All common scams

Job offers and overpayment checks

An easy, well-paid job sends you a check, tells you to keep some of it and to send the rest on, and the check later bounces after the money you sent is gone.

What it looks like

Easy money job: work from home, make $400 a day, no experience needed. We will mail you a check for $2,450. Deposit it, keep $400 as your pay, then send the rest by gift card or wire immediately.

A made-up example. Real messages change the words, the names and the numbers.

The signs to look for

• It promises high pay for little work and asks for no experience. Real employers do not hire this way.
• It asks you to send money on by gift card, wire or crypto. A check can look cleared and still bounce days later.
• It wants you to hurry, before the bank finds that the check is not good.

What they usually ask for next

1. It often starts with a "wrong number" or a job offer that pays well for little work.
2. They usually suggest moving the chat to a messaging app.
3. After some friendly chat, they often bring up an investment or crypto app.
4. They often ask you to put money in, sometimes saying a fee is needed before you can take it out.

If you already paid, gave access or gave a code

These are the same steps the tool shows after a check, in the same words.

1. Contact your bank, card company, or payment provider right away, by phone or in their official app, using a number from your card or statement. Ask whether the payment can be stopped or disputed. That depends on the payment type and the timing, and an outcome can't be promised. Phone is usually the fastest first move. Going to a local branch (a later step) is the follow-up, not a replacement.
2. If cash, a check, or a package went to a courier or through the post, tell your bank if a check is involved and report it to the police straight away, with what you remember about the person and the time.
3. Contact the gift card company's fraud line, using the number or help page printed on the card or on the company's official website that you type yourself. Say the card was used in a scam and ask what they can do. Do it quickly, because a card that has already been spent cannot be helped. Keep the card, its receipt and any case number you are given. Never read the full card number to anyone who contacted you.
4. Watch for "recovery" offers: in the next weeks someone may contact you promising to get your money back for a fee, and that is a second scam. Real help never charges upfront. If one reaches you, do not pay or share anything, and report it as a separate incident.

These steps are general guidance. They have not yet been reviewed by the organizations named, and agencies, deadlines and rules differ by country, so use your own government's official website to find the right office. We can't tell whether any step will help in your case.

This is general information, not legal, financial or investigative advice. We can't promise any money will come back.

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