Holiday Hiring Season Scam Protection
Here’s a breakdown of the key facts from the provided text:
* Financial Strain: Many people are feeling financial pressure due to inflation and job layoffs, especially as the holidays approach with increased expenses.
* Increased Job Scams: Job scam reports have tripled between 2020 and 2024 (from $90 million to over $501 million in reported losses).
* 2024 Losses: Over $220 million was lost to job scams in the first six months of 2024 alone.
* Peak Scam Season: The holiday season is considered “peak hiring and scamming season.”
* “Task Scams” are prevalent: These scams (rating products, liking videos, app optimization) are a major issue, nearly non-existent in 2020 but now accounting for almost 40% of job scam complaints (around 20,000 reports).
* FTC Data: The data is based on data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).