Скачать или смотреть The Compliment Trap — A Freelancer Scam Story

A friendly message. A polished invoice. A “temporary pass‑through” request.
This is how Lina nearly lost everything—and what she changed to make sure it never happens again.

What’s inside:
• The playbook: praise → social proof → urgency → “route it through” request
• The turning point: why “convenience fees” disarm your instincts
• Recovery steps that actually help (and where to report)

CHAPTERS
00:00 Title & hook
00:22 Lina’s world (setup)
01:20 The message from “Marcus”
02:40 Grooming & praise
04:00 The first doubt
04:50 The twist: “route it through”
06:10 The decision & the transfer
07:20 Silence & loss
08:10 Shame & reflection
08:50 Fight back & report
09:35 Rules & takeaways
09:58 CTA

If you were targeted (choose your region):
• U.S.: ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the FBI’s IC3: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ https://www.ic3.gov/
• U.K.: Action Fraud: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/rep...
• Australia: National Anti‑Scam Centre (Scamwatch): https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a...
• Canada: Canadian Anti‑Fraud Centre: https://antifraudcentre-centreantifra...
(If you’re elsewhere, search your national consumer protection or cybercrime agency.)

Practical rules Lina now uses:
• Verify with a second channel (company email/phone you look up yourself).
• Use platform payments or processors with dispute resolution.
• Never “route funds through” a private or temporary account.
• If a deposit is “stuck for authorization,” wait until cleared in your own account.

About this video:
Narration generated with Amazon Polly; closed captions provided. Background: bg.mp4. Educational purpose—no operational scam instructions.

#ScamAwareness #Freelancing #OnlineSafety #FraudPrevention #Design