Fake Remote Assistant Jobs

Fake remote assistant jobs advertise personal assistant, virtual assistant, or administrative coordinator roles with flexible hours and remote working. They are designed to look like the kind of assistant work that genuinely exists and is widely advertised — making them harder to identify as fraud before the tasks begin.

The job turns fraudulent in the early work stages. Instead of legitimate administrative tasks, you are assigned 'errands' that are actually steps in a fraud: depositing a cheque and buying supplies with the proceeds, purchasing gift cards on the employer's behalf, receiving payments in your account and forwarding most of the money onward, or accepting parcels and reshipping them.

Each of these tasks places you at the operational end of a fraud or money-laundering scheme. The 'employer' benefits from your participation while maintaining distance from the actual transaction. You are left exposed to the legal and financial consequences.

The hiring process often looks legitimate. A job listing appears on a mainstream job board, you apply or are approached, a brief interview takes place, and you receive an offer with a reasonable salary. The role is described as involving scheduling, correspondence, research, and general support — all standard PA duties.

Within the first few days, you receive your first 'errand'. It may be framed as urgent: the employer is travelling, a client needs a gift, a supplier must be paid before end of day. You are asked to buy a specific amount in gift cards and share the codes, buy supplies using a cheque that was sent to you, or receive a payment and forward it minus your week's pay.

Each of these tasks is a vector for a different fraud. Gift card purchases are irreversible and a common way to extract untraceable value. Cheque deposits make you a participant in fake-cheque fraud — when the cheque bounces, you are liable. Receiving and forwarding payments makes you a money mule.

The employer is unreachable by phone or video. Communication happens only via messaging apps. Urgency is consistently emphasised. After the task is complete, another follows. The cycle continues until you stop, or until the scammer decides they have extracted enough.

The role sounds entirely normal. Personal assistant jobs are genuinely common, frequently remote, and often involve running errands or handling payments on behalf of a busy employer. The fraud exploits the trust and initiative that a good assistant is supposed to exercise — doing what is asked quickly and without excessive questioning.

The 'employer' also cultivates a personal relationship, often seeming warm and appreciative. Being a trusted assistant feels good, and the social dynamic makes it harder to refuse or question an instruction. The urgency framing — a client is waiting, the deadline is today — further compresses the time available for caution.

A person is hired as a remote personal assistant after a short message interview. Their first task is to deposit a cheque received in the post and purchase [amount] in gift cards for 'client appreciation gifts', then share the codes with the employer. The cheque later bounces, leaving them with a negative bank balance. The employer is unreachable and the job listing has been taken down.

As my assistant, please buy [amount] in gift cards for client gifts — I'll reimburse you with your salary.

I need you to deposit this cheque and buy office supplies for [amount] today — the rest is yours to keep.

Client payment of [amount] is arriving in your account. Forward [amount] to the vendor account below and keep [amount] as this week's pay.

Urgent: I'm in a meeting. Please buy [amount] in [brand] gift cards and send me the codes right away — I'll add it to your pay.

A delivery will arrive at your address this week. Please repackage and ship it to the address I'll provide — keep your weekly pay.

As part of your onboarding, please receive and forward one client payment to demonstrate you understand our payment process.

Before accepting any role, verify the employer through official business registers. Ask for a verifiable business email, a company website with a registered address, and a phone number you can call using a number found independently.

Insist on a video call before taking any financial errand. An employer who refuses all video contact and communicates only via messaging apps cannot be verified.

Decline any early task involving cheques, gift cards, or payment forwarding. These are not normal assistant duties. A genuine employer with financial errands uses proper business accounts and payment services, not a new employee's personal card or bank account.