BBB warns of increasing number of employment scams

The Better Business Bureau of the Greater Kentucky Region says record numbers were seen for an employment scam in 2025.

The BBB says over the last three years nearly 50,000 people contacted the BBB Scam Tracker to report a scam in which jobseekers were tricked into sending over thousands of dollars after being offered high pay to “like” and “subscribe” to videos online. The number of scam reports doubled from 2024 into 2025 with task-based scams involving fraudsters impersonating popular companies.

A BBB International Investigations Initiative study examined reports from people caught up in the scams to help other consumers avoid them. The BBB says the study found job scams conducted over text message saw a dramatic increase in 2025, representing half of all scam reports. Employment scam reports continue to rise, and the median loss from the scams remains more than $1,000.

The BBB says red flags that alert to an employment scam include unprompted job offers that are made without an interview, interviewers refusing to turn on their camera, too-good-to-be-true salaries, high-pressure offers to take the job, and upfront costs to begin work. Consumers can help avoid these scams by doing research on companies offering jobs, never paying money to get a paycheck, and asking the interviewer to use video.

Learn more about this scam and other reports at www.bbb.org/scamstudies.