An unfamiliar type of scam has surged against everyday people, with a year-over-year increase of some 400%, putting job seekers at risk of losing their time and money.
The emerging threat is delivered in “task scams” or “gamified job scams.” While these scams were virtually non-existent in 2020, the FTC reported 5,000 cases in 2023 and a whopping 20,000 cases in the first half of 2024. In these scams, online criminals prey on people looking for remote jobs by offering them simple repetitive tasks such as liking videos, optimizing apps, boosting product interest, or rating product images. These tasks are usually organized in sets of 40 tasks that will take the victim to a “next level” once they are completed
Read more…
Source: Malwarebytes Labs
Related:
- Ghostcommit attack hides malicious AI instructions in images
July 13, 2026
Ghostcommit is a proof of concept that shows how AI assistants used to review software code can be tricked by hidden instructions embedded in images. The academic ASSET Research Group showed that an attacker can place instructions inside an image file, point to it in an AGENTS.md file, and get an AI coding agent to follow those instructions during a ...
- EU-UK sanctions target Russia over Europe-wide ‘vast cyber campaign’
July 13, 2026
The European Union and the UK have announced coordinated sanctions against Russia after accusing Moscow’s FSB intelligence agency of carrying out a cyber attack in December targeting Poland’s energy grid and orchestrating a wider campaign of digital sabotage across Europe. The joint measures focus on individuals and organisations linked to Russia’s security services, with the EU ...
- Ukrainians are using VPNs to cause havoc in Russia by changing fuel station statuses on maps in a bid to cause chaos and confusion
July 11, 2026
A coordinated online campaign has reportedly encouraged users to alter fuel station information on digital maps across Russia, creating confusion among drivers. The activity involves changing station statuses by marking locations with available fuel as empty or showing closed stations as operational. Supporters of the campaign claim the effort is designed to disrupt travel decisions, increase uncertainty, ...
- Supermarket chain Lidl warns customers after data leak
July 10, 2026
Unknown individuals managed to gain access to customer data held by the supermarket chain Lidl. The German company informed affected customers of this via email this week. Thus far, the supermarket chain has declined to say how many customers were affected. However, the discount retailer did state that it has notified the Dutch Data Protection Authority. Read ...
- No Manners Here: The Ruthless Rise of The Gentlemen Ransomware
July 10, 2026
The Gentlemen (aka Storm-2697) is a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) program active since at least July 2025. Public reporting indicates that the operators were likely active months earlier as an affiliate (known as ArmCorp) of Qilin RaaS, which Unit 42 tracks as Spikey Scorpius. Their ransomware variants are written in both C and Go programming languages, enabling ...
- Florida ransomware negotiator convicted for helping ransomware gang extort US companies
July 10, 2026
Florida man Angelo Martino has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for conspiring with hackers to deploy ransomware during his job as a ransomware negotiator for a U.S. cybersecurity company. The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the sentence on Thursday, noting that the government seized more than $10 million worth of cryptocurrency and assets. Martino ...