Trend Micro exposes the operations behind fake digital job platforms and highlights the growing financial and psychological harm to victims.

Trend Micro today introduces a report which sheds light on the mechanisms behind and the scope of a rapidly growing fraud model called “assignment fraud.” These are sophisticated online scams that mimic digital job platforms, where job seekers are lured with digital assignments, but where they are instead systematically scammed out of money.

– Assignment fraud is today one of the most financially and psychologically damaging cybercrimes that affect individuals, says Martin Fribrock, Sweden Manager at Trend MicroThe infrastructure that enables this, from domain registration to SMS services, must immediately address this new type of crime. Companies can help reduce the risks by making their recruitment practices transparent and educating job seekers on how to identify legitimate contacts.

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Trend Micro report exposes a vast global criminal infrastructure that impersonates legitimate businesses, uses trusted communication channels, and exploits job-seeking individuals using gamification techniques.

These modern fraud methods are difficult to identify as they are designed to go undetected. In one of Trend Micro In a recent study of over 6,500 consumers surveyed, 39 percent said they only realized they had been the victim of fraud after losing a significant amount of money. And that's a lot of money. In Trend Micro's new report Fraudsters are highlighted who transfer millions of dollars via crypto wallets, and victims who lose anything from a few thousand to several hundred thousand kronor.

The report states, among other things, that:

• The scammers successfully imitate real companies such as staffing agencies and digital marketing agencies.
• They use gamified fraud platforms with reward series and performance incentives.
• Trend Micro sees widespread use of SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and fake websites to instill legitimacy.
• Crypto payments are covering up financial tracks and facilitating international money laundering.

With Trend Micro ScamCheck with Scam Radar helps users detect fraud early. Scam Radar provides real-time protection by identifying fraud tactics used by cybercriminals the moment they occur, alerting users and empowering them to take action before any damage is done. Trend Micro ScamCheck is available on the App Store and Google Play.

Read the full report Unmasking task Scams here.