NEED TO KNOW

In 2024, Americans reported $470 million in losses to text scams, more than fivefold the amount reported in 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission .

As phone spam proliferates, some journalists have started confronting the scammers directly, but the networks are difficult to untangle

Slate's Alex Sammon, who wrote about his experience responding to a task scam, tells PEOPLE, "I think this bizarre intersection of grindset attitudes, new digital technologies, general lawlessness, and socially useless labor does say something very true about our contemporary moment,"

Tens of thousands of people across the country reported scam job offer texts last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission , and for many, they've become a near-daily game of read-and-delete.

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