A reporter who purposely fell for a job scam spent $96 to discover exactly how job scam fraudsters milk their victims — by building trust through endless texts and manufacturing urgent fees to "unlock" fake earnings.

When Slate's Alexander Sammon responded to a sketchy text promising $400/day for "remote product testing," he met "Cathy," a handler who masterfully mixed encouragement with pressure. She guided him through mindless clicking tasks on a bogus music streaming site while slowly extracting Bitcoin payments.

What makes these scams effective isn"t technological sophistication but psychological manipulation. Cathy texted Sammon daily greetings, shared personal stories, and praised his work. When he tried withdrawing his "earnings," she demanded ever-larger Bitcoin payments to "unlo

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