Liking YouTube videos for money is a scam. While initial tasks might pay small amounts, they eventually ask you to invest money with promises of higher returns. This scheme is designed to lure you in before taking your money. Be cautious and remember that legitimate companies do not operate this way. Avoid such scams and ensure all your online activities align with Islamic principles.
Read on to learn about my experience with these scammers.
Over the past year, many people have been approached on WhatsApp by someone who claims they’re looking for online part-time employees.
They promise daily payments for very simple online tasks like short surveys, liking videos on YouTube or TikTok, and subscribing to YouTube channels.
I have personally been approached with such an offer multiple times, and I decided to give it a try.
I thought I’d write this article to share my experience and give you everything you need to know about this scheme and whether it’s actually legitimate.
The Job Offer and Hook
The conversation starts on WhatsApp, and the person will typically claim they’re an HR recruiter for a digital marketing agency.
They may tell you their agency works with YouTubers and TikTokers to help them promote their videos and increase engagement.
Sometimes, they will go as far as to say they work with YouTube or TikTok directly!
Here are two examples of such opening messages:
You can immediately see the lack of professionalism, but some people may be tempted by this offer that seems too good to be true.
Recently, I decided to play dumb and take them up on their offer. Here’s what happened.
I did the simple introductory tasks of liking 3 YouTube videos and subscribing to the channels.
Once that was done, they instructed me to join their Telegram group where they post similar tasks at regular intervals every day — around 30 in total.
They also told me to get in touch on Telegram with my “receptionist”, who was in charge of sending me my payments and answering any questions I had.
I did so, and I actually did receive the promised payment. It was around $5.
The Real Deal
After I received my payment, I thought this would make for an amazing source of side income.
I mean, if I only did 2 of these tasks every day, that’s around $300 per month for basically nothing!
So I kept an eye on the Telegram group for more tasks, and my receptionist sent me the task outline for the day. Here’s how it looked like.
Apparently, the YouTube tasks are similar to the first task I did: you just like a video or subscribe to a channel, and you get paid.
So I did a couple more of those, and again, I did receive my payment! Overall, I had made around $10 by that point.
But then, when I tried to do more of them, my receptionist said this:
You may be wondering what the prepaid tasks are.
Well, that’s the catch.
The prepaid tasks require you to invest a certain amount of money in order to allegedly double or triple your payments and earn much more lucrative commissions.
For example, pay $100 and get $200 upon task completion. Pay $1000 and get $2000 upon task completion.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the scam.
The first few tasks with small payments were only meant to get you hooked and excited to start earning more.
And typically, they will try to add fuel to the fire by populating the WhatsApp and Telegram groups with bots that keep sending screenshots of their “earnings”.
It’s not like I trusted this system at any point, but I just wanted to see it through till the end and see what happens.
Once my receptionist told me I could no longer earn from YouTube tasks unless I participated in a paid task, I called them out for their scam, advised them to stop stealing people’s money, and then offered them their $10 back.
They never got back to me since.
Not only that, but funnily enough, my name was apparently blacklisted in the world of scammers!
I came to know this when I received a similar offer on WhatsApp some time later. They stopped replying to me as soon as I gave them my name and number.
Three Tips to Help You Spot These Scams
For the trained eye, these scams are very easy to spot.
But the truth is that many people do fall for such scams and lose their hard-earned money, so here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Professional companies don’t typically reach out to prospective employees via WhatsApp.
If someone wants to offer you a job, they will typically reach out to you via email or LinkedIn.
Alternatively, they may give you a call and invite you for an interview.
Perhaps they may ask for your WhatsApp at a later point, but it’s very uncommon for the first interaction to take place there.
2. Real employers address you by your name.
If a recruitment team has got a hold of your number, then they should know your name.
Addressing people with “dear” or with “sir/madam” is a clear indicator that your number is just one of many numbers that were obtained in bulk by some shady method.
3. If in doubt, ask questions to see if there are any signs of inconsistency.
When I was chatting with my “receptionist” on Telegram, I let her know that things didn’t make sense to me — particularly the prepaid tasks.
First of all, if they’re a digital marketing agency as they claim, why are they tasking people with liking videos? That’s not what a digital marketing agency does. A digital marketing agency runs promotional campaigns and advertisements.
But anyway, I’m aware that many people buy likes and subscribers on social media, so the idea in itself is not unheard of.
What was completely illogical, though, was the prepaid tasks. Why on earth are we paying you $100 to receive $200 upon task completion? Just pay us $100!
Guess what my receptionist told me?
Not only are they scamming people, but they’re not even trying to make their scam look believable!
Actually, I think they’re just too incompetent and didn’t know what to say.
When I kept insisting that she explain what Bitcoin had to do with this, she kept telling me to start the prepaid tasks and that everything would make sense later.
Of course I wasn’t going to fall for that.
Haram Considerations to Keep in Mind
Usually, when I discuss methods of online wealth generation, I name this section “Potential Haram Pitfalls to Watch Out For“.
But since the topic of this article isn’t even a legitimate method of making money online, I just thought I’d shed some light on some religious considerations to keep in mind.
Theoretically, even if this scheme wasn’t a scam, I really wouldn’t advise you to go for it.
The idea of paying $100 to get $200 upon task completion is a very vague and ambiguous transaction.
As Muslims, we should always have a very good idea of what it is we’re paying and what we’re getting in return — every transaction we do should be clear and unambiguous.
Also, if you’re getting paid to like YouTube videos, make sure you know what the video is about, so you can ensure it doesn’t contain anything that goes against the teachings of Islam.
A like is a sign of approval, even if it’s digital. We can’t approve something if we don’t even know what it is in the first place, right?
Wrapping Up
Work-from-home opportunities have become increasingly popular in recent times, but the shadowy side of the coin is that many scams and frauds have emerged as a result.
I hope this article was helpful.
If you have any questions or insights you’d like to share, feel free to leave me a comment. I’d be more than happy to have a chat with you.
Rely on Allah and do your best,
Yusuf