JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A scam that may flood your phone may be disguised as a job offer sent through text, deceiving you with a job description that may be a little too good to be true.

If you got an unexpected text message with a job offer from a company you didn’t apply to, chances are it’s a scam. It’s a scam cybersecurity experts told First Coast News has been growing rapidly over the past year.

The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that job scams like this have risen by 118% from 2022 to 2023. Due to the layoffs in several different industries or in the federal government this year, Paul Keener, cybersecurity strategist with GuidePoint Security, believes that number will skyrocket.

“There can be a sense of panic if you had a job and now you don’t have a job, so scammers are targeting that,” Keener said.

While the job offer may include a high hourly pay and flexibility for remote work, at the end of the message, often times it will ask you to reply with some personal or financial information or click a high-risk link that looks legitimate.

“There will be a refusal to do any type of video or in-person interview,” Keener said. “They’ll direct you to download Signal or direct you to download some kind of other app and prompt you to provide all of your personal information, things that you wouldn’t give out till after you accepted the job.”

The Federal Trade Commission says what makes this scam dangerous is how employers typically ask for social security numbers and direct deposit information during the onboarding process.

“This is all about the money, so attackers are looking to get your data so they can go sell it to someone who’s going to use it to create an account to do something somewhat nefarious with your information,” Keener said.

According to Federal Trade Commission data, consumers have lost nearly $24 million to job and employment agency text scams in 2024.

To avoid a scam like this, the Federal Trade Commission says to use trusted job search sources, do some research on the company, and avoid engaging with the text or links attached.

Keener also adds, when you delete a text, click the option to report it as junk.