I first encountered the Freecash app after clicking on a sponsored TikTok video with dubious claims. The advertisement didn’t promote this app by name, rather it showed a young woman expressing her excitement about seemingly getting hired by TikTok at $35 an hour to watch videos on her “For You” page.

When I tapped the link to “order now,” it sent me to a website with TikTok and Freecash logos, featuring a download link for the Freecash app. “Get paid to scroll,” read the site. “Join thousands earning daily by watching TikTok videos and cashing out instantly.”

In the first month of 2026, Freecash has rocketed to popularity among US users. This week it reached the number two position on Apple’s free iOS download charts, nestled between ChatGPT and Gemini. The bump in downloads coincides with a spree of ads promoting the Freecash app.

The app appears to utilize the familiar strategy of offering rewards to users who share their information or complete online tasks. As a child, I remember entering my dad’s email and address into some pop-ups for a free iTunes giftcard, which never shipped us the promised $20 in downloads and likely just clogged his inbox with spam. (Please forgive me.)

While Freecash does actually pay out money to users, it’s not for scrolling social media. The app’s business model is centered around getting new users to play mobile games and then providing the players with monetary rewards. Those promises of direct payments to scroll aimlessly on TikTok sound too good to be true, because they are.

Ben Rathe, a spokesperson for TikTok, says the Freecash ads violate TikTok’s rules barring financial misrepresentation. Rathe says the ads in question were removed, after WIRED reached out, for what the company deemed as deceptive marketing. The social media platform forbids ads designed “to scam individuals out of money or personal data,” according to TikTok’s advertising policies.

The company behind Freecash claims that it did not directly produce the ads that I encountered on TikTok. Rather, the marketing was “generated by third-party affiliate partners,” says a spokesperson for Freecash’s parent company. “We’re reviewing activity with relevant partners and tightening monitoring.”

Back on my TikTok feed, after I tapped on that first sponsored post, the barrage of boosted videos promoting Freecash grew incessant. A post with over 150,000 likes showed a mom and her young son traveling to the store together, because she could buy her “son whatever he wants now that I’m paid to watch TikTok.” Other sponsored videos showed more people enthusiastic about the amount of cash they are getting paid to scroll TikTok.

It’s not clear if the women and children appearing in the TikTok ads are actually the people promoting Freecash. Many of the ads originated from TikTok accounts with minuscule followings or accounts with zero other publicly viewable videos.

When I finally downloaded the app, rather than immediately finding ways to receive some kind of kickback for scrolling on TikTok, I was directed to download multiple mobile games, like Monopoly Go and Disney Solitaire.

Then, I was finally given the option to complete challenges in a limited amount of time to earn money. The Monopoly Go challenges included cash rewards ranging from $0.01, for playing the game for two minutes each day, to $123, for reaching level 300 in less than three months.

The company behind Freecash, called Almedia, is based in Berlin. Almedia operates the Freecash app as an advertising platform that matches mobile game developers with new users who not only install the apps but will also spend money.