Job-scam instead of work: how AI turned the job market into a roulette

The chance to find a vacancy that meets all your requirements and wishes is a dream for many job seekers. But often behind a job offer lies not a long-awaited job, but a deception orchestrated by criminals using artificial intelligence — a job-scam.

Guardian journalist Victoria Turk received an email from a recruiter at a "leading US editorial team in technology and markets." The email was clearly tailored to her: it mentioned positions she had held before and her specific areas of expertise. When she Googled the sender, she found a recruiter with the same name and photo on LinkedIn. "At first glance, the email looked quite plausible," Turk admits. She responded — and received details about the vacancy that perfectly matched her criteria. "I felt something was off, but I couldn't tell exactly what," she says, comparing the "employer's" response to a ChatGPT-generated reply tailored precisely to her wishes and profile. The catch was that no such vacancy existed.

The boom of a new type of scam

As early as 2022, Americans alone lost $367 million to job-scams. According to experts, the average person who encounters a scam while job hunting gives about $2,000 to fraudsters, and the number of such cases is growing by more than 100% year over year — largely due to the popularity of remote work (which doesn't require in-person interviews) and the accessibility of AI technologies.

In simple terms, a job-scam is a type of fraud where a job seeker responds to a vacancy and communicates not with a real employer, but with scammers. In recent years, criminals have increasingly used neural networks to make the scam more convincing: AI allows them to create unique text messages tailored to the job seeker's profile, imitate the "employer's" voice, and even replace a live person on screen during a video call.

Why crypto makes job-scams more dangerous

The main goal of a job-scam is to obtain the job seeker's personal data and money, which the victim transfers to the "employer" supposedly for onboarding, internship fees, equipment, or other purposes. Increasingly, scammers request transfers in cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB) because crypto payments are irreversible and pseudonymous. Fake job offers in the blockchain and Web3 space have also surged, targeting candidates with technical backgrounds: "DeFi analyst", "NFT community manager", "crypto trader" — all of them fake.

According to analysts at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), by 2025 scammers on social networks had already made over $2 billion, and one in three people who lost money to a job-scam in 2025 said the fraud started on social media (LinkedIn, Telegram, WhatsApp, or fake Discord channels).

According to Victoria Turk, "as a potential candidate for a marketing director position," she regularly receives emails from fake recruiters at "L'Oréal, Procter & Gamble, international executive search agencies, and large corporations."

"Before 2025, I had barely heard of such things. Now, I get these emails about once every two weeks," Turk admits. She adds that in most cases, she detects the scam thanks to the email address — when it lacks a corporate domain, a key marker that helps verify whether the sender genuinely represents a given company.

Two types of job-scams (Victoria Turk classification)

Victoria highlights two types of job-scams that job seekers face:

• Fake recruiting (paid "help"): You are invited to apply for a "dream position," and then you are gently led to believe that your resume is "not strong enough" or your LinkedIn profile is "incorrectly set up." Then you are offered paid help: rewriting your CV, polishing your profile, "introducing you to the company." You pay — but nothing happens afterward. Scammers often demand payment in crypto, claiming it's for a "blockchain-based verification system" or "encrypted portfolio review".
• Direct fraud (identity & money theft): You are asked to upload your passport, enter banking details, pay for an "interview system", or register on a "corporate platform". Another common scheme involves fake "crypto salary" offers — victims are told they will be paid in Bitcoin or stablecoins but first need to pay a "wallet activation fee" or "gas fee deposit" in cryptocurrency. The consequences can be very unpleasant — from identity theft to loans taken out in your name.

Why the labor market fuels the epidemic

"Scammers always go where there is widespread pain, and the labor market is currently in a very difficult state," Turk explains the popularity of job-scams. "We are seeing global layoffs in Big Tech, a hiring freeze for junior positions, the disappearance of internships, entry-level tasks being replaced by AI, and companies fighting for efficiency with every single headcount."

How to protect yourself: signs of a crypto job-scam

• Unsolicited offers that look too perfect — scammers use AI to tailor every detail of the job to your resume.
• Requests for upfront payments in cryptocurrency — real employers never ask for Bitcoin, USDT, or ETH for "training", "equipment", or "visa processing".
• Fake corporate domains — check the sender's email address carefully; often it's @gmail.com or a misspelled domain (e.g., microsoft-careers[.]xyz).
• Interviews via text only or deepfake video calls — AI can mimic voices and faces. If something feels off, ask for a real-time verification.
• "Crypto internship" with deposit requirements — legitimate blockchain companies never ask you to send crypto to start a job.

Key takeaways

• Job-scam defined: Fake job offers, often AI-generated, designed to steal money or data.
• AI role: ChatGPT-like tools craft personalized, convincing messages at scale.
• Crypto connection (supplement): 70% of advanced job-scams now involve cryptocurrency payments — irreversible and anonymous.
• Losses: Over $2 billion lost to job-scams in 2025 (FTC data).
• Red flags: Crypto fees before hiring, generic email domains, pushy recruiters, no video call with real camera.
• What to do: Never send crypto to an employer, verify corporate domain, search company name + "scam", trust your instincts.