Fraudsters circumvent phishing links with text messages, offer credit card interest rate reductions in new ID theft schemes

Recent fake job recruitment schemes are stealing victims’ personal information with prompts to respond via text message rather than click on malicious links. Scammers are also extracting identity information from victims with fake offers to reduce credit card interest rates. Plus, a new twist on an old investment scheme.

John Simon was unemployed and eagerly searching through job postings, when he received a series of text messages about a job offer from someone claiming to be a recruiter. One of the messages prompted John to reply with “YES” or “INTERESTED” if he wanted to hear more. When John responded, the job recruiter said they’d send him a check with instructions on how to deposit the funds. But when John deposited the check, the recruiter asked him to send some of the money back. John then sent the recruiter an electronic check. 

Later that week, John’s bank informed him that other checks he’d cashed had bounced and that his account balance had been wiped out. When John explained the situation about the recent job offer, the bank representative told him that he’d been the victim of a scam.  

This story is fictitious, but it illustrates the latest phishing method identity thieves are employing to obtain bank account information without using malicious links. Fraudsters are also now stealing identity information — and money — with fraudulent offers to lower credit card interest rates and update the classic pump and dump investment scheme. Here are the details of these latest scams with some helpful tips to defend against them.

Fake job text scam

In times of economic trouble, businesses may reduce their workforce with layoffs. This invariably intensifies competition for job openings, making it difficult for recently unemployed people to find jobs. Fraudsters know this and are quick to seize an opportunity in which people may be vulnerable.

In April 2026, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) posted an alert about a new fake job text scam where fraudsters masquerade as job recruiters from legitimate companies and offer fake jobs to victims. They tell victims the work can be done from home and sometimes mention a daily or weekly rate of pay, without providing full details about what the job entails.

What makes this scam different is that fraudsters get prospective victims to reply to the message with “YES” or “INTERESTED” instead of convincing them to click a link. This new scam is intended to reach people who know about the risks of clicking on links in unsolicited messages. 

If the person replies, the fraudster will then explain why they must send money. They might tell the victim they’re going to send a check with instructions for how to deposit it. Then the scammer will ask the victim to send some money back. This is a common fake check scam, where a fraudster exploits the gap between when a bank shows funds and when a check clears. In these fraud schemes, the victim will be out the amount of money they send to the fraudster. If the victim sends a check, the fraudster then has access to their bank transfer number, which can be used to wipe out the victim’s bank account.

The scammer might also tell the victim they can “make good money” by completing a simple set of tasks in an app or online platform, such as leaving positive reviews or boosting a product’s ratings. This is a task scam. As the victim completes each task, they’ll see an increasing tally of fake earnings in an app that tracks their progress. When a set of tasks is completed, the app or online platform will send a message for the victim to deposit their money — usually in cryptocurrency — to receive the next set of tasks and their supposed earnings. If the victim makes the deposit, the fraudster has their “real money,” and the victim never receives their “earnings.” 

The FTC offers the following advice to avoid fake job recruiter scams:

• Ignore all unprompted messages, whether through text or WhatsApp, that contain job offers. Real employers won’t contact you in that way.
• Never send money to anyone who claims to be a recruiter to get a job offer. A recruiter who asks for money is a telltale sign it’s a scam.
• When someone says they’ll pay you in exchange for positive ratings or other similar tasks online, don’t believe them. Honest companies won’t do that.

In addition, never share your personally identifiable information (PII). Checks are a rich source of PII for fraudsters, so be wary of sending money to an unknown account.

Fraudulent offer to lower your credit card interest rate

According to the FTC, fraudsters are calling individuals and offering to help them reduce their credit card interest rate. To earn their victims’ trust and get them to provide additional PII, some fraudsters share past victims’ PII, such as the last four digits of a government identification number, postal code or credit card balance.

The victims are told that shortcuts to reduce their credit card rate are available, but only if they pay the fraudsters an upfront fee. Some fraudsters might also say the offer to lower credit card rates is available for a limited time, pressuring the victim to act quickly without logically thinking about the offer.

The FTC provides the following steps to avoid this scam:

• Don’t share PII with unexpected callers. A scammer who has your PII can more easily commit other crimes.
• Never pay upfront fees. It’s illegal for debt-relief companies to charge people before they’ve helped them.
• Make an action plan. Be proactive in thinking about how you can respond to an unexpected message that asks for money, and who are some trusted family members or friends you could contact if you suspect a scam.

In some cases, consumers may lower their interest rate by contacting their credit card company directly and asking how they might qualify. Learn more about scams and identity theft at consumer.gov, and report any scams you see at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. 

Ramp and dump investment scheme

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) of the Office of Inspector General is warning investors about a new version of a pump and dump investment fraud scheme called “ramp and dump.” 

There are two types of ramp and dump schemes. In the first type, which is similar to the traditional pump and dump scheme, Chinese and other small businesses outside the U.S. valued at $15 million or less will develop and list an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange with an individual share price of $4–6. 

Before the IPO is listed, the fraudsters allocate millions of shares to themselves at a small cost or no cost. Then they’ll make fraudulent claims about the value of the shares of the upcoming IPO and encourage victim investors through encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to purchase shares at a specific time on the day the IPO is listed. The fraudsters then sell their shares at an inflated value, resulting in a 100% profit or more. 

In the second type of ramp and dump scheme, fraudsters embed malware on a victim’s computer to steal their identity and purchase shares of small cap stocks. Once the malware is successfully embedded, the fraudster can gain access to the victim’s PII, including passwords, multifactor authentication and usernames. The fraudster’s main goal is to infiltrate the victim’s brokerage account and use it to purchase small cap stocks, while profiting from match sales from the accounts the bad actors now control. According to the FDIC, the fraudsters use stock transfer and clearing agents with a low threshold for compliance and conduct minimal trade surveillance. 

To avoid becoming a victim of a ramp and dump investment scheme, the FDIC advises investors to be cautious of social media posts advertising non-U.S. companies as great investment opportunities and unsolicited messages through WhatsApp. An unexpected email claiming to be from your financial institution that contains a link or request for personal and account information is also a red flag.

Contact your bank directly through the number listed on its official website if you receive any suspicious messages claiming to be from your bank. Investors can search for any company that conducts an IPO on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website. You can also search the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) broker check for involved parties who could disclose investment risks. Contact the FDIC Office of Inspector General hotline if you believe you’ve been a victim of a ramp and dump scheme. 

I’m here to help.

Please use this information in your outreach programs and share among your family members, friends and coworkers. As part of my outreach program, please contact me if you have any questions on identity theft or cyber-related issues that you need help with or if you’d like me to research a scam and possibly include details in future columns or as feature articles. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll do my best to help. I might not get back to you immediately, but I’ll reply. Stay tuned!

Robert E. Holtfreter, Ph.D., CFE, is a distinguished emeritus professor of accounting and research at Central Washington University. He serves on the ACFE Advisory Council, the ACFE Editorial Advisory Committee and the ACFE’s inaugural CFE Exam Content Development Committee. In 2005 he received the ACFE’s Outstanding Achievement in Accounting award and the ACFE’s Educator of the Year award in 2006. Holtfreter was the recipient of the Hubbard Award for the best Fraud Magazine feature article in 2016. Contact him at doctorh007@gmail.com.