Experts Warn Idahoans to Delete Vicious New Scam Text Immediately

Don’t lie. At one point or another, you’ve found yourself so frustrated with your job that behind the scenes you’ve been quietly updating your LinkedIn account and resume. 

Even if you’re not ready to take the next step and start a serious job search, knowing that those edits are generating interest can lift your spirits on a day where your current job feels exceptionally soul-sucking. 

READ MORE: 5 Nasty Scams Targeting Idaho Amazon Shoppers During Prime Day

When you’re stuck at a job where you feel overworked and underappreciated, any lead feels like a lifeline. The feeling is fairly common and that’s what scammers are hoping for. 

Idahoans Reporting an Uptick in Job Recruitment Scams

Since the beginning of May, I’ve received texts from six different people claiming to be recruiters from a handful of different companies saying that they’ve seen my resume or LinkedIn profile and thought I would be a great fit for an opportunity they had. 

As someone who regularly works more than 40 hours a week, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued by the idea of working less than 90 minutes a day, five days a week for an average paycheck of $2000 per week. The alleged job opportunity was at an online marketplace based in Seattle and did include a contact phone number that had a legitimate Washington state area code.

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I had recently made some major updates to my LinkedIn profile, so I thought it was entirely plausible that the updates I made were starting to have some reach…until I received three nearly identical texts within two hours about 18 days later. When those contained WhatsApp numbers and Telegram contacts, I knew it was a scam. 

I got a few more over the next few weeks but didn’t think much of it until my friend shared that she’d been getting a lot of them too! 

Why Are Job Recruitment Scams the Hot New Thing?

A few months ago, Idahoans were reporting getting dozens of DMV texts but something’s definitely shifted. Why are scammers pivoting their playbook to scam Idahoans who may be looking for their next job? Cyber security experts tell CNBC it’s because many Americans are feeling uneasy about the economy and sweeping job cuts. 

LinkedIn’s Head of Economics told the network that when people are fearful in a competitive job market, they may be willing to take jobs they wouldn’t have considered before and will reach out to learn more about the opportunity. 

What Are Job Recruitment Scammers After?

While searching for that company in Seattle, I came across one of their LinkedIn posts that revealed what people who took the bait experienced. Allegedly, the scammer said the company requires employees to deposit money into an account before they can start. 

The scammers also told hopeful job seekers that the company pays in cryptocurrency. The real company encouraged anyone who’d received a job opportunity text to report the phone numbers and email addresses associated with it to the FTC. 

The FTC says that once you do, you should block the person who sent it and delete the text. This will help eliminate the possibility of you interacting with malicious links or numbers in the message.