One of the scams going around right now.
The recruiter text for a job you never applied for
Fig. 3.First in the letter: issue 1, the week of Oct 29 to Nov 4, 2026.Last updated: Nov 5, 2026.
One of the scams going around right now.
Fig. 3.First in the letter: issue 1, the week of Oct 29 to Nov 4, 2026.Last updated: Nov 5, 2026.
Issue 1, the week of Oct 29 to Nov 4, 2026. Read the whole issue.
How it’s done: A text, or a WhatsApp or Telegram message, comes from a recruiter who says they’re with a company you may know. It names the pay, says almost nothing about the work, and lately just asks you to answer YES or INTERESTED (FTC, Apr 30, 2026). Once you reply there’s a reason to send money: a check to deposit and pass along, or online tasks that pile up fake earnings until you’re told to put in your own money, usually crypto, to reach them, and the app may even pay out $5 to $20 first (FTC, Aug 2025).
Why it’s third: a kid’s job hunt is part of our promise, and nothing above touches one. Job scam was also the most searched of the 9 scam terms we track, Oct 29 to Nov 4, though down 12% on the week before. Data source: Google Trends. Search interest is relative, not a count of people.
The tell: The FTC’s task scams page keeps it to one rule: never pay anyone to get paid, and never pay to get a job (Aug 2025).
One thing to do: Before answering, search the company’s or recruiter’s name with the word scam, review or complaint, though the FTC adds that finding nothing doesn’t prove a company is honest (its job scams page, checked Nov 5).
None so far. If anything here turns out wrong, the fix goes on this page with the date we made it, and on the corrections page as well.
Text it or email it to whoever in the family gets these texts. A new message opens with the page address already in it, and you choose who gets it and what it says.
Or copy the address by hand:
sameoldtrick.com/
Typed in, it opens this same page, and typing an address yourself is the habit we keep recommending anyway.
Same Old Trick is a free weekly email about the scams going around: three a week, who each one pretends to be, the tell, one thing to do, and three practice messages.
The first thing you get is a page to keep by the phone.
Type your address below, then click the link in the email we send. Nobody can do that click but you.
Your own address, nobody else’s. A confirmation email from Same Old Trick comes first, and nothing arrives until you click the link in it. It’s free, every issue has an unsubscribe link, and your address is held by Kit, the company that sends the email for us, and nobody else.
Signing up a parent? They do that part themselves, at sameoldtrick.com/mom, with their own address.