So I'm getting a number of text messages lately from strangers that say things like this. I've redacted a few words…
Hello, excuse me, I'm Sarah from XXXXXX. Your background and resume have been recommended by multiple online recruitment agencies. Therefore, we would like to offer you a great remote online part-time/full-time job to help merchants update data, increase visibility and bookings, and provide you with free training. Flexible part-time and full-time jobs allow you to work 60 to 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, earn extra income on weekends too. You can work anytime and anywhere according to your schedule, and earn $50 to $500 a day. The basic salary is $950 per 4 days worked. Paid annual leave: In addition to maternity leave, paternity leave and other statutory holidays, ordinary employees are entitled to 5-15 days of paid annual leave. If you want to participate, please contact me by Whats-App at XXXXXXXXXXXX (Note: You must be at least 20 years old)
Does this sound even remotely like an actual job to anyone? I'm assuming that a gig where you can work as many hours as you like and earn a widely-variable amount per day is a job where you make cold calls to strangers trying to get them interested in some product or service. Then you might — and that's a big "might" — earn a commission if they buy. But how can you get any "basic salary" on a job like that, let alone one that gives you paid days off? Also, the Whats-App number suggests it's either overseas or that someone is worried about being located…probably both.
Is anyone likely to fall for something like this? I suppose someone is. I get all these texts and voice calls, many of them from people trying to persuade me they're from Medicare or some real official-type agency affiliated with Medicare. Or they're from Walgreen's — a pharmacy with which I have no prescriptions — and they want to discuss my prescriptions there with me. The minute I start asking questions about their company, they hang up. One of them actually said, "I don't answer questions, I only ask them," then hung up.
The calls are a minor annoyance, though not when they come as one did this morning, at 6 AM. The area code for the number was the same as mine but obviously in this era of cell phones, area codes no longer denote where the caller is located. Still, even when they're a minor annoyance, they're an annoyance. Once in a while, you can even have fun with them. One clueless-sounding solicitor asked if I have diabetes. I made like I wasn't sure what that word was and asked him to spell it. He replied, "D-I-E-A-B…" and then added "Oh, shit" and the line went dead.