Zinger Key Points
- Consumers lost $470 million to text message scams last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission
- One of the most popular types of these scams is bogus job opportunities
- Millennials and Gen Zers tend to fall for these scams more often than older generations, because they are used to conducting much of their l
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Consumers reported losing $470 million to text message scams in 2024, the Federal Trade Commission reports.
The most common text message scam was fake package delivery, followed by bogus job opportunities. While these job opportunity scams can vary widely, they most often look like purported recruiters reaching out about positions available at well-known, well-respected companies. Scammers will then ask for identifying information, like social security numbers or driver’s license details, in order to solidify the offer.
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“We are definitely seeing both a growth in reported losses to text scams and also a growth in reported losses to job scams,” Kati Daffan, an attorney for the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told Business Insider. “Reported losses to job scams increased more than three times between 2020 and 2023.”
Experts are now warning the outlet that these text message job scams could get worse. As the labor market gets rockier, Americans feel more stress surrounding their financial positions, and people are increasingly looking for remote work options they become easier targets, Business Insider reports. Meanwhile, AI is making the scams easier to run and lending them an air of authenticity that makes them more believable.
“It’s likely that as unemployment increases and more people are worried about the economic uncertainty, if the scams aren’t necessarily increasing, the likelihood that people might fall for them will be,” Selena Larson, a threat researcher at cybersecurity company Proofpoint, told Business Insider.
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Identity Theft Resource Center CEO Eva Velasquez explained to Business Insider that the scams are not only lucrative for those behind them because they can "capture not only your data but often your money," but also because they require relatively little effort from the scammers. The scammers are asking for information that would be par for the course in a real hiring process, so it doesn't take much convincing for people to hand it over.
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“[The scam] relies on this concept of social engineering and the hackers being very compelling. They make you feel something, they make you feel excited,” Larson told Business Insider. “They make you feel like you want to be a part of this ecosystem, that this job is a great opportunity that you don’t want to lose.”
Surprisingly, it's not older generations that are the most likely to fall for these scams, Business Insider reports. Instead, it's millennials and Gen Zers who are used to conducting much of their life digitally.
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“You look at the Gen Zs and the younger millennials and they just click, click, click, click, click, click,” Alex Quilici, the CEO of YouMail, a service that helps block scam texts and calls, told Business Insider.
At this point, there is no clear path for cracking down on these scams, so it’s up to the individual consumer to protect themselves. Experts told Business Insider that the best ways to do this are by slowing down when considering these offers, never clicking on links included in suspicious text messages or e-mails, and refusing to send money to unknown entities.
“One of the reasons that job scams are flourishing is that many people do want to work extra and make extra income, and they’re looking for an opportunity to do that,” Daffan says. “And scammers know that, and so they know there’s a big market out there if they can have a convincing job scam. And, unfortunately, that is the case.”
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