@RichardU My manager sent an email 50 years ago. Right, that sounds totally like the kind of thing managers used to do in those days.

Does the presence of "work" in the title automatically make a question on-topic? Not clear why this question, which should have been on Scam.SE Money.SE is getting upvotes and answers here.

The main answer is "you're being scammed" and it's getting upvotes because it's basically a public service to let people know they're doing something really, really stupid.

Also, I think that "My <x> refuses to pay me for work I did, what can I do?" is generally on topic here.

It's just that in this case the answer is "there's nothing you can do about the money, because you're being scammed. Also, you might be a criminal now."

@MaskedMan I've VTC as off topic as well, it could be if it was talking about navigating working from home. But in it's current state, there isn't a workplace they are navigating, more a dodgy contract.

Hah, 3.5 years into my first job and just now's the first time I ever said "That's not my job."

@Erik I agree with that but only if there is some sort of an employment relationship between you and X. That doesn't seem to be the case here. If we define "work" (as in workplace) so loosely, pretty much everything can become on-topic.

"I paid for pizza but the pizza guy refuses to give me pizza. He is not doing the work he is paid for, what should I do?" Despite the presence of the word work in the question, it is a customer service issue, not a workplace issue.

@MaskedMan in this situation it seems that the OP thought there was an employment relationship between them and the company; it's only because it was a scam that there isn't actually one.

It seems to fall under "maintaining employment", which is listed in the help center. Even though in thi case, maintaining would be a terrible idea.

@Erik I see your point, and I would be ok with the question if the OP actually had to do any "work", even if it was something blatantly (from my perspective, anyway) bogus like forwarding "Send this mail to 137 people for good luck" to 137 people. In this case, it looks like the OP just gave them remote access to his Facebook account and they did all the "work".

I know it is harsh, if not unfair, to berate people for getting scammed, but excuse me for saying this, the OP has to be extremely dense to believe there was any "employment" here when he did not actually do any work.

I agree that the OP was dense and that the "work" was just sitting back, but we've also had questions where people said they hadn't done anything for days after getting a new "job" and they're still on topic because the OP is under the impression that they have paid employment, even if they don't do anything.

In this situation; his "job" was to turn on his computer, let people remote into it, and watch them do stuff. People get paid for weirder things.

@Lilienthal You have been working for "only" 3.5 years? Your answers and overall contributions here show a much greater maturity and awareness than what I typically see from a 3.5 year old. I thought you were at least 20.

@Erik That's a fair point.

@Lilienthal Wow, I thought you were much older than that.

I must be wise beyond my years. :)

@Lilienthal indeed. Then again, youth and maturity are two things. I openly admit that I may be old, but am still immature.

30k Rep!

@Lilienthal I have also been accused of that in real life ... starting from when I was about 15 years old. :)

@MaskedMan I've never had that problem, but I have been asked to act my age

Especially when I would submit homework essays on current affairs topic. My essays would stand out so far from the crowd that more than a couple of teachers were convinced that my dad must have done my homework. Then one fine day they had this great idea to give me a "surprise test" in the staff room. I wrote such a thorough analysis from political, financial, social, historical perspective that the teacher admitted she did not know more than half of what I had written.

Why do some people seem to earn a living solving non-problems?

The "question" is on meta, our moderators have suggested two approaches (accept answer or edit title). Not sure why some people have an issue with doing both.

@MaskedMan Great moments in self-importance, eh?

@RichardU Were you referring to that "essay" comment I wrote above? :|

@MaskedMan no, the person hating on you for putting "repopened" in Meta

Oh :) It kinda seems appropriate for both. :P

LOL, yeah, it does

@MaskedMan because of a brain injury at birth, I can't write well or for any significant period of time. The side effect was that I developed, out of necessity, an eidetic memory. I shamed a few teachers in my day as well/

Anyway I was quite pissed off by the surprise test thing, I actually ended that with a smug remark to the teacher, "you should encourage the other students to read more rather than giving surprise tests to the ones who do." :P

@MaskedMan yeah, I was accused, on more than one occasion, of having swallowed a dictionary

No, I just read.

I enjoy reading the comments here. We don't fare too badly as a community, do we? The comments go all the way from pizza to peer review.

@MaskedMan I think the relaxed nature of workplace makes for BETTER answers and a more helpful environment.