Solucru Digital Marketing Scam: A Fraudulent Scheme Exploiting a Legitimate Company’s Name

A new WhatsApp scam has emerged under the name Solucru Digital Marketing, fraudulently impersonating a legitimate company to deceive unsuspecting users.

The scam follows a familiar pattern, where fraudsters pose as recruiters offering vague but enticing online job opportunities. By falsely associating themselves with an established business, they create a false sense of legitimacy, making it easier to manipulate potential victims.

Similar scams have surfaced before, including Omnistrace, Pixel Turing, Pixcel Digital Company, and Skybound Reach, all of which used misleading job offers to exploit job seekers.

What sets this scam apart is that it misuses the name of a real company, Solucru, to appear credible. Solucru is a legitimate marketing agency with operations in the United States and South Africa, but it has no connection to the scam.

The fraudsters exploit its identity to add an extra layer of deception, increasing their chances of luring in victims while simultaneously damaging the reputation of a business that has built itself on genuine marketing services.

The Modus Operandi: Unsolicited WhatsApp Recruitment

Scammers behind this scheme are approaching WhatsApp users under the guise of Solucru Digital Marketing, offering vague and enticing online work opportunities.

The scam follows the same deceptive approach seen in a previous scam that impersonated R17 Ventures, where fraudsters posed as a well-known digital marketing agency to lure victims into fake job opportunities. The details of that scam are outlined here.

Victims report receiving WhatsApp messages from unknown numbers with a South African country code (+27), where the senders introduce themselves as representatives from Solucru Digital Marketing.

They claim to be hiring for part-time or freelance digital marketing roles, often with no specific job description.

Once a user expresses interest, the scammers avoid direct conversation about company details and instead push them towards a task-based earning model—a hallmark of previous scams. This involves:

• Clicking on certain links or performing ‘engagement tasks’ to promote brands.
• Being asked to deposit an initial sum of money to access ‘premium tasks’ or ‘higher-paying opportunities’.
• Being enticed with screenshots of fake earnings to encourage participation.
• Eventually being locked out or ghosted once the scammers collect their funds.

Solucru’s Name Exploited: A Genuine Company’s Reputation at Risk

Unlike previous scams that operated under entirely fabricated brand names, this scheme steals the identity of Solucru to create a false sense of legitimacy.

Solucru was founded in Florida, United States, in 2018 and was previously known as Spark Outbound before rebranding.

Over time, the company expanded its operations to South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Panama, specialising in digital marketing strategies that enhance online engagement. More details about the company can be found at solucru.com.

There is no indication that Solucru has any involvement in or knowledge of this scam. The fraudsters are simply using the company’s name without authorisation, a tactic seen in previous digital marketing recruitment scams.

The Familiar Red Flags: A Pattern Repeated

This scam follows a well-established blueprint used by fraudulent recruitment operations, employing tactics that have been seen in multiple scams before.

Despite minor variations, the underlying deception remains the same—preying on job seekers who are eager for flexible online opportunities. Key warning signs include:

• Unsolicited WhatsApp messages from unknown numbers – The initial contact is always out of the blue, often from a number with a South African country code (+27), creating the illusion of local legitimacy. The scammers introduce themselves as recruiters but provide no formal application process or professional hiring channels.
• Lack of an official email domain or structured recruitment process – A legitimate company will communicate through verifiable channels such as company emails or professional hiring platforms. In these scams, the fraudsters avoid email altogether and insist on conducting all communication through WhatsApp.
• Vague job descriptions with exaggerated income promises – Scammers deliberately keep the job details unclear, using buzzwords like ‘digital marketing engagement’ or ‘online promotions’ without specifying actual tasks. They highlight high earnings with minimal effort, designed to lure in victims who are unfamiliar with genuine digital marketing roles.
• Requests for deposits or ‘activation fees’ before any earnings are unlocked – One of the biggest warning signs is being asked to pay before starting. Victims are led to believe that a small payment will give them access to ‘premium’ tasks with higher earnings, but once money is sent, either more payments are demanded, or the scammers vanish altogether.
• Poor grammar and unnatural phrasing in messages – Many of these scams originate outside South Africa, and their messages often contain awkward phrasing, inconsistent punctuation, and unnatural sentence structures. The language is often a clear giveaway, with job offers reading like automated scripts rather than professional correspondence.
• A refusal to provide verifiable company contact details or office locations – When asked for more details, scammers either dodge the question, provide unverifiable addresses, or become defensive. If a company claims to have an office in South Africa or abroad, a quick search of official business directories can often confirm whether the claim is false.

These hallmarks of digital marketing recruitment scams have been seen before, most notably in the R17 Ventures impersonation scam, where fraudsters misused the name of a well-known company to appear legitimate.

The Solucru Digital Marketing scam follows the same deceptive approach—using the identity of a real business to gain trust and exploit unsuspecting job seekers.

The Final Verdict

This scam follows a proven fraudulent model—one that preys on job seekers looking for online income opportunities while also causing reputational and financial harm to legitimate businesses.

For victims, the consequences can be severe—some are tricked into making upfront payments they will never recover, while others unknowingly participate in fraudulent activities, believing they are carrying out genuine digital marketing tasks. The emotional toll is just as significant, leaving many disillusioned and wary of future job opportunities.

At the same time, companies like Solucru, which have built their reputations through legitimate business practices, are left dealing with the consequences of having their names hijacked by scammers.

Prospective clients may become hesitant to engage with them, assuming they are complicit, while existing clients may question the integrity of their brand.

The time and resources spent addressing concerns, issuing warnings, and protecting their credibility place an unfair burden on a business that has done nothing wrong.

As with previous scams, vigilance remains the best defence. Recognising the warning signs early and taking swift action—both as a potential target and as a responsible online user—can prevent scammers from finding new victims and help safeguard the reputations of businesses being falsely associated with fraudulent activities.