Promises of lucrative remote work opportunities have led to two individuals falling victim to a recruitment scam.

That’s from Isle of Man’s Cyber Security Centre’s (IOMCSC) latest cyber update report into the period of November to December.

In one case, the victim engaged with an app named cubix-grow.com, purportedly a US-based company established in July 2023.

They were enticed with promises of payment for testing new app software.

The victim was instructed to set up crypto wallets, deposit varying amounts (ranging from $100 to $10,000) into the app for completing specified tasks.

The payments promised upon task completion could not be accessed, and demands for additional payments, totaling over $6,000, persisted with unfulfilled withdrawal promises.

Similarly, another instance involved an Instagram advertisement by a supposed global marketing agency offering remote work.

The victim interacted via Telegram and was directed to a work platform requiring cryptocurrency transactions through a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange.

Initially, small investments escalated to a substantial deposit of £2,600.

Upon this deposit, false claims of a delay fee emerged, demanding an additional 7,586 USDT (a cryptocurrency tied to the value of the US dollar) for fund release.

The victim, a young adult, lost over £8,000.

The IOMCSC advises people to be cautious with online job advertisements, in particular those requiring unusual financial setups.