JobFished: Viewers compare ‘phenomenal’ BBC Three scammer documentary to The Tinder Swindler

More than 50 people were ‘hired’ by fake company MadBird

Viewers are comparing a new BBC Three documentary about a scam to The Tinder Swindler and Inventing Anna.

Airing on Monday (21 February) on BBC Three, JobFished tells the true story of MadBird, a fake company set up by “influencer” Ali Ayad.

More than 50 people were tricked into believing they’d been hired by the agency – who boasted Facebook and Samsung among its imaginary clients – during the pandemic.

The employees would work for an unpaid probationary period, during which they would only receive sales commissions, and then would get their fixed salary after six months.

However, the company was later anonymously revealed to be a scam, with a graphic designer claiming that he’d accrued £10,000 of debt while working for free.

JobFished shocked viewers when it aired on Monday, with many praising the documentary while expressing their horror at Ayad’s scam.

“Jobfished is phenomenal on bbc3 – hoping this is a sign of programming to come,” one Twitter user wrote.

“That was a great little doc from @bbcthree & exactly what I love about the channel. The fact Ali Ayad managed to trick so many people so efficiently is kind of terrifying,” another tweet read.

One commenter posted: “This documentary was high key iconic, the presenter was out for BLOOD and I lived.”

“These elaborate scams first #TinderSwinder now #JobFished #MadBird what next?” another tweet read.

“Can’t believe someone would ruin so many lives in the middle of a pandemic & in such an elaborate way,” one viewer commentated. “They weren’t bringing in any money so I don’t get what Ali had to gain from it??”

“That’s another version of The Tinder Swindler 2.0,” one commenter wrote, while another echoed: “People who enjoyed Tinder Swindler: there’s a documentary on BBC thats similar called JobFished.”

In the documentary, Ayad was confronted by presenter Catrin Nye and denied that the company was “fake”, saying: “If I hurt people, of course I’m sorry, but there’s another version of the story.”

In a statement to the BBC, he admitted that a “couple of points” he was being accused of were true, but said that the “majority” were “absurd and incorrect”.

JobFished is on BBC iPlayer now.