"Get paid to like videos from home", is that job a scam?

By Grandma Pearl · Updated June 2026 · 4-minute read

It usually starts with a cheerful text from a number you do not know: "Hello! We saw your resume. Earn $200 a day from home, just like videos and rate products. Flexible hours. Interested?" No interview, no company you recognize, just easy money for tapping your phone. With prices the way they are, who would not at least listen, dear?

That is the door they want you to walk through. The FTC has a name for this one, a "task scam," and they say it has shot up faster than almost any other fraud, with people losing real money to fake jobs.

How the trap closes

Here is the cruel part: at first, it works. You "complete tasks," and they pay you a little, maybe twenty or forty dollars, right to your account. That small, real payout melts your doubt. Now you trust them.

Then the hook. To "unlock" the better-paying tasks or to "withdraw" your growing balance, you are told to deposit your own money first, usually in cryptocurrency. The dashboard shows your earnings climbing into the hundreds or thousands. So you deposit, to free up that balance. But every withdrawal needs one more deposit, one more "fee," one more "tax." The balance was never real, and the money you sent is already gone.

Pearl's one rule for "jobs" that find you

And remember how they found you: a random text, a WhatsApp or Telegram message, a too-friendly recruiter. Real companies do not hire that way. If a job interests you, go to the company's real website yourself and apply there, the same way you would check on a package or a bank, never through a link a stranger sent.

What to do with the message

1. Do not reply, and do not deposit a cent. Not to "unlock" anything, not ever.
2. Block the number and, if it came by text, forward it to 7726 (that spells S-P-A-M).
3. Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI at ic3.gov.

What if I already deposited money?

Be kind to yourself, honey. These are designed by pros, and the small real payout is engineered to fool sharp people. Stop depositing right now, no matter what they promise will unlock your balance. Call your bank or the crypto platform you used, save screenshots of everything, and report it at the links above. The sooner you stop, the more you keep.

Sources: Federal Trade Commission, consumer alerts on job and task scams (consumer.ftc.gov, reportfraud.ftc.gov); FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov). Grandma Pearl is an AI character (always labeled). Educational content only, not financial or legal advice.