboard. Then you must deposit your own money (often crypto) to unlock a withdrawal. There is no withdrawal.

The reshipping job. You receive packages at home, repackage them, and forward them. You are moving stolen goods. This one carries legal exposure for you.

The payment processing job. Money arrives in your account and you forward it on, keeping a percentage. That makes you a money mule. Same legal exposure, and your bank account will be closed.

The fake check, which deserves its own section

This is the mechanism that turns a hopeful new hire into someone who owes their bank thousands of dollars.

The "employer" sends what looks like a company check. It comes with instructions to send some of the money on to someone else, often by wire, crypto, or gift cards. The new hire deposits it and fronts the forwarded money out of their own pocket. They assume the deposit will cover it. By the time the bank says the check is fake, the employer is gone.

The trap is a rule most people don't know:

Your bank makes deposited funds available within days. Discovering a check is fake can take weeks. You are responsible for the full amount either way.

"The check cleared" does not mean "the check is good." It means the bank fronted you the money and can take it back.

No honest employer will ever send you a check. None will tell you to send part of the money onward or buy gift cards with it. Not once, not for any reason.

The signs

• They contacted you about a job you never applied for.
• The interview happened entirely by text or chat: no voice, no video.
• You were hired very fast, sometimes within a day.
• The email is personal, not a company domain, check the part after the @.
• Pay is well above the going rate for the work described.
• They want your Social Security number or bank details before a real interview.
• Any payment at all flows from you to them.
• A check arrives before you've done any work.
• They ask you to receive and forward money or packages.
• Pressure to decide immediately.

Note the first sign. It's the same first sign as everything else on this site: it came to you.

What to do instead

1. 1

   Verify the employer, not the recruiter.

   Look up the company's real phone number, not one from the message. Ask whether the role and the recruiter are genuine. This is the second step applied to a job offer.

2. 2

   Search the company name plus the word scam.

   Then check whether the website is as old as the company claims.

3. 3

   Never pay an employer or a recruiter to be hired.

   Not for training, gear, background checks, medical exams, permits, or travel. If a permit or a certificate really is required, you buy it yourself, from whoever issues it.

4. 4

   Never deposit a check and forward money.

   Ever, for any employer, for any reason.

5. 5

   Don't give your Social Security number or bank details until you've been genuinely hired.

   That means after a real interview, by a company you've confirmed exists yourself.

6. 6

   Wait a day before sending anything.

   A real job survives a night's sleep. So does a real offer.

If it already happened

If you deposited a check and forwarded money: call your bank today and tell them. The sooner they know, the better your position. Being upfront matters, because from the bank's side this can look like check fraud until you explain.

If you paid fees: dispute it if you used a credit card. Report at reportfraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov.

If you gave out your Social Security number: freeze your credit and work the list. About an hour, and most of the risk closes.

If you forwarded packages or money: stop immediately, keep every record, and consider talking to a lawyer. You may well have been used without knowing, and that distinction matters. But it's better made early and by you than later and by someone else.

Full checklist: I think I was scammed.

Looking for work is not a weakness

There is something especially ugly about this category. It targets people at the exact moment they're trying to do the responsible thing. Find work, earn their own money, stop depending on somebody.

Wanting a job is not naivety. Being willing to pay for a certification, because you thought that's how the industry works, is not foolishness. It's someone doing their homework with bad information.

And the defense costs nothing. Real employers pay you. You never pay them. One sentence, and this entire category, the rigs, the remote roles, the tasks, the checks, stops working on you. And on everyone you tell.

Related: How they ask to be paid · The person who was never real · Five signs it's a scam