--- title: Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers - The Hustle description: Losses from job scams totaled $250m in the first three quarters of 2022. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1425929936-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-13T013655.931Z.webp --- # Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: January 13, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Nothing beats getting laid off during an economic downturn, finally being offered a job interview, then learning that the interview is actually an elaborate internet scam. ![Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1425929936-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-13T013655.931Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1425929936-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-13T013655.931Z.webp) Job fraudsters are luring laid-off workers into [offering up](https://www.wsj.com/articles/laid-off-workers-are-flooded-with-fake-job-offers-11673387875) money or sensitive personal information with phony companies, job postings, websites, and interviews, per *The Wall Street Journal*. - Many of those being targeted are unemployed tech workers. The broader tech industry experienced a [jump in layoffs](https://layoffs.fyi/) throughout 2022, totaling ~154k, and has already seen 21k+ layoffs this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. - LinkedIn claims it blocked 20m+ fake accounts in the first half of 2022, up 33% from 2021. The volume and economic impact of these scams have skyrocketed. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission [reported](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/FraudReports/TrendsOverTime) US workers lost more than $209m from job opportunity fraud, up from $118m in 2018. In just the first three quarters of 2022, workers lost $250m. Topics: [Workplace Issues](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/workplace-issues) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![‘Lazy management’ vs. ‘fake work’](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1322416868-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-woman_sleeping_20230711001539.webp) ### ‘Lazy management’ vs. ‘fake work’ - ![Climbing the corporate ladder? More like scaling the noncompete wall](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/939844908-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Noncompete_20230608234933.webp) ### Climbing the corporate ladder? More like scaling the noncompete wall - ![Office workers dread the commute, spending money](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1603667284-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2024202023commmuting.webp) ### Office workers dread the commute, spending money - ![Top bosses want you back in the office — like, right now](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/961948822-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay209202023return_to_office.webp) ### Top bosses want you back in the office — like, right now - ![Hey, CEOs… You good?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/357918615-19-News-Brief_2023-04-24T235457.502Z.webp) ### Hey, CEOs… You good? - ![Millions of Americans retired early. Now they want to work again](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1583684738-News-Brief_2022-03-31T233737.536Z.webp) ### Millions of Americans retired early. Now they want to work again - ![Apparently workers are lying to their bosses about using ChatGPT](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/892524159-19-News-Brief_2023-03-21T004515.517Z.webp) ### Apparently workers are lying to their bosses about using ChatGPT - ![Your newest corporate nightmare: ‘Bleisure’](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/613368110-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-07T230219.229Z.webp) ### Your newest corporate nightmare: ‘Bleisure’ - ![Why Apple store workers are unionizing](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1809834651-HS-News-Brief_2022-11-16T011948.164Z-scaled.webp) ### Why Apple store workers are unionizing - ![Some workers say their job billed them for… quitting?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/27999002-HS-News-Brief_2022-10-19T003321.028Z.webp) ### Some workers say their job billed them for… quitting? Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/jacob-cohen" }, "datePublished" : "2023-01-13T09:40:57.000Z", "headline" : "Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1425929936-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-13T013655.931Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/01132023-job-scammers", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:37:08+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-01-13T09:40:57+0000", "headline" : "Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1425929936-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-13T013655.931Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```