Should i take my coworker up on his job offer?

Dinodicchellathicc@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 194 points –

My coworker recently told me he moonlights doing an online job while working our normal job. I asked him what he does and he said that it's hard to explain but there's a powerpoint that explains when i get hired. He said it's all legal and we get paid $10 an hour and pay goes out every week. He showed me he's made an extra $250 this week on an excel spreadsheet. I think it sounds like a great opportunity/s

Anyway what flavor of scam do you think this guy is part of? I'm thinking mlm because he's trying to bring others into the fold, but I heard him tell someone else theres a fee to join, and that screams pyramid scheme.

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He'll only tell you what the job duties are AFTER you're hired and YOU have to pay to be hired? For $10/hr? Even if that wasn't a straight up scam I wouldn't invest time, money, and effort into signing up and doing onboarding if I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Hard to say exactly what's going on there with that little info, though.

You lost me after "it's hard to explain but there's a powerpoint presentation". I would pass.

Sounds like MLM bullshit at best, or something illegal like being a money mule at worst.

My moneys on answering capchas.

Answering captchas pays much much less than that.

If someone has to say it's all legal, do you honestly think that isn't a red flag?

"it's all legal" is usually followed by "trust me bro" and then you get to learn about RICO

If he has to explain that it's legal, and refuses to tell you what it is until you get hired, it's a scam. Probably an MLM he got sucked into.

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He said it’s all legal

I mean, if I were trying to recruit people into an illegal pyramid scheme, that is what I would say too.

you already know this, but if you need to hear it, this is a scam.

anything you describe by "its all legal", is illegal, guaranteed. And don't get me started on the fee to join, it's not even a good ponzi, how is $10 an hour supposed to interest anyone?! my guess is that secret powerpoint will tell you to recruit people for a reward.

your "friend" sounds like this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEsm7vDl3zU but aimed for less rich people.

Depends on locatio; in other parts of the developing world, $10 USD/hr wouldn't be too shabby.

I once had a customer tell "I know it sounds like a pyramid scheme, but it's not" which all but confirms something is a pyramid scheme. I'm gonna assume "it's definitely legal" is actually code for it's completely illegal.

but it's totally legal

🚩🚩🚩

it's all legal

Ultra gigantic red flag.

For sure. I think it violates Grice's maxim of quantity - I've never seen a legitimate job posting where they felt the need to tell me how legal the job is. That call-out being in there is decidedly worrisome haha.

An entertaining video on the maxims from Tom Scott: https://youtu.be/IJEaMtNN_dM?si=GxmkO8Is3B9EaibZ

I like how you can tell who didn’t read your whole post by them giving you real advice about not taking this job

Or they missed the /s after the bit about it being a great opportunity.

Even if you miss the /s, the second paragraph makes it pretty clear that was sarcasm. Unless you know people who think getting scammed is a great opportunity.

it's hard to explain but there's a powerpoint that explains when i get hired

If they can’t give you a job description until after you’re hired, how do you know if you’re qualified? If they hire just anyone, then it’s a low skill job and might be too boring for you

there’s a fee to join

Another red flag. My guess is some kind of MLM or crypto.

$10 an hour

Is that acceptable where you are? Minimum wage is $20 here. Does the wage depend on how much you sell or how many people you bring in? How much does the wage vary each week? At $10 an hour, how long will it take to recover the entry fee?

Not enough information on what the job is, evasive about what the job is, and the entry fee, all combine to sound dodgy to me; even if he says it’s legal, is it fair and moral?

Personally I’d give it a miss. Only you can decide how urgently you need the money and how far you are willing to go to earn it.

Good luck, and please come back and let us know how it goes!

After many hours of deliberation and a long tearful phonecall with my mother, I've decided to pass on the opportunity.

If there's a fee to join, it's a scam. You don't pay for your job.

The fee to join makes this absolutely a scam, but everything else reminds me of trying to explain my work for Appen. They do extremely strict NDAs and pay similarly, it's legit but it also kinda sucks, or at least all the projects I was on sucked.

Even after what everyone else here has said, I won't get out of bed for 10$ an hour.

How much is the “sign up fee”? Because, ngl, I’m really curries about that PowerPoint now.

Sounds like a scam, but hey hear him out it may be legit. Don't draft that resignation letter just yet. I can tell you, with almost complete certainty, that it's an MLM scheme and you should just walk away.

100% a scam and your coworker is either naive and needs someone to tell him that too or is an asshole who's trying to get out of the hole he's put himself in by recruiting other people

Def a scam. If it's offering hourly income (rather than strictly commissions) I'm guessing it's crypto, but I think Primemerica (sp?) started offering an hourly pay option so I may be wrong

Yeah, hard to say the exact nature of the scam. It could be some kind of ponzi, paying out the teeny "wage" from the fees coming in from new recruits.

I had a similar experience and it turned out a be a MLM scheme, If you're not going to be given any details on the job before you take the job then I definitely wouldn't take it.

Whyy don't you try and explain what it is?

Some negative people in here but I've hired several of my former colleagues to work nights and weekends for me. I pay much better than their current roles .

Because OP's coworker refuses to explain what it actually is until he's on it. If a job can't be explained to you properly and will only be once you sign up, that's a huge red flag.

Well I asked them so I'll wait continue benefit of charity.

I've hired people to answer phones, label data, do advanced ml, all kinds of stuff. Its a job. And I use slide decks to present to them about what we do.

I’ve hired people to answer phones, label data, do advanced ml, all kinds of stuff. Its a job. And I use slide decks to present to them about what we do.

Yes, but did you not tell them what those tasks are even just in general terms before you hired them? OP's coworker can't even show him the powerpoint until after he's "hired". Giving the benefit of the doubt that the deck might have proprietary information so contracts need to be signed first, the point still stands that OP should at least be given a general idea of what the job entails and what tasks are involved before they sign up.

My read is that this might be a lack of comprehension on the part of OP not the person offering to pay. So I asked them to try and explain it better.

I don't have any more info to add. Well I'm pretty sure the "business" is located in india

I would check it out further. My guess is its simple data labeling. There are many shops in India that do this kind of work.