Published 8 September 2026Last updated 8 September 2026Reading time 4 minutes
How to use this
Any single item here is a reason to stop and verify before sending money. Three or more together and you are almost certainly looking at a scam. The signs are grouped by when they appear, because most people only recognise the pattern looking backwards.
Stage one: first contact
They approached you on Snapchat username "wfmuk1", WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Telegram rather than through a recruitment website or company email address.
The account is a personal profile disguised as a woman however owned by owusu antiedu, not an identifiable recruitment business with an address and a company number.
There is no verifiable employment history for the person asides from his employment at Teleperformance, and no company website that existed before this year.
They found you rather than the other way round, and you never applied for anything.
The message is copied and pasted, or arrives in a group.
They cannot tell you which employer the role is with until you have paid or committed.
Stage two: the offer
A job is promised specifically by Owusu Antiedu i.e wfmuk1 in exchange for payment.
There is a cheap option and an expensive option, with the expensive one described as including visa sponsorship.
You are asked to pay for a job with Certificate of Sponsorship by Owusu Antiedu i.e wfmuk1.
You are sent a certificate as a PDF, an image or a printed document. Genuine ones do not exist in any of these forms.
The employer does not appear on the Home Office Register of Licensed Sponsors.
The company was registered very recently, has filed no accounts, and uses a residential or mail-forwarding address.
The salary is below the going rate for the occupation, so the role could not be sponsored even if it were real.
There is no interview, or an interview so brief and undemanding that nothing was actually assessed.
The contract ties your payment to the provision of employment or sponsorship.
You are discouraged from contacting the employer directly, or given a phone number that only the recruiter controls.
Stage three: the payment
Payment goes to a personal bank account rather than a business account.
The account name does not match the recruiter or the company.
You are asked to pay a third person described as an assistant, a partner, a colleague or an accountant.
You are asked to pay in cash, by cryptocurrency, by gift card, or through a money transfer service.
You are asked to split the payment across several accounts or several days.
You are pushed to pay before a deadline, and the deadline keeps moving.
You are told another applicant is waiting, or that a slot is about to close.
You are asked not to mention the payment to the employer.
No invoice or receipt is provided, or the one provided has no company details on it.
Stage four: after you have paid
This is the stage that costs people the most, because the sunk cost makes the next request feel unavoidable.
A further fee is needed to release the job, the visa, the sponsorship or the paperwork.
A further fee is needed to release your refund. This is always a scam and there is no exception.
Start dates move repeatedly, with a new administrative reason each time.
Replies slow down, then move to a new number or a new account.
You are blocked or ignored after asking a direct question about timelines or refunds.
You are asked to recruit friends or family, or offered a discount for doing so.
Someone new contacts you offering to recover your money for an upfront fee. This is a second scam, often run by the same people.
If you recognise stage four
Do not send any more money, for any reason, including a refund release fee. Go to reporting and reclaiming. If you paid by UK bank transfer there is a reimbursement route with a 13 month deadline attached.