The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has seen an alarming increase in gamified job scams over the past year. Reports of job fraud have quadrupled every year since 2022, with up to 20,000 reports in the first six months of this year, costing a total of $41 million, according to the FTC.
According to the FTC, in job or task scams, scammers often use terms like “product boost” or “app optimization” to get you to like a video or product images in an assigned set. It involves asking someone to do a relatively simple task online, such as giving you an evaluation. People are promised higher payouts after completing a certain amount of sets, and while they may pay a small amount at first, they end up costing more than they pay in the long run.
Scammers contact people through text messages and communication apps such as Whatsapp and offer them work assignments. The most common type of this scam usually involves some type of cryptocurrency. The scammer may then ask the target to deposit some money or “top up” their account through the app in order to start working on a new, larger set of tasks. They may also try to convince victims by listening to testimonials from fake recipients about how much they earned by completing relatively simple tasks.
Victims “top up” their accounts with their own money to avoid losing the income shown on the app in hopes of getting back the money they deposited and unpaid fees. Instead, the money paid is not real and the money you deposited to “top up” your account is lost forever.
The FTC recommends ignoring offers from unknown texts or WhatsApp messages, and never paying someone money based on a promise to be paid at a later date. The commission also recommends avoiding job offers that involve rating or liking things online, which the FTC says is “illegal and no honest company would do it.” It is said that
