💼Task Scams Turn a Job Offer Into a Deposit

Employment and task scams were virtually non-existent prior to 2020. Then Covid hit and the rise of remote working combined with the advancement of AI which arms scammers with an industrial grade weapon for improving sophistication and scale.

It's hard to call these scams emerging as they have been accelerating by double and triple digits the last few years, but they are also always evolving. Today, the dominant form arrives as an unsolicited text or WhatsApp message from a "recruiter": easy remote work liking videos, rating hotels, "boosting" apps or products. The early tasks actually pay — small amounts, promptly, to build trust. Then comes the turn: to unlock higher-paying task tiers or withdraw your accumulated earnings, you must first deposit your own money, usually in crypto. The deposits, and the "earnings," are gone.

The primary communication channel used for these scams is SMS and text message that will ultimately lure victims into a more obscure messaging app like Telegram. Data tracked by the FTC and the Better Business Bureau tracks the median loss to these types of scams at over $2,000 with incidents that are orders of magnitude higher.

The important trend here is who this scam is aimed at. It rides the gig economy's normalization of app-based piecework, and it lands hardest on exactly the people who most need flexible income — students, caregivers, people between jobs.

As we watch this trend, we're keeping an eye on recruiter impersonation — fake recruiters increasingly borrow the names of real companies and real staffing agencies, which is moving this generic text nuisance toward an increasingly sophisticated brand impersonation.