In the age of high speed internet and with working from home arrangements becoming more prevalent, it is easier than ever to find a job that allows you to work from anywhere and anytime.
With people facing high living costs and stagnating wages, more and more are turning to second jobs and ‘side hustles’ to supplement monthly incomes.
But by doing so, they risk becoming victim to criminal gangs orchestrating malicious task scams that prey on people trying to make a bit of extra money.
Chris Boyton, senior adversary hunter at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, told This is Money: ‘Scammers are targeting people who may not necessarily have the opportunity to work in an office, or are caring for a family, or people who are looking for an easy way to find extra money.’
These scams, marketed to victims as a way to easily earn money from home, can be all too attractive for those that have little other recourse to make up an earnings shortfall.
One scam message seen by This is Money offered a ‘guaranteed’ income of £8,000 per month for just an hour’s work per day.
What is a task scam?
Scammers contact potential victims directly, often posing as recruitment agents from legitimate companies, offering potential employment.
More often than not, these offers will promise high income in exchange for just a few hours work.
One scam message seen by This is Money offered a ‘guaranteed’ income of £8,000 per month for just an hour’s work per day.
Boyton said: ‘When they get a text message like this, they are thinking about the benefits rather than looking at the risks.
‘They’re targeting people who may be susceptible to the mentality of chasing that next win.
‘The likes of email defences have improved drastically, so criminals are really starting to move towards targeting victims using social engineering.’
In the beginning, these scammers will pay their victims in the region of £50 to £100 for an hour training session.
‘So the victim is thinking “that was an hour’s work, that was easy money”.’
Scammers then allocate their victims batches of ‘tasks’. Boyton says the most common task is online product reviews.
As users see their ‘earnings’ increase – and they may even receive further pay outs – they are eventually asked to deposit their own money, either to ‘unlock’ their earnings, or to upgrade their package to receive further tasks.
Scam are marketed to victims as a way to easily earn money from home
With victims having already committed significant amounts of time to their perceived tasks, they are manipulated into depositing their own money.
Some of these scams also offer victims ‘bonus tasks’, which they say will boost their earnings significantly, but victims must pay to unlock them.
Scammers don’t immediately disappear with their victims’ money, instead they try to keep them on the hook for as long as possible.
Boyton said: ‘They will keep going as long as they can get money, so if they only get £100, they’re still doing what they need to do, but as long as people are willing to keep chasing that next set of tasks, they will wipe their accounts completely.’
Payments are requested through crypto platforms, which, unlike bank transfers, are much more difficult to trace.
Victims transfer their funds to their own crypto accounts, before sending it to scammers via their crypto platform. This means that once they realise they have been scammed, victims are unable to claim compensation via their bank.
How to protect yourself against the rising tide of task scams
‘Since 2022, we’ve seen an exponential increase,’ Boyton says, ‘its not something that is going to go away… but its not getting the same recognition as ransomware attacks or data extortion.’
While Trend Micro is aware of cases where victims have lost as much as £800,000 to task scams, it says these scams are often typified by small amounts lost by a vast number of victims.
Scammers are showing little sign of slowing down, however, and the rise of AI is making these scams ever more convincing and possible to carry out at scale.
To avoid falling victim yourself, Boyton says to watch out for warning signs early on – even if you are desperate to find extra work.
He said: ‘The most obvious one is, if it seems too good to be true, then it is.
‘A job usually consists of some sort of face-to-face interview. If that doesn’t happen, and they’re happy to hire you without doing their own due diligence, then you should probably ask yourself, why is that?’
As in the example above, a job promising £8,000 per month, or £96,000 per year, for just five hours of work per week, is very unlikely to be real.
He recommends checking LinkedIn, to see if a company has a legitimate presence, and if it is hiring.
Any company websites that you are directed to may appear genuine, but will not be using the same domain and web address as the real firm they are posing as.
On top of this, a company requesting you pay them in order to receive your earnings is a sure sign of a scam.
Boyton said: ‘No legitimate employer is going to ask you for money. They won’t say “if you pay me now, then I’ll pay you more later.” It’s just not how it works.’
Likewise, being asked to send and receive money via a crypto wallet, is likely a sign that you are involved in a scam.
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