A new brand of crypto-related scams is sweeping across the TikTok scene in the UK which targets job seekers with fake ads.
The new scams are a mild form of pig butchering scams that work by building a long-term relationship with the victims before eventually defrauding them.
The new scam was exposed after a Leicester man named Omar Al Selk was defrauded of £6,000 (about $7,620) in crypto payments after engaging a TikTok advertisement that promised a lucrative job offer without any experience needed.
Local media reported that the man engaged the TikTok ads and was drawn into a relationship that lured him to make substantial crypto payments.
The TikTok Ad which he engaged in early August led him to apply for a job titled “data provider user” with a company called Clickaine, advertised as an “international app marketing firm.”
Clickaine which happens to be a registered Czech marketing company has denied any involvement in the scheme.
The Fraud Explained
The fraud began with the alleged scammers posing as recruiters contacting the UK user on WhatsApp after he clicked on the Ad.
The recruiters engaged him and 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.
The only caveat was that he was to make initial deposits to a crypto wallet before receiving any single 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.
The first few tasks were smooth with the crypto user receiving a refund of his money, wages, and a bonus after completing the tasks.
This created a false sense of security buying the trust of the UK crypto user.
After a few completed tasks, the Initial deposits ballooned from £30 initially to as high as £8,000. As soon as the user deposited the large sum he was not contacted again and received no new tasks.
The victim took his experience to TikTok where he shared it with his community. The responses he received revealed that the incident was not an isolated one and is the latest scam technique on TikTok.
TikTok guidelines prohibit such fraudulent schemes but this has yet to stop scammers from preying on job seekers on TikTok.
What to Know
Pig butchering scams are scams designed to buy the victims over by establishing a long-term relationship which creates a false sense of security.
The Czech company whose name was used for the fraud scheme has denied ever employing the UK crypto user and is completely unaware of the scheme.
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