COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — As students graduate and seasonal workers begin searching for summer employment, cybersecurity experts are warning of a sharp increase in job scams designed to steal money and personal information from job seekers.
According to a 2026 BBB study update, reports of employment scams doubled in 2025 compared with the previous year, with nearly 50,000 victims reporting losses over the past three years. The BBB said scammers increasingly contact targets through unsolicited text messages, then move conversations to platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
"We have job scams, huge spike right now," Dr. Michael Skiba who also goes by Doctor Fraud explained. "You have kids graduating. You have the summer help. So what you're doing is seeing — I've seen an average of this time of year, probably a spike about 2 to 300%, even more than last month."
Dr. Skiba said scammers are increasingly targeting people who are eager to earn money, including recent graduates facing student loan payments.
"They're targeting individuals that are looking to fulfill their college loans and they're hungry for money basically," he said.
According to Dr. Skiba, many scams begin with an unsolicited job offer that appears unusually attractive.
"Firstly, they usually approach you," he added. "This would be a potential employer that's going to send unsolicited to you, 'Hey, here's a job.'"
The offers often include benefits and salaries that seem unusually generous.
"It sounds too good to be true, to be honest," he explained. "They're going to offer you maybe a laptop, a corporate expense account, a salary that's a lot higher than the norm."
The expert said job seekers should be wary when an opportunity appears to hit multiple warning signs at once.
"If they solicit you, if it seems too good to be true, if it's 20, 30% more than average, if they're offering tons of extras with it," he said, those are often indicators of fraud.
He recommends researching any company before moving forward.
"What you want to do is hop out of those sites and try to verify the legitimacy of that organization," he said. "Usually, what you can do is just do a basic Google search again."
He suggested searching a company's name alongside words such as "fraud" or "scam" and reviewing online discussions.
"Go on Reddit and just see if there's any traffic at all," he said. "Then you know that there's something awry about this company."
The expert said scammers have evolved beyond simply charging application fees and are now employing longer-term tactics to gain victims' trust.
"What they're doing this year, this is the new wave, is they're playing more of a long game," he said.
In some cases, scammers provide small incentives upfront.
"They'll actually get you in and they'll give you something first," he said. "'Hey, here's $50 just for you to fill out the application, as a little incentive.' Everyone's guard gets let down at that point."
Once trust is established, scammers may request larger payments for supposed onboarding expenses.
"They'll put you in an onboarding process, but then before you know it, they're going to ask you for, let's say, $2,000 just to pay for shipping for a full package of your laptop and to cover the background expense," he said. "Well, guess what happens after you send them $2,000? They disappear."
Dr. Skiba identified several red flags job seekers should watch for:
- Unsolicited job offers
- Unusually high pay
- Promises of free equipment
- Requests for money during the hiring process
The BBB also offered tips to help job seekers protect themselves from employment scams:
- Do your own research on any potential employer
- Always video interview when possible
- Never pay money to get a paycheck
- Avoid jobs that pay you to watch videos
- Contact authorities if you believe a job owes you money
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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