Don’t Respond to This Message—It’s a Scam Disguised as a Job

It starts with a text.

A friendly message from a recruiter named “Monica,” saying your online profile caught the attention of a company called “Top.” The gig? Assisting TEMU merchants with product reviews. Flexible hours. Free training. And here’s the kicker: a daily salary ranging from $201 to $3,000.

Tempting, right?

Also: completely fake.

This iMessage isn’t a job offer. It’s a scam. And like a growing number of digital frauds, it isn’t targeting your passwords or your photos. It’s targeting your hope.

The New Face of Scams

The message, which appears to come from someone named Christopher Watson via iCloud email, is part of a broader shift in how online scams work. Gone are the days of broken-English phishing attempts from Nigerian princes. Today’s scams are slick, personalized, and designed to feel just real enough to bypass your defenses.

These scams are spreading not just because they’re convincing—but because our digital lives are increasingly vulnerable to them. And the platforms we rely on to communicate, from iMessage to WhatsApp, are still playing catch-up when it comes to fraud prevention.

Red Flags That Should Set Off Alarms

Let’s break this particular message down. There are multiple warning signs here, and none of them are subtle once you know what to look for:

• You never applied for this job. Somehow, a recruiter supposedly found your “profile” and offered you a high-paying role out of the blue. That’s not how hiring works. Real recruiters reach out only if you’ve applied or are actively networking in a professional context like LinkedIn—and even then, they rarely promise you the moon up front.

• The email name doesn’t match the sender. The message claims to be from a woman named Monica. But it was sent from [email protected]. That’s not just sloppy—it’s suspicious. This mismatch is a classic scammer move, often used to mask the true identity of the person behind the message.

• Too-good-to-be-true pay. $3,000 a day for remote product reviews? That’s not a job. That’s bait.

• Vague company identity. “Top” isn’t a company. It’s a placeholder. Scammers love generic names because they’re harder to verify—or disprove.

• They want to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. This is a huge red flag. Reputable recruiters do not conduct interviews or onboarding over encrypted chat apps. Scammers, however, do—because it’s harder for law enforcement and platforms to monitor or flag their behavior.

• No job description or qualifications required. No job title, no responsibilities, no experience needed—just a vague “task” and a promise of “free training.” That’s not how real hiring processes work.

• Personal email domain. A legitimate company recruiter would never contact you from a personal @icloud.com account. They’d be using a corporate domain like @temu.com or @companyname.com.

• Legal-sounding language to simulate legitimacy. The message ends with: “Applicants must be at least 21 years old.” It’s the kind of detail that sounds official but means nothing. It’s there to make the offer feel real.

What the Scammers Actually Want

Respond to this message, and one of several things might happen.

You might be asked to download a “training portal” that installs spyware. You might be coaxed into sending a small deposit—just $50—to “activate” your account. Or you might be asked to provide personal documents, which can be used for identity theft or to open fraudulent bank accounts.

The message may claim to be about a job. But the job is you.

Final Thoughts: Why This Isn’t Just About One Scam

The message from “Monica” promising $3,000 a day for product reviews isn’t just spam. It’s a signal—a symptom of a much bigger issue in our digital lives.

We live in a world where scammers don’t need to hack your bank account. They just need to impersonate a friendly recruiter, borrow a brand name you trust, and catch you on the wrong day. Maybe you’re job hunting. Maybe you’re overwhelmed. Maybe you just want to believe that, for once, someone sees your potential.

That’s what makes these scams so dangerous: they don’t just steal money—they hijack optimism.

And while tech companies deserve real scrutiny for not moving faster on fraud prevention, it’s also on us—collectively—to get more comfortable talking about this stuff. To check in with people we love. To make online safety part of everyday conversation, not just something we Google after it’s too late.

Because this isn’t about being tech-savvy. It’s about being human in a system that too often exploits that humanity.

So the next time a message promises easy money, fast success, or effortless rewards, pause. Ask a few questions. And remember: if something feels too good to be true, that’s probably the point.