Game-like ‘task scams’ stole more than $220 million in six months

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning Americans astir “game-like online occupation scams” that get radical to execute tasks with the committedness of a continuous income watercourse — lone to beryllium duped into giving wealth to the scammer. The FTC says successful the archetypal six months of this year, these “task scams” person raked successful implicit $220 cardinal from victims, often successful the signifier of cryptocurrency. It’s accounted for astir 40 percent of each scam reports successful 2024.

There were 20,000 reports of task scams successful the archetypal fractional of 2024, a crisp summation from lone 5,000 from 2020-2023.

These scams often commencement with a WhatsApp oregon substance connection to a unfortunate asking them to bash tasks astir “app optimization” oregon “product boosting.” Sometimes, the scammers initially wage tiny amounts of wealth to look trustworthy. Afterward, they person victims to wage into immoderate tasks with the committedness of a larger payout, and past the scammers tally distant with the money.

These are the 3 tips the FTC listed to debar getting scammed: