Archive Episode: Recent MBA Wakes Up From Dream Work-From-Home Job
The Perfect Scam
AARP
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Remote work, which was a necessity for many during the pandemic, is now commonplace. While it's hard to beat the commute, criminals are paying close attention to this trend too. In this episode, a recent MBA graduate lands what feels like her dream job at a start-up that advocates for women's empowerment. The company culture is great and the job is interesting. But when her paychecks never show up, she begins to suspect the work-from-home job is too good to be true.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week on The Perfect Scam. |
| 0:04.0 | The next Monday, we had our Monday morning meeting, she basically said, hey guys, I'm sure you're all wondering, you know, where your money is. |
| 0:14.4 | And so from there, it was like, well, it should be, it should be in your account by Friday. |
| 0:20.7 | And then, you know, that turned into next week. And then that turned in it should be in your account by Friday. And then, you know, that turned into next week. |
| 0:23.4 | And then that turned in, it should be in there by Thanksgiving. |
| 0:26.0 | And then it was like, okay, you should have it by December 1st. |
| 0:32.4 | Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. |
| 0:36.4 | I'm your host, Bob Sullivan. |
| 0:39.9 | Americans have a complicated relationship with remote work. |
| 0:44.4 | Telecommuting was never really very common until the pandemic struck in 2020, |
| 0:49.1 | and that suddenly, seemingly, everyone started working from home. |
| 0:53.2 | That natural experiment is pretty much over with mixed results now. |
| 0:59.0 | Plenty of companies have spent the past couple of years pleading and cajoling many of their |
| 1:02.9 | employees back to their desk jobs, but there are still far more remote work opportunities |
| 1:08.3 | than there were a decade ago. And criminals have seized |
| 1:13.4 | on this trend. Job scams have surged since the pandemic and have kept on surging, even as many |
| 1:20.1 | folks have gone back to the office. The Federal Trade Commission says online job scams rose |
| 1:25.5 | 19% just in the first half of 2025 compared to the prior year. |
| 1:31.4 | Typical victim has about $2,000 stolen, the FTC says. |
| 1:36.8 | As you might suspect, artificial intelligence is having an impact. |
| 1:41.3 | Criminals use computers to mass produce fake job posts and they have become |
| 1:46.6 | very good at it. As 2026 begins, you might be looking for a job online so we thought it was |
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