FIGURES
- US$90 million to US$501 million: Reported losses to job and employment agency scams, 2020 to 2024; reports nearly tripled. Source: Federal Trade Commission, press release, 10 Mar 2025, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/03/new-ftc-data-show-big-jump-reported-losses-fraud-125-billion-2024
- US$362.9 million: Lost to employment fraud reported to the FBI in 2025, across 24,688 complaints. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Report 2025, Apr 2026, https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf
- Up 102.4%: Job scam reports in Australia in 2025; losses up 81.5% to A$24.8 million. Source: National Anti-Scam Centre, Targeting Scams Report 2025, 30 Mar 2026, https://www.nasc.gov.au/system/files/targeting-scams-report-2025.pdf

DEMAND SIGNALS (vidIQ, 25 October 2026)
- "Work from home scam" draws about 11,700 searches a month and "online job scams work from home" about 4,100 with low competition (29) (vidIQ).
- UtilForge's own job-scam video broke out at 350 times the channel's average, and a Short titled "Applying for jobs isn't safe" reached 254,000 views, 106 times its channel's average (vidIQ).