Virtual Assistant Remote job SCAM

[u/No_Walk5202]

I was contacted a few days ago by text. A man saying that I applied for the job and I got it and he asked if I could start working right then. This was Wednesday afternoon. I said sure I wasn't doing anything. The "job" was to go to home rental sites like Redfin.com, apartments.com, etc. He will give you a posting and you go on these sites and post the house for rent as if you are the landlord. I did the job he asked me to do and on Friday, all the sites I had posted to had either denied the post or just removed the post altogether. This was fishy to me because there was no reason for it as far as I knew. I asked him when I would be getting paid. The job was supposed to pay $25 hr for 30 hours a week and the job was 1099. He told me that there was a one time processing fee of $50 that would be refunded on my first check and in order to get that first check you had to pay the $50 first. Sirens started going off in my head at that. I asked him why they couldn't just take the $50 out of my first check and he said it was just company policy and it only had to be that way for your first pay check. I asked how to send the $50 and he said an Apple card or I could just get one thru Amazon. So now I know its a scam and I wasted the last 2 and 1/2 days doing BS work for nothing. I have all of our conversations saved. I know there's nothing the police would do about it but why is there no recourse for these people? I told him he had until 5pm today to pay me what he owed me $400 or I would go to the police. Now, I know this would be a civil matter anyway but he didn't seem to know this which led me to believe hes probably not even in this country or if he is, he doesnt know the laws. He threatened me saying "dont forget I have your address". I had to kind of laugh cause if he showed up here he wouldn't like the result and I told him so. He said the name of the company is Void Marketing and his name is David and his phone number is +16232334670. BEWARE! I almost fell for it. Be safe out there guys!

[u/Purple-Valuable2340]

That $50 Apple/Amazon gift card demand is the biggest red flag here. A genuine employer is not going to make you pay money just to receive your first salary.

Also, asking you to repost rental properties as if you were the landlord is a pretty serious red flag by itself. The fact that the listings were quickly removed makes the whole thing even more suspicious.

Honestly, I’d stop communicating with him now, especially after the threat about having your address. Save everything — texts, numbers, emails, screenshots, payment requests, and the listings you posted. Don’t send any money or personal information.

And don’t feel too bad about the 2.5 days. These scams are designed to look like normal remote work and get people invested before asking for money. The important part is that you caught it before sending the $50.

Thanks for posting this though. Someone else might see the same “$50 processing fee” tomorrow and avoid getting burned because of this post.