FTC Warns of ‘Massive Jump’ in Online Job Scams

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about a “massive jump” in a form of online job scams called “task scams.”

The FTC received 20,000 consumer reports about task scams in the first half of 2024 — a figure that was up from 5,000 in the full year 2023 and up from 0 in 2020, the agency said in a Thursday (Dec. 12) press release outlining findings from a new Data Spotlight.

In a task scam, fraudsters send consumers a text or WhatsApp message promising online work but offering few specifics, according to the release.

When consumers respond, fraudsters ask them to complete tasks in an online app or platform — in some cases related to “app optimization” or “product boosting” — and may send them small payouts to convince them it’s a legitimate job, per the release.

“Then the scam pivots, asking consumers to put their own money in to complete the next set of tasks, always with a promise it will lead to more money coming back, but once they send it, the money is lost for good,” the release said.

Task scams helped drive an increase in reported losses to job scams across the board, which tripled from 2020 to 2023, according to the release.

In the first six months of 2024, task scams accounted for nearly 40% of all job scam reports, the release said.

Because task scams often involve payments in cryptocurrency, they also have helped drive an increase in reported crypto losses to job scams, per the report. That figure reached $41 million in the first half of 2024 — a figure that was nearly double that for all of 2023.

The FTC suggested in the release that consumers ignore unexpected texts and WhatsApp messages about jobs, never pay anyone to get paid, and don’t trust anyone who offers to pay them to rate or “like” things online.

Another growing form of job scams was reported in July by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).

The ITRC said that identity thieves were using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create job posting that look and sound legitimate, posting them on job search platforms, and using them to try to steal individuals’ personal information.

In February, it was reported that LinkedIn was seeing a rash of recruitment scams targeting remote workers and jobless tech employees.