The message usually arrives out of nowhere, by text or WhatsApp. A “recruiter” has seen your profile. There’s a flexible remote job, just an hour or two a day, paying far more than you’d expect. Interested?
If you, your parents, or your kids have ever gotten one of these, you’ve seen the opening of what the Federal Trade Commission calls a task scam, and they’ve grown at an astonishing rate. According to the FTC, reports of task scams went from essentially none in 2020 to about 5,000 in 2023, then to about 20,000 in just the first half of 2024. Reported losses to job scams overall more than tripled between 2020 and 2023, and topped $220 million in the first six months of 2024 alone. And those are only the losses people reported.
How a task scam works
The pattern is remarkably consistent, which is good news, because it means you can learn to recognize it.
- The hook. An unexpected message offers easy online work with few details. The conversation quickly moves to a messaging app.
- The “job.” You’re given simple, repetitive tasks in an app or website: rating products, “optimizing” app rankings, liking videos. A screen shows your commissions growing.
- The trust-builder. You may actually be paid a small amount at first. It feels real, because that part is.
- The twist. To unlock a higher tier of tasks, or to withdraw the larger earnings shown on the screen, you’re told you need to deposit some of your own money, very often in cryptocurrency.
- The loss. The money you send is gone. The earnings on the screen were never real. Sometimes you’re pressured to send more to “recover” what you’ve lost, or added to a group chat full of fake success stories.
These scams target exactly what people are hoping for: someone recently laid off, a retiree looking for a little extra income, a student who needs flexible work. And the same AI tools that help you write an email can help scammers write polished messages and convincing fake company materials.
The red flags
- A job offer you didn’t apply for, arriving by text or messaging app.
- Pay that’s too good for simple work.
- No real interview with a real person.
- Any request to pay to get a job, keep a job, unlock tasks, or withdraw earnings. A real employer pays you. You don’t pay them.
- Payment requested in cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wire transfers.
- A request to deposit a check and send some of the money back.
- Pressure and secrecy: act now, don’t tell anyone.
What to do: Pause. Check. Tell.
The three habits from Simple Habits to Protect Your Family From Scams work here exactly as they do for scam phone calls.
Pause. Don’t send money or personal information, and don’t click links. Real opportunities survive a day’s thought.
Check. Look up the company yourself, by typing its official website address, not using a link from the message. Find its careers page or a phone number there, and ask whether the job and the “recruiter” are real.
Tell. Talk it over with someone you trust before you act. Then report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you’ve already sent money or shared financial details, contact your bank right away.
Have the conversation now
The best protection is talking about this before it happens, especially with older parents and with teens and young adults looking for work. One sentence covers most of it: “A real job never asks you to pay money to get paid.”
