Scammers use gamified tactics to prey on job seekers, FTC reports $220M in losses

A hot potato: According to recent data highlighted by the FTC, user complaints regarding online job scams designed around game-like tasks are skyrocketing. These so-called "task scams" have experienced a massive increase in popularity over the last four years, going from zero in 2020 to 5,000 in 2023.

Despite its growing popularity, gamification remains a very controversial and polarizing issue. Systems, services, and organizations are increasingly designed to simulate a gaming experience to motivate or engage users, and even cyber-criminals are now employing similar tactics.

In just the first half of 2024, reported task scams have quadrupled to about 20,000. Criminals usually try to reach their target with a text or WhatsApp message, the FTC warns, enticing potential victims with online job offers. If the target shows interest, the scammers say the job is to complete tasks related to app optimization, product boosting, or other menial, tedious things.

Once the online tasks start, users will receive a small sum for the "job." Afterward, the scammers show their true colors by asking the victims to invest in the system to complete an even more lucrative set of tasks. If the victim buys into it, the scammers make off with the money and are never heard from again.

The standard dress code for scammers

Regulators say that scammers usually ask for payment in cryptocurrency. The FTC has seen a two-fold overall increase in cryptocurrency losses to job scams year-over-year. Scammers stole over $41 million in crypto in the first half of 2024. In total, task scams accounted for nearly 40 percent of losses to job-related scams in the first half of 2024 ($220 million).

The FTC warns that if work feels more like an online game than an actual job, it's likely a task scam. Most fraud goes unreported, meaning the 20,000 individual complaints received in the first six months of 2024 are only a tiny fraction of the task scam "market."

Regulators advise users to protect themselves against task scams by ignoring generic and unrequested communication attempts via text or WhatsApp, especially regarding sketchy job offers.

"Real employers will never contact you that way," the agency said.

Furthermore, no one should pay to get paid. Rating or "liking" things online is not a job. Almost 100 percent of the time, these are scammers trying to set you up. No respectable company will pay people to do this.

As Glenn Frey famously sung in Smuggler's Blues: "It's the lure of easy money, it's got a very strong appeal."