Scam Examples Secria

The job offer text and the task scam

A recruiter text for a job you never applied for, with good pay and no details, is probably a scam. The FTC's rule: never pay to get paid or get a job.1

+1 (713) 555-0134

Text Message
Today 9:41 AM

Hi, I'm a recruiter with a company you know1. We're hiring for a remote position as an online assessor2. Pay is $300 per day3, flexible hours.

Reply YES if interested4

  1. The sender claims to be with a well-known company.1
  2. A title such as "online assessor" or "remote position".1
  3. Daily or weekly pay, with no description of the work.1
  4. No link: a reply of "YES" or "INTERESTED" pulls you into a chat.1

What to do Don't reply. Report it as junk or forward it to 7726.2

Rebuilt from the FTC's April 2026 alert. The pay figure is ours, for illustration. Checked 28 October 2026 against the sources.

How the task scam works

The FTC calls these gamified job scams. About 20,000 people reported them in the first half of 2024, against about 5,000 in all of 2023.3

  1. Simple tasks.You like videos or rate product images in an app, often in sets of forty.3
  2. A small payout.Early on you may really get a little money, which builds trust.3
  3. A deposit to keep going.You're told to "charge up" your account with your own money, often cryptocurrency, to finish tasks and withdraw.3
  4. Nothing comes back.The earnings aren't real, and deposits aren't returned. If you hesitate, you may be added to a group chat with fake success stories.3

Two versions to know

Reported job scam losses topped $220 million in the first half of 2024.3 Phony job offers were the second most reported text scam that year.4

The task scam

You do online tasks such as posting ratings or reviews, then you're asked to deposit your own money.1 The FTC says paying people to rate or "like" things online is illegal, and "no honest company will do it".3

Paying in to get paid is the scam.

The fake check

The "employer" sends a check, asks you to deposit it, then asks you to send money back.1 When a fake check bounces, you're responsible for it.5

Never send money back to a new employer.

Questions people ask

Is a job offer by text always a scam?

An unexpected text for a job you didn't apply for, with pay but no description, matches the scam the FTC describes. Whatever the offer, never pay to get a job or to get paid.1

The app says I must deposit to withdraw my earnings. Should I?

No. That is the scam: the earnings aren't real and deposits aren't returned.3 Stop sending money and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.1

More scam examples

Sources 6
  1. That job offer text is probably a scam (30 April 2026), Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Read 28 October 2026.
  2. How To Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages (July 2022), Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Read 28 October 2026.
  3. Paying to get paid: gamified job scams drive record losses (Data Spotlight, 12 December 2024), Federal Trade Commission. Read 28 October 2026.
  4. Top text scams of 2024 (Data Spotlight, 14 April 2025), Federal Trade Commission. Read 28 October 2026.
  5. How to recognize common bank and money scams, Wells Fargo. Read 28 October 2026.
  6. What To Do if You Were Scammed (June 2026), Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Read 28 October 2026.

Every example is rebuilt from an official alert and made safe, and every source shows the day we read it. How we check