A "remote" employer asking for money before paying me - is it a scam?

Question

So I started working at this remote job. It's giving real online data to boost up merchant products. Then, I started doing my training days, after that I was given (money) credit for the majority of my training after giving me the credit I would be finishing my products which consists of 45 products. I just needed 3 more products to complete when all of sudden it went to negative (when it's negative you have to sum it up to what's the negative until it's positive). Throughout time was passing by, it finally finished, in order to withdraw my money the company is asking for a insurance fee anyone know what's this about?

Answer 1

This is called an "advance fee" scam. They'll continue dangling non-existent money in front of you asking you to send them more and more. You will never get any money from them, and any money you send them would be lost to you forever. The added benefit of fake reviews or whatever it was that they convinced you doing is probably helping them to monetize the scam from other sources.

Disengage, do not continue any interactions, and forget about getting anything from them.

Answer 2

Nobody legitimate will ever ask you to give them money so they can give you money. Instead, they will deduct whatever the cost is from what they are paying you, and send you the remainder.

Answer 3

So I started working at this remote job

Did you really? Did you check whether these people whom you have never met, are actually operating a real company?

Did you know that a website can easily be set up by anybody, and it's not necessarily a real company? A page on a website can show any old rubbish, doesn't mean it's genuine.

Real jobs (even remote ones) come with documentation you will be given, or you can research, like employment paperwork, tax codes, company registration, company business bank account, business landline phone number you can call, a real office address. They even have other real staff. Without all those things, you aren't working a job. You are just doing 'stuff' and hoping you get paid. Since the job isn't real, no, you aren't getting paid, and if you are not very alert, you will be the person paying!

It's giving real online data to boost up merchant products.

Is that your name for your 'job', or is that what they called it? It's obviously a phrase to disguise what you are actually doing. Sounds like they have you posting fake reviews for scam products online. Do you think doing that is OK? Criminals do this. Do you think that criminals are going to pay you? Posting fake reviews is also illegal in UK, US and Canada, and probably many other countries.

After that I was given (money) credit for the majority of my training.

Genuine jobs never work like this. with a real job, you are either an employee being paid (even while training) or you are not an employee. If you are to be paid, they put real money in your personal bank account (not some BS system of theirs that you have to login to, to see your theoretical money. Any money like that doesn't exist, sorry.

after giving me the credit I would be finishing my products

What 'products'? Is the actual products a secret? 'Finishing' them how? What happens when the products are 'finished'? This all sounds very shady.

Again, none of this sounds anything like a job. It sounds very much like a suspicious and fake 'money-making scheme' someone might get trapped into if they are very naive. Did you consider asking somebody knowledgeable that you trust about this peculiar arrangement? You really need to be asking more questions from advisers. Don't just accept rubbish people tell you, without checking yourself, or checking with somebody you trust.

If the people telling you these stories don't allow you time to go away and check, then know you are 100% about to be scammed, so just get out of the situation. Scammers love to give you no time to think, no time to research online, no time to ask somebody else. If you are pressured to agree to join anything or do anything with no time to think about it or check it, then whatever it is, it is guaranteed to be a scam. Just say no.

Scammers also get very impatient and warn you to stop if you ask them too many questions directly. When you get that reaction, it's also a big scam warning sign. Even if the scammer can answer your questions, think carefully: do the answers really make sense?

I just needed 3 more products to complete

Again, this wording is very suspicious. Are you doing something to 'complete' the products, or do they 'complete' themselves? Why didn't they all 'complete' before? What was the problem? Did you check to realise that nothing you are talking about these mysterious products sounds like how company products work? Any company simply sells its products. If this bunch of rogues told you "Oh, it's fine, that's just the way we do it", then notice that is not an answer that makes any sense, which is a sign of a scam. It makes it easier to scam you is the real reason why they do it like that.

Even if they give an actual reason, like "it makes it much easier to organise our products/our system/our team, then be very aware that is probably a BS reason. No other real company does that, most likely. Remember, bad people have no problem lying to you, even 100 times, so long as they get hold of what they want, which is usually your personal data, your card details, or best of all, your money.

Not a job.

when all of sudden it went to negative

Of course it did, even though I have no clue what that means. You haven't explained the meaning, which is suspicious, especially if you don't actually know how it happened, someone just told you that it happened.

But something happens that means you're not going to get paid, right?

when it's negative you have to sum it up to what's the negative until it's positive

Sounds a lot like nonsense wording to mean you have to give these rascals your money.

The very first time someone mentions that in any 'job', or in any deal someone asks you to pay money to get more money later, just now that you are being scammed. Don't even walk away immediately, run away!

in order to withdraw my money the company is asking for a insurance fee

You would not need to pay 'insurance' to withdraw your money. That makes no sense, it is clearly an invented fee. What is being insured? Why?

anyone know what's this about?

They have used a typical 'advance fee fraud' to trick you into paying them money with the promise that you will get more money later. Except there is no 'money later' for you. There never is. There is only more and more excuses they give why you need to pay them more fees, and then more reasons why you can't get paid, and them more fees. If you pay the first fee, they will then say you can't withdraw any money without 'upgrading' your account - another fee, after that they will ask you to pay for some fake invented stuff like a 'processing fee', then it will be the 'restocking fee', then they will tell you to pay the 'tax' on your money first... It will never end, anything you pay, they will ask you for something else after that. You should realise that if it was not a total scam, you would have been told beforehand what fees you would need to pay to withdraw your 'money'. If it was not a scam, you would not even need to give them any money, a real company would take out the money for the fees, and just give you the rest.

Forget about any money you already paid, it is gone forever. Forget about the money you think they owe you, it never existed. The whole scheme was just set up to get to the part where you have to start paying them money.

Real jobs pay employees money regularly. You never have to give money to your employer for any reason. No exceptions. Even if they wanted you to buy a uniform (very unlikely a first work uniform is free), they would give you the uniform, and take the cost of the uniform out of your wages.

That's how real employers work. Don't agree any reason to pay money into any 'work' system to get money somehow, or you will get scammed.

I hope you are very young, as any mature person should know that all employers give you money, you never pay your 'employer' or 'job' for any reason.

As for this ridiculous positive and negative 'product' system, that should have been a warning sign to you.

As you leave all this behind, make sure you don't fall for round 2 of the scam, which is people telling you that they can use their contacts and technical knowledge to recover the money you lost in the first scam. This is always a big lie. The second lot of scammers will ask you to pay to register, then they will tell you that they have recovered your scammed money. They definitely haven't But one by one, they will start asking you to pay this fee, and that fee and the other fee, and here we go again. And again, it makes no sense at all. If they have really found your money, then why don't they just take the fees out of your money, and give you back the rest? Because it's a big lie. They are just thieves trying to steal from you again.

Nobody can get back your money, sorry. That money has gone forever. The scammers planned it ahead of time so that when they get your money, it is immediately gone out of your reach forever. They usually use a way that neither you, nor anybody else can reclaim it. Often in scams, your money has even left your country, and disappeared somewhere abroad that your countries laws don't even apply. It can also be anonymised by being moved around as cryptocurrency. That's why scammers love to use crypto in their schemes.

Young people leaving high school and college need to all be warned about what is and isn't a real job, and that anytime a 'job' asks you to somehow pay money into the job for any reason, then it's always a scam.

And they also need to be warned that you never, ever pay anyone money to get access to more money, it's a scam every time.

Older and retired people need to know these two important rules too.

Answer 4

Other answers have already pointed out that this is an advance-fee scam, which I entirely agree with. I would like to add one extra point, though.

Whenever someone talks about "insurance", ask yourself what's actually being insured against. My medical insurance helps take care of the doctor's bill if I get sick. My homeowner's insurance covers damage to my house in the event of certain emergencies. So, how does this "insurance" work? What, exactly, is the "insurance" insuring against here?

Answer 5

Yes! It is a scam! I was a victim of one once! Stupidly I put money in, then they ask you for more and more because ‘there has been an error’ on the ‘order’ you are completing. It is all a scam. Please be aware everyone! There are new ones around too which I have been approached about too (I am assuming they keep my number in their database now), but they tell you, you have to like videos and subscribe to certain things like TikTok or YouTube etc. or even hotels and they pay you actual money like £10 or £20 in the start, but it is a scam. Its a way of them getting you to trust them and then once you put money in because ‘you need to do an order which gives you lots of subscribers at once’ or something like that, then they start again with the constant pressure that you must pay them now. Please don’t fall for it. I did once and they just ask for more and more. It’s really bad.