- “Gamified job scams” increased by 485% last year
- These encourage job seekers to complete tasks online for small payments.
- This means a loss of more than $6.8 million by 2025.
A new study by CNC Intelligence has shown that the number of “job scams” or “gamified job scams” targeting job seekers will skyrocket by 2025.
Almost everyone is aware of the increasingly difficult job market, with more than 7.5 million Americans currently unemployed. This allowed fraudsters to take advantage of people looking for new opportunities.
“Order Fraud” starts with (you guessed it) an order. It usually involves liking a video, commenting on a product or leaving a review. From there, scammers will build trust with a small payment, often via cryptocurrency, but that’s where the generosity ends.
Increasing demands
This is where things get serious. Targets are then prompted to deposit cryptocurrency into an account to complete other tasks, but of course this never happens.
Withdrawals will be blocked and “trusted” contacts within the system will convince victims to keep depositing more money to “unlock” additional income. These revenues are never realized and the victims suffer huge losses.
The study found that a total loss of $6.8 million was incurred due to this type of fraud by 2025, a 485% increase over the previous year.
That amounts to a total of 4,757 reports of workplace fraud, almost six times more than the 813 in 2024.
“Surcharges are designed to draw victims into a cycle that becomes increasingly difficult to escape the longer it lasts,” said Matthew Stern, CEO of CNC Intelligence.
“The initial data may seem legitimate, but if urgent requests for money appear, it is a strong sign that something is wrong. No real employer will ever ask you to pay to access your income. Other early clues include payment terms that seem unusually generous, or that all communication is done via WhatsApp or Telegram.”
The job market is currently extremely difficult, which makes it extra important to pay attention to your savings.
Above all, remember: just as your bank won’t call you to ask for information, it won’t ask for it for legitimate job ads either. You pay She when you complete orders for them, especially with cryptocurrency.