Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Job scams in Utah are increasing, with reports up 300% in 2024.
- Victims, like Tom Foulger, who shared his story with KSL-TV, lose money through fake job offers and tasks.
- Authorities advise avoiding unsolicited job offers and reporting scams to the FBI.
MILLCREEK — The combo of high prices and uncertainty about the economy has many folks looking for extra work. For criminals, it's presenting an opportunity to roll out job scams, and they're seizing that opportunity in a very big way.
Tom Foulger has been looking for remote work to help boost his income. So, when a recruiter messaged him with a job offer promising to pay at least $300 a day for 30-60 minutes of work, Foulger jumped on the opportunity.
"They started to explain the opportunity was a work-from-home opportunity for what they called the company, ChowNow," he said.
ChowNow is a legit food ordering app. The recruiter told Foulger his job was to simply leave online ratings for the app through a platform, to help with "app optimization."
"Increasing their hits, basically," Foulger said.
After training, he earned a commission for every 30 ratings (called orders) he completed. And initially, he did get paid in Bitcoin. But soon, the platform showed a negative balance in his commissions.
Foulger said he was told this was a good thing because now, even though he's spending money, he'll make more money.
"They won't let you process any more orders until you finish that (negative balance) by adding more money," he said.
He added his money and soon found himself in a cycle. His commissions grow, he hits a negative balance, pays more money, processes more orders – rinse and repeat.
"I thought I could churn the money and make the money and still make rent," Foulger said.
Tom stopped the churning after he paid nearly $1,300 but could no longer make rent. He asked his employers to let him cash out his earnings. He said they told him that was tantamount to quitting – no money back.
That's the moment he realized he had been conned. He had been working a fake job with fake earnings, and now his real money was gone.
"When somebody takes advantage of it, of you, it's terrible," he said. "It's just a terrible feeling."
Foulger was ensnared in what's called a task scam, and the scam is making a jaw-dropping surge. Task scam reports shot up 300% between 2023 and 2024 alone, said the Federal Trade Commission.
And the FBI said Utahns lost nearly $4.4 million to employment scams last year. That's more than six times the nearly $688,000 Utahns lost to similar scams in 2023.
"That's a big chunk of people that are losing money," said Juan Garcia, special agent with the FBI.
The FBI said Utahns lost nearly $4.4 million to employment scams last year. That's more than six times the nearly $688,000 Utahns lost to similar scams in 2023.
Garcia said thieves impersonate trusted brands. And while tasks can differ, victims will be required to invest their own money. Usually, it's cryptocurrency.
"It's an easy way for them to kind of hide the money, and then move it to a different type of currency," Garcia said. "The bad people want to use it because they can hide behind anonymously."
Scammers pulling off task scams will entice their victims with initial payouts.
"Now, you're getting some money in return, so you think it's actually a good job," said Garcia.
But once you can't afford to keep going, the bad guys walk away with your money. And, they'll be hard to track down afterward.
"Sometimes, they're not even located in the U.S.," warned Garcia.
Indeed, the KSL Investigators looked into the phony website used to con Foulger. We opened its source code, and after some digging around, we found a section loaded with Czech words.
As for Foulger himself, he did file a report with the FBI – something the agency implores people who've been a target of task cams to do. You can file a report online at complaint.ic3.gov.
Foulger also said he's working with his landlord on the lost rent money. But the considerable financial hit he took still has him worried.
"It's always an issue when you're on the edge," he said.
So, how do you avoid task scams?
Ignore random messages about jobs at places you've never applied to. Legit companies won't ask you to communicate via apps like Telegram or WhatsApp. They won't ask you to pay them so you can get paid. And they won't pay you to rate or like things online because that is illegal in itself.
