Most side gigs are exactly what they look like: you do the work, the platform or client pays you. But job scams have become one of the most common ways people lose money, and the people they target are the ones looking for extra income. The Federal Trade Commission’s advice comes down to one rule worth memorising: a legitimate job will never ask you to pay to get it.

Here are the nine warning signs we see most often, and what to do instead.

1. You have to pay before you can start

Training fees, “starter kits”, certification, equipment, background-check fees you pay to the employer: the FTC is blunt that no legitimate gig makes you pay for any of these to get the job. Real platforms run their own background checks and, where a check costs money, the cost is disclosed up front by the platform itself, not demanded by someone in a chat window.

2. They send you a check and ask for some of it back

This is the classic fake check scam. The “employer” sends a check, asks you to deposit it, then tells you to send part of it on: to a “supplier”, for “equipment”, or because they “overpaid”. The check can look real and your bank may make the money available within days, but when it bounces, often weeks later, you owe the bank the full amount. No honest employer pays you and then asks for money back.

3. The offer found you, not the other way around

A text out of the blue, a DM on social media, an email saying your résumé “was selected” for a job you never applied for. Recruiters do reach out to people, but an unsolicited offer for easy, well-paid work at home is the most common opening line for a scam.

4. The whole “interview” happens in a chat app

If you’re hired after a text conversation, with no video or phone call, no named manager and no company address you can check, be careful. Scammers prefer chat apps because they’re anonymous and easy to abandon.

5. The job is reshipping packages

“Quality control inspector”, “logistics coordinator”, “package processor”: you receive parcels at home and forward them somewhere else. The goods are often bought with stolen card numbers, the promised pay never arrives, and you’ve become part of a fraud. Treat any job that involves forwarding packages to addresses you’re given as a scam.

6. You’re paid, or asked to pay, in gift cards or crypto

Legitimate employers and platforms pay by direct deposit, check or a payment service in your own name. Requests to buy gift cards, send cryptocurrency, or use a crypto ATM are among the clearest signs of fraud.

7. You have to “unlock” your earnings

A newer pattern: “task” jobs where you rate products, like videos or “optimize” apps, see earnings pile up in an online account, and then are told to deposit your own money to unlock them or reach the next level. The earnings were never real.

8. Big money, little work, no details

Vague duties, flexible hours, and pay that’s far above what similar work pays anywhere else. If you can’t find out what the company actually does, who runs it, or how they make money, that’s the answer.

9. They pressure you to act now

“We need an answer today.” “Only three spots left.” Real employers give you time to think. Pressure is there to stop you from checking.

How to check a gig before you sign up

  • Search the company name with the words “scam”, “complaint” and “review”. Look beyond the first page of results.
  • Go to the company yourself. Find its official website and contact details on your own, and confirm the job is real. Don’t use the links or phone numbers in the message you received.
  • Never share your bank login, and don’t give your Social Security number until you’ve confirmed the job is real and you’re filling in official tax forms.
  • Talk to someone you trust before you deposit a check or send money.

Real work tends to come the other way round: customers find you. That’s why so much of this newsletter is about getting found online, with a profile people can check, real reviews, and a list of people who asked to hear from you. Legitimate businesses are easy to look up. Make yours one of them: how to get your side gig found online.

If you think you’ve found a scam, or lost money to one, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you sent money, contact your bank, card company or the gift-card company straight away, and ask them to reverse the payment.

Sources

  1. FTC: Job scams: red flags, fake checks, reshipping
  2. FTC: How to spot, avoid and report fake check scams
  3. FTC: Report fraud
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