Nearly half of young adults are being targeted by fake job scams exploiting fears over missing out on work

Around half of all 18-to-24-year-olds in Gen Z have been sent unsolicited job offers out of nowhere, with fraudsters masquerading as recruiters to prey on fears of letting a genuine opportunity slip by. Murray Mackenzie, fraud prevention director at Virgin Media O2, which commissioned the survey of 2,000 people, warned the fake offers can look indistinguishable from legitimate agency contact. Some texts promise hundreds of pounds for an hour's daily work, while others omit the "easy cash" red flag entirely. The UK's data watchdog is separately investigating a surge in spam robo-calls that funnel victims toward the same scams via WhatsApp.

Half of those surveyed said they fear ignoring an unexpected job message might cost them a real opportunity.

More than a third said they would be tempted to reply even if they doubted the offer was genuine.

Virgin Media O2 says it has blocked over 1.4 billion scam messages to date and flags 80 million nuisance calls a month using AI.