Job Scams and Task Scams: Fake Job Offers, Red Flags, What to Do

A job that asks you to pay to get hired, to deposit a check and send part of it back, to reship packages from your home, or to deposit money (often cryptocurrency) to "unlock" earnings you supposedly made in an app is a scam. The Federal Trade Commission puts it simply: "Honest employers, including the federal government, will never ask you to pay to get a job. Anyone who does is a scammer." The FBI's advice for remote-job offers is just as short: "Never send money to an alleged employer."

These scams are growing fast. The FTC reports that losses to job and employment agency scams "jumped from $90 million to $501 million" between 2020 and 2024. Not every job scam asks for a fee. Some collect your Social Security and bank account numbers through fake "onboarding" paperwork, or they draw you into a "task" app that shows earnings you can never withdraw.

If it already happened: stop sending money, contact the company you used to pay (your bank, card issuer, payment app or crypto exchange) and ask to reverse the payment, and if you gave out your Social Security number or bank details, go to IdentityTheft.gov for a recovery plan. Then report it (details below).

Information last verified on October 2, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers United States federal law and federal agency guidance on job and task scams: published warnings and data from the FTC, the FBI and its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); the federal wire fraud statute (18 U.S.C. § 1343); and the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 437). State employment, consumer protection and business opportunity laws are not covered. Refund rights by payment method are covered on our money-back guide, not repeated here.

What to do if you already paid or shared information

Scammers who run fake jobs are professionals, and many job seekers are under real pressure to find work. What helps now is speed. Work through the steps that fit what happened.

1. Stop paying. Do not make another deposit to "unlock" earnings, pay a "tax" or "fee" to withdraw, or send money back from a check. The FTC's rule for task scams: "Never pay anyone to get paid."
2. Contact the company you used to send the money. The FTC says: "No matter how you paid ... immediately contact the company you used to send the money, report the fraud, and ask to have the transaction reversed, if possible." What the law lets you recover depends on how you paid; see how to get money back after a scam.
3. If you gave your Social Security number, bank account number or a copy of your ID, the FTC says: "Go to IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get a recovery plan." Our guide to what to do when a scammer has your information covers the free credit freeze and the order of steps.
4. If you deposited a check from the "employer," call your bank now and do not spend or forward that money. Our page on fake check and money mule scams explains why a check can bounce after the money appears.
5. If you are receiving and reshipping packages, or receiving and forwarding money, stop now. Keep the packages, labels and messages.
6. Do not pay anyone who offers to recover your money. The FBI's task scam warning says: "Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover any lost cryptocurrency funds."
7. Report it. The FTC takes job scam reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov (in Spanish, ReporteFraude.ftc.gov), and the FBI asks task scam victims to report to IC3 at www.ic3.gov. The full list of where to report is further down this page.

How to tell a job offer is a scam

The FTC and FBI red flags come down to a short list. Any one of them is reason to stop.

Placement firms and government jobs. The FTC says "Honest placement firms do not typically charge a fee to job candidates," and "it's always free to apply for a federal or postal job." Federal openings are listed at USAJobs.gov, and Postal Service jobs at usps.com/employment, according to the FTC.

Fake recruiters using real company names. In a February 1, 2022 public service announcement (I-020122-PSA), the FBI warned that scammers "post fraudulent job postings in order to trick applicants into providing personal information or money," and that "In some cases, the scammers use the identities of actual company employees to increase the perceived authenticity of the job posts." A real company name on the post is not proof the job is real.

Four ways job scams take your money

Job scams look different on the surface, but the money moves in one of four ways. Which one happened to you decides what you can try next.

On top of any of these, the "employer" may have collected enough personal information to steal your identity. That is the next section.

Fake job offers that steal your identity

Some job scams never ask for money. They ask for paperwork. In a July 7, 2025 consumer alert, the FTC warned: "Before you even interview, you might get an official-looking job offer along with paperwork that requires your personal financial information (supposedly for direct deposit)." It added: "Scammers will ask for your driver's license, Social Security, or bank account number to fill out 'employment paperwork'."

The FTC's line for telling real from fake: "Real employers won't ask for that kind of information before they've actually interviewed and hired you." In an August 15, 2024 alert about WhatsApp messages recruiting "online data specialists," the FTC warned that "if you send your information, the scammer can use it to steal your identity and create serious problems for you." The FBI's 2024 task scam warning gives the same advice in general terms: "Do not send financial or personal identifiable information to people making unsolicited job offers."

The FBI's 2022 announcement on fake job postings put the cost at "nearly $3,000 per victim" in average reported losses since early 2019, adding that "many victims have also reported that the scheme negatively affected their credit scores."

If you gave a fake employer your SSN or bank details

The FTC says: "Did you give personal or financial information for a job that turned out to be a scam? Go to IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get a recovery plan." What to do next depends on what you handed over:

• Bank account or direct deposit details: call your bank and tell it the account information went to a scammer.
• Social Security number or a photo of your driver's license: place a free credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The FTC says that while a freeze is in place, "nobody can open a new credit account in your name, including you."
• Logins or one-time codes: change passwords and contact the company the code came from.

Our guide to what to do when a scammer has your information walks through each item, including the IRS Identity Protection PIN for tax fraud. For filing the report itself, see how to report identity theft.

Task scams: "like and rate" and app optimization jobs

Definition. The FTC describes task scams this way: "Task scams ask you to do simple repetitive tasks such as liking videos or rating product images."

A task scam feels more like an online game than a job, and that is deliberate. The FTC's December 2024 Data Spotlight, "Paying to get paid: gamified job scams drive record losses," describes the pattern:

1. The hook. "The scam typically starts with an unexpected text or WhatsApp message offering online work but no specifics." The pitch uses buzzwords like "product boosting" or "app optimization."
2. The tasks. You like, rate or "optimize" items in an app or platform that appears to pay a commission per click. "Tasks are often assigned in sets of forty."
3. The small payout. "Many people report getting small payouts at first, which give them greater trust in the system."
4. The deposit. "At some point, they'll say you have to make a deposit to complete your next set of tasks and get your supposed earnings out of the app."
5. The pressure. "If you hesitate to deposit money, scammers will often invite you to a group chat where newcomers hear supposed success stories from (fake) experienced workers."

The FTC is blunt about the balance on the screen: "no matter what the system says you've earned, you didn't. That money isn't real. And if you deposit money, you won't get it back."

The FBI described the same scheme in a June 4, 2024 public service announcement (I-060424-PSA), "Scammers Defraud Individuals via Work-From-Home Scams." It warned of fake jobs "typically involving a relatively simple task, such as rating restaurants or 'optimizing' a service by repeatedly clicking a button." The FBI explained: "Scammers design the fake job to have a confusing compensation structure that requires victims to make cryptocurrency payments in order to earn more money or 'unlock' work, and the payments go directly to the scammer." Victims are directed to "a fake interface, which shows victims are earning money, though none of it is available to them to cash out."

How fast task scams grew

The FTC's Data Spotlight estimated that "About 20,000 people reported these scams in the first half of the year [2024], compared to about 5,000 in all of 2023." Those task scam counts are FTC estimates built from hand-coding a random sample of 500 job scam reports per year. In that sample, 38.8% of job scam reports in the first half of 2024 were task scams, compared with 5.6% in 2023.

Crypto is the main payment method. The FTC said cryptocurrency losses to job scams generally were "about $41 million in the first half of 2024, compared to about $21 million in all of 2023," and that "People now report losing far more money to job scams using cryptocurrency than any other method of payment."

Is it legal to get paid to like or rate things?

The FTC's Data Spotlight says: "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." The FTC points to the final rule on fake reviews and testimonials it announced on August 14, 2024, codified at 16 C.F.R. Part 465. Section 465.4 makes it "an unfair or deceptive act or practice and a violation of this part for a business to provide compensation or other incentives in exchange for, or conditioned expressly or by implication on, the writing or creation of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative, regarding the product, service, or business that is the subject of the review."

In a task scam, the "rating" work is usually a pretext: the scammer's real business is collecting your deposits. The point for you is simpler. A legitimate job does not pay strangers to like or rate products online.

Can you get money back from a task scam?

Most task scam deposits are sent in cryptocurrency, which is hard to reverse. As our money-back guide explains, the FTC says cryptocurrency payments "typically are not reversible." Contact the exchange, crypto ATM operator or payment app you used immediately, tell them it was fraud and ask them to reverse it, then report to the FTC and to IC3 with the transaction details. The FBI asks victims to "provide any transaction information associated with the scam." Our crypto and investment scams guide covers what to save.

Watch out: People who lose money to a task scam are often contacted by someone offering to recover it for a fee. The FBI's task scam warning says: "Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover any lost cryptocurrency funds." Do not pay a "withdrawal fee" or "tax" inside the app either; the FTC says the earnings are not real.

Reshipping scams

The FTC says reshipping "jobs" may be advertised as positions for quality control managers or virtual personal assistants. Here is how the FTC says to recognize it: "once you're 'hired,' the company says that your 'job' is to receive packages at home, throw away the original packaging and receipts, repackage the products, and then reship them to an address they give you. Sometimes the address is overseas."

The goods are the problem. The FTC says: "The products are often high-priced goods, like name-brand electronics, bought using stolen credit cards." The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, in its page on work-from-home scams and reshipping schemes, says: "These packages often contain merchandise bought with stolen credit cards or counterfeit money orders."

The FTC's conclusion: "Reshipping goods is never a real job. That's simply being part of a scam." The FTC says that sometimes the company promises a first paycheck after a month of work, "but the paycheck never arrives," and it warns that "if you gave your personal information thinking it was for payroll, you may now have an identity theft problem."

Reshipping goods and forwarding money for an "employer" are close cousins. Federal agencies call people who move fraud money "money mules," and whether someone who did so faces legal exposure depends on the facts, including what the person knew. Our money mule guide explains the federal statutes and the FBI's steps. If an investigator contacts you, talk to a lawyer before you respond; see when a lawyer helps after a scam.

Report reshipping and mail-related job scams to the Postal Inspection Service. Its page lists the mail fraud line, 1-877-876-2455.

Envelope stuffing. The USPIS also warns that "modern mailing techniques and equipment have virtually eliminated the need for homeworkers to perform legitimate envelope stuffing, addressing, and mailing services."

Fake check job scams

Nanny, caregiver, virtual assistant and mystery shopper "jobs" can all start with a check, according to the FTC. The FTC describes the trap: "you deposit a check from your new employer, the employer then asks you to send some money back due to 'overpayment,' but the check will ultimately bounce, and the bank will want you to repay the full amount of the fake check, while the scammers keep the real money you sent them."

The FTC's rule: "No honest potential employer will ever send you a check to deposit and then tell you to send on part of the money, or buy gift cards with it." Our fake check scams guide explains why the money shows up in your account before the check fails and what the bank can charge back. If you were told to buy gift cards, see gift card scams.

Paid "work from home business" offers and the FTC Business Opportunity Rule

Some offers are not pitched as a job at all, but as a chance to "be your own boss." You pay for a starter kit, training or a business package, and the seller promises customers, locations or to buy back what you produce. These can fall under the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 437. The rule has a precise definition, and it does not cover every scam that calls itself a job.

Definition. Under 16 C.F.R. § 437.1(c), a "business opportunity" means "a commercial arrangement in which: (1) A seller solicits a prospective purchaser to enter into a new business; and (2) The prospective purchaser makes a required payment; and (3) The seller, expressly or by implication ... represents that the seller ... will: (i) Provide locations ... or (ii) Provide outlets, accounts, or customers ... or (iii) Buy back any or all of the goods or services that the purchaser makes ..., including ... providing payment for such services as, for example, stuffing envelopes from the purchaser's home."

The definition is written with "and": all three parts must be present. A fake W-2-style job, a task scam or a reshipping "job" does not obviously fit it, so this page does not treat the rule as covering those scams.

When the rule does apply, it requires the following of the seller:

• A disclosure document seven days ahead. Under § 437.2, the seller must furnish a disclosure document "at least seven calendar days before the earlier of the time that the prospective purchaser: (a) Signs any contract in connection with the business opportunity sale; or (b) Makes a payment or provides other consideration to the seller." The document must follow the rule's form and disclose, among other things, whether the seller makes an earnings claim and any civil or criminal action for misrepresentation, fraud, securities law violations or unfair or deceptive practices against the seller, its affiliates or prior businesses, or its officers, directors or sales managers in the prior 10 years (§ 437.3(a)).
• Proof behind any earnings claim. Under § 437.4, a seller may make an earnings claim only if it "(1) Has a reasonable basis for its claim at the time the claim is made; (2) Has in its possession written materials that substantiate its claim," makes that substantiation available on request, and gives the buyer an earnings claim statement titled "EARNINGS CLAIM STATEMENT REQUIRED BY LAW."
• No income misrepresentations. Section 437.6(d) prohibits sellers from misrepresenting "the amount of sales, or gross or net income or profits a prospective purchaser may earn or that prior purchasers have earned."

A violation of these provisions is, in the rule's words, "a violation of this Rule and an unfair or deceptive act or practice in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act" (§ 437.2). The rule does not displace state business opportunity laws that give buyers equal or greater protection (§ 437.9(b)).

Proposed rules are not in force

The FTC has proposed changes, but we found no final rule adopting any of them as of October 2, 2026:

• In November 2022 the FTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the Business Opportunity Rule (its comment period was extended in January 2023), asking whether the rule should be extended to programs it does not currently cover, including work-from-home programs. On January 13, 2025, the FTC released a proposal to expand the rule to cover "money-making opportunities, such as business coaching and investment opportunities." We could not find that proposal's publication in the Federal Register.
• The FTC's proposed "Earnings Claim Rule Regarding Multi-Level Marketing," dated January 13, 2025, says it "would prohibit misleading or unsubstantiated earnings claims in connection with the advertising, marketing, promotion, or offering of any multi-level marketing program." It is about multi-level marketing, not job scams generally, and we could not find its publication in the Federal Register.
• The FTC's regulatory agenda published August 14, 2026 lists both the Business Opportunity Rule and "the proposed Earnings Claims Trade Regulation Rule, to be codified at 16 CFR 462" among rulemakings "likely to have some impact on small entities."

Separately, on October 1, 2026, the FTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on a "Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses," aimed at practices by search engine, social media and other digital marketplace platforms "that further government and business impersonation scams." Comments are due by November 30, 2026. That is an early-stage proposal, not a rule.

What federal law says about job scammers

Nearly every job and task scam runs through texts, messaging apps, email, websites and online payments, which brings it within the federal wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343:

"Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."

The statute raises the maximum to a $1,000,000 fine and 30 years in prison when the violation involves disaster benefits or affects a financial institution.

That is a criminal statute: the remedies it lists are fines and prison. It does not by its terms give a victim a way to get money back. For the money itself, the fastest routes are the payment company and the steps on our money-back guide. A report to the FTC or IC3 still matters: the FTC says the reports it receives are "the starting point for many of its law enforcement investigations."

Misusing a Social Security number or ID collected through a fake job can also fall under the federal identity theft statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028, which our scammer has my information guide explains.

Job scam statistics

The FTC and the FBI collect separate data with different definitions. Their figures should not be added together.

FTC (Consumer Sentinel reports, job and employment agency scams):

• Reported losses jumped "from $90 million to $501 million" from 2020 to 2024, and "the number of reports tripled" over the same period (FTC press release, March 2025).
• Reported losses by year, per the FTC's December 2024 Data Spotlight: $90 million (2020), $131 million (2021), $179 million (2022), $286 million (2023) and $223 million in the first half of 2024 alone.
• Estimated task scam reports: about 20,000 in the first half of 2024, compared with about 5,000 in all of 2023.
• Crypto losses to job scams: about $41 million in the first half of 2024, compared with about $21 million in all of 2023.
• The wider "business and job opportunities" category had reported losses of $750.6 million in 2024, "up nearly $250 million from 2023."

FBI IC3 (2025 Internet Crime Report, "Employment" crime type):

• 24,688 complaints and $362,934,762 in reported losses in 2025, compared with 20,044 complaints and $264,223,271 in losses in 2024.
• The IC3 defines employment fraud as when "An individual believes they are legitimately employed and loses money, or launders money/items during their employment."
• The IC3 said "victims reported losses of almost $13 million to AI-involved employment type scams" in 2025.

The FTC notes that "Since the vast majority of frauds are not reported," its numbers likely reflect "only a fraction of the actual harm."

Where to report a job or task scam

Our guide on where to report a scam explains what each agency does with a report. A report does not by itself reverse a payment, so contact the payment company first.

Pro tip: Before you accept any remote job, look up the company or recruiter independently, not through the link or number in the message. If the offer arrived as an unexpected text or WhatsApp message, the FTC's advice is to ignore it.

When a lawyer helps

For most job scam losses, the practical steps above (the payment company, the credit freeze, the reports) matter more than a lawyer. A lawyer becomes important if your bank says you owe it money for a bounced check, if an investigator or a "warning letter" contacts you about packages or money you forwarded, or if a sizeable payment dispute is denied. Our guide to when a lawyer helps after a scam covers free and low-cost routes, and the scams and fraud laws hub covers every scam type.

Related guides

• Scams and fraud laws: what to do if you got scammed
• How to get money back after a scam
• A scammer has my information: what to do
• Fake check and money mule scams
• Crypto and investment scams
• Phishing, smishing and vishing
• Where to report a scam
• How to report identity theft

This article provides general legal information about United States federal law and federal agency guidance on job and task scams, verified on October 2, 2026. It is not legal advice. For your specific situation, contact your bank or payment company, the agency named above, or a lawyer licensed in your state.

Last updated: October 2, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I tell if a job offer is a scam?

The FTC says honest employers never ask you to pay to get a job, and real employers will not ask for your Social Security, driver's license or bank account number before they have interviewed and hired you. Being paid to like or rate things, paying in crypto to unlock work, reshipping packages, or depositing a check and sending part back are all scam signs.

What is a task scam?

The FTC describes task scams as fake jobs that ask you to do simple repetitive tasks, such as liking videos or rating product images, in an app that shows growing earnings. Then you are told to deposit money, often crypto, to finish your tasks or withdraw. The FTC says the earnings are not real and deposits are not returned.

Can I get my money back from a task scam?

Contact the exchange, crypto ATM operator or payment app you used immediately and ask it to reverse the transaction, but the FTC says crypto payments typically are not reversible. Report to the FTC and to the FBI at ic3.gov with your transaction details, and do not pay anyone offering to recover lost crypto.

Is it legal to get paid to like or rate products online?

The FTC says anyone offering to pay you to rate or like things online is offering something illegal, and no honest company will do it. Its fake reviews rule, 16 C.F.R. 465.4, bars businesses from paying for reviews that express a particular sentiment.

I gave a fake employer my Social Security number. What should I do?

The FTC says to go to IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get a recovery plan. The FTC says that while a free credit freeze is in place at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, nobody can open a new credit account in your name, and if you gave bank details, call your bank right away.

Is a reshipping job legitimate?

The FTC says reshipping goods is never a real job and that the products are often bought with stolen credit cards. Stop, keep the packages and messages, and report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 and to the FTC.

Does the FTC Business Opportunity Rule protect me from job scams?

Only in a narrow case. 16 C.F.R. Part 437 covers a defined business opportunity sale, where a seller asks you to pay to start a new business and promises locations, customers or buy-backs. It does not obviously cover a fake job, task scam or reshipping scam, and proposed earnings claim rules were not final as of October 2, 2026.

How much money do people lose to job scams?

FTC data show reported losses to job and employment agency scams rose from $90 million in 2020 to $501 million in 2024. Separately, the FBI's IC3 recorded 24,688 employment fraud complaints and $362.9 million in losses in 2025. The two datasets should not be added together.

Where do I report a job scam?

Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and your state attorney general. Report task scams and crypto payments to the FBI at ic3.gov, identity theft to IdentityTheft.gov, and reshipping or mail-based scams to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.