By Randy Hutchinson
President of the BBB of the Mid-South
Reprinted from The Commercial Appeal
I’ve read FTC press releases that say reports about some kind of scam are “increasing” or “growing” or “rising.” A recent FTC alert takes the severity to a whole new level, describing reports of a gamified job scam as “skyrocketing” and increasing “massively.” Known as task scams, the number of reports quadrupled from 5,000 in 2023 to about 20,000 in just the first half of 2024.
The scam often starts with an unexpected text or WhatsApp message offering online work to consumers. When they respond, they’re told they’ll be performing tasks in an online app or platform. The tasks may be called “app optimization” or “product boosting” and make the consumers feel like they’re playing a game rather than actually working.
Tasks are often assigned in sets of forty with the promise of racking up commissions with every click. The victim may even get a so-called double task that earns a bigger commission.
Victims may receive small payouts from the supposed job, making them think it’s legitimate. But at some point, they’re asked to use their own money to complete a set of tasks with a promise that they’ll get more money coming back. If they start to suspect it’s a scam and are hesitant to invest more money, the crooks invite them to chats where they’ll hear fake testimonials from “experienced workers.”
Once they’ve sent their own money, it’s gone for good. Cryptocurrency is the crooks’ preferred payment of choice.
Our BBB Scam Tracker service has received reports from local consumers who fell for a task scam. Excerpts from one report include:
- “She said she picked me up off LinkedIn.”
- After completing several tasks, his tutor turned him over to his supervisor.
- At some point “She convinced me to put in $30 but had to convert to Bitcoin. I never dealt with that before so she helped me set up an App.”
He closed by saying “This has to be the most elaborate, well-put together scheme!!! This went on for days. I’m dealing with several different people and there is even a chat room where all the new employees get together and talk about their new job and just chit-chat about life in general. I have been getting dragged in deeper and deeper. I’m broke.”
He reported losing $4,560. Another local victim lost $294. These reports and another one cited different company names involved in the scam, but all three appear to be legitimate companies whose names have been misappropriated to make the scams seem more believable.
The FTC says losses to job scams in general were more than $220 million in the first half of 2024 and that task scams accounted for nearly 40 percent. They’ve also driven a big increase in requests for payment using cryptocurrency.
The FTC and BBB offer these tips to spot and avoid a task scam:
- Ignore generic and unexpected texts or WhatsApp messages about jobs. Real employers will never contact you that way.
- Never pay to get paid. Someone telling you to pay money to get the money you have supposedly earned is a sure sign of a scam. No legitimate business would ever do that.
- Don’t trust anyone who says they’ll pay you to rate or “like” things online. That’s illegal and no honest company will do it.