The job that wasn't

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Click Here

Episode Title: The job that wasn’t
Date: June 2, 2026
Host: Dena Temple Raston, Recorded Future News
Theme: Fake jobs, digital scams, and the hidden human toll – from cyber opportunity to real-life battlefield

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the evolution of online scam economies—especially how fake job listings have transformed from minor threats like embarrassment or identity theft into a dark, life-threatening phenomenon. The story focuses on Charles Njoki, a Kenyan photographer and drone operator, who is lured by an appealing job offer in Russia, only to find himself forced into fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war. The episode puts a human face on the dangers of online recruitment scams, illustrating how digital deception can spiral into real-world consequences.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Digital Lure: How Scams Now Work (00:47 – 05:47)

• Charles Njoki, a Kenyan freelancer, is contacted by a recruiter with an attractive drone job in Russia.
• The offer feels personal and legitimate—prompt responses, interest in his drone skills, and seemingly official documents and processes.
• Charles sells his car, buys a ticket to Moscow, and tells his family he’s getting his “big break”.
• Notable Quote:

  “The moment I arrived at Moscow and seeing how advanced the city and the country is, I was really happy because I realized it's a dream come true.”
  — Charles Njoki [00:35]

2. Red Flags and Denial: On the Ground in Russia (06:07 – 08:23)

• Charles’s wife and son plead with him not to go, but he’s desperate to change his life.
• The recruiter ghosts Charles upon his arrival in Moscow. He visits the provided office address, where an official-looking contract (in Russian, unreadable to him) is presented.
• Despite confusion, fatigue, and language barriers, he signs the contract after reassurances from office workers.
• Notable Quote:

  “They're telling me, brother, don't worry. We heard you are a drone operator. Just sign it and then you'll just go and operate drones.”
  — Charles Njoki [08:15]

3. The Trap: False Promises to Military Reality (09:58 – 11:45)

• Charles is transported by train to St. Petersburg, then taken to military barracks—not to any photography or drone operation.
• He is given a military uniform and receives minimal technical drone training.
• Another soldier warns him:

  “Brother, do you know which you are in? When you're taken to the front, you're not going to come back.”
  — Anonymous Russian soldier [11:10]

• When Charles questions his role, the commander is blunt:

  “Have you signed the contract? If you sign the contract, then shut up your mouth and go and fight.”
  — Charles Njoki relaying commander’s response [11:45]

4. On the Front Lines: Drones as Hunters, Not Tools (12:54 – 14:35)

• Charles finds himself not flying drones but as infantry on the front lines in Ukraine.
• He describes the terror and violence, including drone attacks against his unit.
• Graphic, memorable moment:

  “Let me tell you to my shocking. I've never seen so many people dead. I saw a lot of them bodies.”
  — Charles Njoki [13:07] “The drone, the way it was coming … the explosion … that blast, it threw me very far.”
  — Charles Njoki [14:10]

• He eventually survives and makes his way back to Kenya.

5. A Growing Pattern: Online Recruitment for War (14:56 – 16:19)

• The story is not unique to Charles—hundreds of young men, mainly from economically vulnerable regions like Kenya, have been similarly duped.
• Fake job postings are proliferated through TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, and sometimes by seemingly trusted local agencies.
• Notable Quote:

  “There are over 1,000 Kenyans who have been recruited into the Russia, Ukraine war. They are increasingly being targeted because they represent a large pool of economically vulnerable and under-regulated labor.”
  — Dennis Munyu, Global Center for Policy and Strategy [15:34]

• The pattern: online ad, quick recruiter response, unreadable contract, and suddenly, the “job” is participation in warfare.

6. Reflections and Warnings (17:25)

• Now back in Kenya, Charles advocates vigilance:

  “Any person who's thinking to go to Russia he need to sit and rethink because if you don't know what is there, you should not even dare.”
  — Charles Njoki [17:25]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The Internet is very good at selling possibility. A message, a recruiter, a job posting that looks legit. And sometimes, by the time you realize what you actually signed up for, you’re already in too deep.”
  — Dena Temple Raston [00:47]

• (On being ghosted)

  “Yes, he ghosted me. Like we never even met.”
  — Charles Njoki [06:48]

• “Back in Kenya, drones helped Charles imagine a future. In Ukraine, they hunted him through the trees.”
  — Dena Temple Raston [13:16]

• “The contract is all standard, the office workers told him. Just paperwork.”
  — Dena Temple Raston [08:01]

• Graphic battle imagery:

  “Then, yes, one of the guys had exploded. It was no easy, man. No easy.”
  — Charles Njoki [13:58]

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Important Timestamps

• Arrival and initial hopes: 00:35 – 05:47
• First red flags and signing contract: 06:07 – 08:23
• Military barracks and the real assignment: 09:58 – 11:45
• On the Ukrainian front lines: 12:54 – 14:35
• Pattern of targeted recruitment: 14:56 – 16:19
• Charles's warning to others: 17:25

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Tone and Style

The episode is told with empathy, vivid personal storytelling, and a sense of escalating dread. Temple Raston’s narration is clear, explanatory but never sensational, keeping the focus on the real-life impact of internet-enabled scams and exploitation.

Charles’s voice is earnest, candid, and deeply human—his story personalizes an emerging digital crisis.

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Conclusion

The episode skillfully exposes how sophisticated online scams can lure ordinary people into terrifying, life-altering situations. As global digital connectivity increases, so do the risks of exploitation for vulnerable job seekers. The internet's power to connect now comes with consequential new dangers—and as Charles Njoki’s story hauntingly reveals, sometimes the job that wasn’t can become a war that is all too real.

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Transcript

[Dena Temple Raston]

From recorded future news and prx, this is click here. Just a quick warning for listeners. There are sounds of explosions and gunfire in the street story. When Charles Njoki landed in Moscow, he thought he'd finally crossed into a life he'd only dreamed about.

[Charles Njoki]

The moment I arrived at Moscow and seeing how advanced the city and the country is, I was really happy because I realized it's a dream come true.

[Dena Temple Raston]

The city moved fast. It seemed to be all glass towers, bright lights, and wide boulevards. It felt modern, confident, like a place where things worked. And for Charles, who'd come from Kenya chasing a job, it felt like the beginning of something. But the Internet is very good at selling possibility. A message, a recruiter, a job posting that looks legit. And sometimes, by the time you realize what you actually signed up for, you're already in too deep. From Recorded Future News and prx, this is Click Here. A show about how technology is changing everything. I'm Dena Temple Raston. And today, the evolution of the online scam economy. Fake job listings used to mean embarrassment, maybe stolen money, a compromised identity. Now, in some parts of the world, they can become something much, much darker. Stay with us. Support for Click Here comes from Servil. Every company says AI will make employees more productive. But most employees are still stuck waiting on it, waiting for app access and password resets, waiting for someone to fix a laptop issue so they can get back to work. That operational drag adds up fast, and IT teams are overwhelmed trying to keep up. Servil was built to automate that work. You describe what you want in plain English and Servl builds it for you. No complicated workflow, no consultants, just faster support and fewer tickets, slowing everyone down. The platform is designed to eliminate repetitive tickets so it can focus on strategic work. Instead of constant firefighting, the company guarantees customers can automate 50% of it tickets. Learn more or start a free four week [e-mail] clickhere that's S E R V A L.com clickhere servil.com clickhere Support for Click Here comes from NPR's Planet Money podcast. Curious about the economic forces shaping your daily life? The Planet Money podcast makes the economy make sense by telling stories about the people inside it. Take the wnba. Most people heard the league landed a big new collective bargaining agreement. But Planet Money went deeper inside the negotiations themselves. They found a Nobel Prize winning economist helping players make their case with something surprisingly simple. A pie chart. Because the real fight wasn't just about bigger salaries. It was about revenue share and whether players would finally get a bigger piece of a rapidly growing business. Planet Money explained why that matters and why this deal could reshape women's sports for years to come. That's what Planet Money does. It takes ideas that sound abstract. Collective bargaining, sanctions, labor markets, and turns them into stories that feel immediate and human. Other episodes have explored why Pokemon cards are outperforming some investments, or how Russia's economy adapted after years of sanctions. And what a 750 pound restaurant robot says about the future of work. Planet Money is economics told through curiosity, surprise, and great storytelling. Follow NPR's Planet Money podcast and understand how money shapes the world. Charles was used to chasing work online. Back in Kenya, he was a photographer and videographer. Weddings, music videos, drone shots for whoever was hiring. And Charles was the kind of freelancer always refreshing his phone, hoping the next message might finally lead to something bigger. Then one day, it did. A recruiter reached out about a drone job in Russia. And unlike a lot of online offers, this one kept moving. The recruiter kept responding quickly, confidently. And when Charles sent over videos showing what he could do with a drone, the recruiter liked what he saw. And he said he had a position for someone who was so good at flying them, though he was kind of vague as to what exactly the job would be.

[Charles Njoki]

They acknowledged and they loved what I was doing. So they just gave me an invitation. And I really was eager to join because seeing the number or the kind of money they were paying, I was really happy because I knew I'm gonna change my life and my people back here at home.

[Dena Temple Raston]

To Charles, it. It didn't feel like some random Internet job posting. It felt personal, like someone had finally noticed him. So he sold his car, bought a plane ticket, and told his family that he was finally getting his big break. Though not everyone thought the job sounded like such a great opportunity.

[Charles Njoki]

My wife began telling me, babe, I don't want you to go. I just want you to stay. I can remember even my son crying a lot, telling me, dad, please don't go. Just stay here.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Charles went anyway, and when he landed in Moscow, he reached for his phone. The recruiter had promised to meet him there. The customer you're trying to reach is not available. No answer. He tried again. Still nothing.

[Charles Njoki]

I could not find him.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Right. He ghosted you?

[Charles Njoki]

Yes, he ghosted me. Like we never even met.

[Dena Temple Raston]

At first, Charles didn't think scam. He thought maybe the guy was late or asleep or stuck in traffic somewhere. The recruiter had given him an office address before he flew over. So the next Morning. Charles decided to go there and see if he could sort everything out.

[Charles Njoki]

He gave me even the location. He gave me an app, which I used to request a cab.

[Dena Temple Raston]

And even then, nothing about this felt completely fake. A little strange, maybe, a little improvised, but not fake. The office, when he found it looked ordinary enough, people were already waiting for him. They had a contract ready, sitting out in the open. And weirdly, that reassured him. Because contracts feel official, they mean systems are in place. Someone knows who you are. But there was just one problem.

[Charles Njoki]

First of all, it was written in Russian. It's something I could not read. And I tried to talk to the people I found in that office, tell them, hey, brother, I need to understand this thing.

[Dena Temple Raston]

There were just pages of dense Cyrillic text, but it was official, looking in exactly the way contracts are supposed to look. This contract is all standard. The office workers told him, just paperwork.

[Charles Njoki]

They're telling me, brother, don't worry. We heard you are a drone operator. Just sign it and then you'll just go and operate drones.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Even now, Charles can still picture that office. The fluorescent lights, the desk, the contract sitting in front of him. He was tired from traveling jet lagged in a country where he didn't speak the language. By then, he'd already sold his car, told his family that his whole life was about to change. So turning around no longer felt possible. So Charles picked up the pen and signed a contract he couldn't read. At first, the decision didn't seem catastrophic. Nobody pulled a gun on him. Nobody shouted or threatened him. The process just continued. Charles stayed in Moscow for a few more days. And then they put him on a train to St. Petersburg, where they said they'd give him his assignment. The ride took hours. Charles barely remembers it. And by then, things seemed to be moving. Moving fast, too fast. One car ride, then another. People giving directions he couldn't understand. Doors opening, doors closing. And then there was a lot of waiting around. And slowly, the world around him started to feel less like contract work and more like something else. Something military. There were men smoking outside concrete buildings, heavy bags stacked against walls. And everybody seemed to know where they were supposed to go. Except Charles. And then one morning, Charles was summoned into one of those buildings.

[Charles Njoki]

I was taken to the barracks. When I'm inside the barracks, I was now given the uniforms.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Not camera equipment, not drone gear, military uniforms. And even then, Charles still thought he was there to fly drones, just in a different way than he'd expected.

[Charles Njoki]

So I knew I'm going to be operating a drone in the military.

[Dena Temple Raston]

To Charles. That still sounded like technical work. Flying drones somewhere behind the lines, not carrying a rifle into a battlefield. And for a while, it actually seemed like things might work out the way he thought they were supposed to. One commander in particular seemed genuinely excited to meet him.

[Charles Njoki]

He asked me, are you from Africa? I tell him, yes, I'm from Africa. And they said, oh, wow, we've never had such people who can operate such drones. The guy was really happy. And he told me, now wait, I'll tell you when you'll start now practicing.

[Dena Temple Raston]

And so Charles trained. He learned to assemble drones. And then one day, another soldier pulled him aside.

[Charles Njoki]

The Russian guy who met me some few days. And he told me, brother, do you know which you are in? When you're taken to the front, you're not going to come back.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Taken to the front, Not Moscow, not even Russia. Ukraine, not behind the scenes, and maybe not even flying drones.

[Charles Njoki]

I was shocked. Why are you guys telling me to go at the front and fight yet? I never come here to do that.

[Dena Temple Raston]

And the commander looked back at him

[Charles Njoki]

and said, have you signed the contract? If you sign the contract, then shut up your mouth and go and fight.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Charles had signed paperwork he couldn't read, and now he was starting to understand exactly what he'd agreed to. That's after the break. Stay with us.

[Ira Glass]

This is Ira Glass of this American Life. Do you know our show? Okay, well, either way, I'm going to tell you about it. We make stories, old fashioned stories that hopefully pull you into the beginning with funny moments and feelings and people in surprising situations. And then you just want to find out what is going to happen and cannot stop listening. That's right. I'm talking about stories that make you miss appointments and ignore your loved ones. This is American Life. Every week, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Just weeks after arriving in Russia, Charles found himself on the front lines in Ukraine. Not as a photographer, not as a drone operator, but as a soldier in a war he says he never agreed to fight.

[Charles Njoki]

Let me tell you to my shocking. I've never seen so many people dead. I saw a lot of them bodies.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Back in Kenya. Drones helped Charles imagine a future in Ukraine. They hunted him through the trees.

[Charles Njoki]

The moment I heard the voice, I started running.

[Dena Temple Raston]

At first it was just a faint buzzing above the forest canopy. Easy to ignore, easy to mistake for something harmless. But then it started moving closer, faster. The other soldiers opened fire in the direction of the noise.

[Charles Njoki]

When they started shooting, it saw them. And immediately they started going towards them.

[Dena Temple Raston]

The drone seemed almost alive, following movement, tracking Panic.

[Charles Njoki]

Then, yes, one of the guys had exploded. It was no easy, man. No easy.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Another drone swept in behind the first one.

[Charles Njoki]

The drone, the way it was coming, the explosion, and the way it fell on that guy, that blast, it threw me very far.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Everything went dark.

[Charles Njoki]

I can remember waking up and trying to think, am I dead? Or where are my friends?

[Dena Temple Raston]

When Charles opened his eyes, the forest had gone quiet again. His hand was broken. The men around him were dead, and the drone was gone. Charles would eventually make it out back to Moscow and then home to Kenya. But by then, people tracking Russia's recruitment networks had started hearing versions of this story over and over again.

[Ira Glass]

This disturbing video appears to show an African recruit in the Russian army with a landmine strapped to his chest. He is being ordered to storm Ukrainian positions on the front lines.

[Dena Temple Raston]

The names were different, the countries were different. But the. The pattern kept repeating. An online job ad, a recruiter who answered quickly. A contract written in a language they didn't understand. And then suddenly, they weren't chasing opportunity anymore. They were being pulled into someone else's war. Dennis Munyu is a research fellow at the Global center for Policy and Strategy in Nairobi. And he's been watching the exodus.

[Ira Glass]

There are over 1000 Kenyans who have been recruited into the Russia, Ukraine war. They are increasingly being targeted because they represent a large pool of economically vulnerable and under regulated labor.

[Dena Temple Raston]

They're all young men answering online job ads for work in Russia. Construction jobs, security jobs, drone jobs. The offer spread through TikTok, WhatsApp and Telegram, sometimes through influencers showing off life in Moscow, sometimes through local employment agencies.

[Ira Glass]

With a local agency, it's very easy for you to trust it, and it has built credibility among the Kenyan people.

[Dena Temple Raston]

And that's part of what makes this work. The Internet isn't just connecting strangers anymore. It's making distant people feel familiar. Russia's military has been under enormous strain since the invasion of Ukraine. Heavy losses, a grinding war, and a constant need for more soldiers. So researchers say the Kremlin and networks operating around it widened the surge, looking farther and farther afield for recruits, especially in places where stable work can be hard to find. And online, those vulnerabilities travel fast with a message, a repost. A recruiter who answers quickly and sounds like he believes in you. And suddenly a job offer from thousands of miles away doesn't feel distant at all. It feels strangely intimate. Just ask Charles now. He says he wishes he'd listened to his son after that job offer came through. So now Charles is trying to warn other people before they make the same mistake he did.

[Charles Njoki]

Any person who's thinking to go to Russia he need to sit and rethink because if you don't know what is there, you should not even dare.

[Dena Temple Raston]

This is klokir.

[Recorded Future News Host]

Looking for more of the cybersecurity and intelligence coverage you get on Click here. Then check out our sister publication the Record from Recorded Future News. You'll get breaking cyber news from reporters in New York, Washington, London and Kyiv, among others. And you'll see for yourself why it attracts hundreds of thousands of page views every month. Just just go to therecord Media.

[Dena Temple Raston]

Here's what you need to know about the tech world this week. It's Tuesday, June 2nd. This is a major development. It is the first time the majority of Iranians can be back online. Iran's Internet is flickering back to life after months of near total blackouts imposed by the government. Connectivity started returning last week, albeit slowly. For ordinary Iranians, the shutdown meant silence, families cut off from relatives abroad, videos unable to leave the country, outside news unable to get in. Now some fixed line Internet providers are coming back online, though mobile networks, the way most Iranians actually access the Internet, are still largely down, according to news reports. The order to reconnect came directly from Iran's protest president, but the move has exposed division inside the government after hardliners challenged the decision in court. So for now, at least, Iranians are back online. The question is for how long? The Trump administration is preparing to invest in drones. Our government is sort of morphing into a private equity firm, it seems, because they keep finding sectors they want to invest in, and the latest is drones. The administration is pursuing funding deals with several drone companies, including Performance Droneworks and Unusual Machines, a company backed by Donald Trump Jr. The deals are part of a broader push to rapidly expand domestic drone manufacturing. Right now, the US produces about 100,000 drones a year. Ukraine is producing millions. And Washington increasingly sees cheap drones not as a sideshow, but as central to the future of warfare. The funding would come through the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, an office originally created under President Biden to strengthen critical supply chains. Now, under Trump, that effort is expanding beyond semiconductors, beyond minerals, and deeper into direct government investment in private industry. Drone stocks surged after the news of the talks broke. Rideshare drivers in Massachusetts are making labor history.

[Ira Glass]

Uber has been taking advantage of all the drivers.

[Charles Njoki]

The gas prices have been going way up.

[Dena Temple Raston]

70,000 Uber and Lyft drivers have become the first rideshare workers in the country to unionize the effort has been building for years. Back in 2024, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure allowing app based drivers to organize and bargain collectively. Now, organizers say, the fight is moving beyond Massachusetts. Drivers are pushing for more predictable pay, more transparency around fees and protections in an economy increasingly run by apps. Campaigns modeled on the Massachusetts effort are already taking shape in states like California and Illinois. And finally, Pope Leo XIV is taking aim at artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.

[Ira Glass]

The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words

[Dena Temple Raston]

capable of attracting attention Awake. In his first major encyclical called Magnifica Humanitas, or Magnificent Humanity, the pope warned that AI could deepen inequality, hollow out the middle class, and place human dignity at risk. He called on governments to regulate the technology and urged companies not to sacrifice workers in pursuit of efficiency and profit. But the message wasn't entirely anti tech. Pope Leo described AI as a powerful human achievement, a tool capable of doing good. Steely argued humanity should remain at the center of its development. The Vatican unveiled the document alongside Anthropic co founder Christopher Ola, a symbolic attempt to open dialogue between Silicon Valley and the church. Now the question is whether Silicon Valley is listening. Click Here is a production of Recorded Future News and prx. Today's show was written and produced by Megan Dietre, Sean Powers, Erica Gaeda, Zach Hirsch and Casey Georgie. It was edited by Karen Duffin and Sarah Cavedo and fact checked by Darren Ancrum. Original music is by Ben Levinston, with additional music from Blue Dot Sessions. Our staff writer is Lucas Riley, our illustrator is Megan Gough, and our sound designers and engineers are Jake Cook and Jesse Niswonger. I'm Dena Temple Raston. Thanks for listening. Support for this program comes from Recorded Future. In cybersecurity, the biggest risk isn't what can be seen, it's what gets missed. Recorded Future analyzes billions of signals to help organizations stay ahead of threats. Recorded Future Know what matters?

[Recorded Future News Host]

Act first Looking for more of the cybersecurity and intelligence coverage you get on? Click here. Then check out our sister publication, the Record from Recorded Future News. You'll get breaking cyber news from reporters in New York, Washington, London and Kyiv, among others, and you'll see for yourself why it attracts hundreds of thousands of page views every month. Just go to the Record Media.