Over the years, I have been invited to be a product tester for various companies. Because of this, I assume I’m on some sort of list. I received a random text message from “John.” He claimed he was with Google and asked if I would like to do some freelance work. I asked him how I know he’s legit. He said he could give me any info I’d like, including their license number.
I still wasn’t convinced and wanted to see where this would go. He told me to download WhatsApp and gave me the name of my “trainer.” I found her to be pretty brash. My “job” was to push game ads onto YouTube. I thought how strange. I did just a wee bit of research and read that Google owns YouTube. The trainer dealt with YouTube.
I found the whole thing to be a bit odd. After an hour of “training,” the app showed I earned $53 plus however many times it was clicked on (3 so far), so I “earned” another $3. Then came the big red flag. 🚩 In order to get paid, I had to download MetaMask and CashApp. I didn’t have either and had never heard of MetaMask. Of course I Googled it and Meta has to do with crypto.
She contacted me last night and again this morning. I haven’t responded. I did take screenshots of our texts.
TO ADD: the longer I interacted with “Emily,” the more I knew it was a scam. I went along with her as I wanted to know how the scam worked. I never really understood Bitcoin and crypto but knew I would never be part of either one.
They have no personal info nor have I given them any money. The biggest concern I have is if they hacked my phone.