Today, Explained - That text is a scam

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

You know those annoying scam texts offering an easy remote job? We find out how they work, why they're so ubiquitous, and the dark world behind them. This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen and Ariana Aspuru, edited by Jenny Lawton with help from Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Adriene Lilly and Brandon McFarland, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill. Image credit Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images. If you have a question, give us a call on 1-800-618-8545 or send us a note here.  Listen to Explain It to Me ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Quantum computers, the next great frontier of technology, offering endless possibilities that stretch the human mind. But for Roscoe Cudullian and the Phoenix Colony, quantum computing uploads the human mind with life-altering consequences. Audibles hit sci-fi thriller The Downloaded returns with Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, reprising his role as Rosco Cudulian in The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. This thought-provoking sequel from Robert J. Sawyer takes listeners on a captivating sci-fi journey, a mind-bending must-listen that asks, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix Colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster, The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.

Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. around job, two or three a day. The red flag starts showing up. For Alex Salmon, it was just a normal day, until he got the text. I've been getting these texts basically every day, maybe every couple hours.

And, yeah, I got one. It was a group text, actually. It was a handful of numbers with Filipino country codes, and it was a wonderful job offer. Sorry to interrupt. I'm from Indeed. We're currently recruiting remote product testers U.S.-based. This role lets you earn $50 to $400 per day. There's a curiosity, right? It's like how could this possibly be a real thing or who could be on the end of this? Or like, what do they want even? If you're interested in meet the age requirement, please reply yes to receive more details.

And so I said, yes. Just yes, that was it? Yeah. You know, I know how to follow instructions. I just said yes. We've all gotten these texts, a random recruiter sending a friendly message with an incredible job opportunity to make a lot of money for just a little bit of work. Hi, I'm Rebecca. I'm Isabella. I'm Daniel. We saw your profile on multiple job work.

Multiple online recruitment agencies. They can be a great fit for our current part-time remote position. You receive $720 after three days before. $100 to $500 per day. If you're interested in joining us, please text us at 1,2,000. The reason you're getting so many is because, unfortunately, they work. As a veteran, I thought I was pretty immune to the scam, but I got an email saying that you can make all this money, working at home, just send us the information, and we'll send you back a check. Check was about $500, and then they wanted $200 back.

And I sent them the money, which is through Bitcoin or Amazon cards or whatever. I did that, and then two days later, my bank said the check was fake, and I was out there, $200 I sent them. Being scammed can feel really embarrassing, but you should know that if it's happened to you, you aren't alone. Last year, the FTC received nearly 250,000 reports of tech scams. Americans lost about $500 million to them. I'm John Glyn Hill, and this week Unexplained to me from Vox. we're going to figure out what the deal is with these scams, how they're pulled off, who's pulling the strings,

and what can happen when you take the bait? Now, Alex from earlier, who replied to that text message job offer, he's actually a reporter for Slate. And he said yes to that job so that he could write about it. When I said yes, when I wanted this job, they were like someone will reach out to you on WhatsApp and they'll train you. And that someone went by the name of Kathy. My name is Kathy, and I'm a coach from Inner Leave.

I just received a notice from Elena, who works in the recruitment department, that you are looking for a remote part-time job. She would text me basically every day being like, Let's do the training. Let's get started on this. This is the best version of yourself. Like, you're going to realize your wildest dreams. She was, like, pretty versed in the grind set.

Then one day I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. And she was like... It's Kathy from Inner Leave. Oh. And from the jump, she was what I would call a micromanager. She was like... What is going on? Do you want this job or don't you? And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm so sorry. And she was like... Let's get going. Okay. Yeah, sorry, my bad. From there on now, she would call me, like, we were in touch and she was a real person. So you take... the job. What was the job? What did they have you doing? They told me in broad strokes that like what we were doing was juicing play counts for like low performing songs on Spotify effectively. You know, there would be all these album covers and you would click in the middle of this three by three rubric. And I mean, that was ultimately it. At a very basic level, I was just clicking in place over and over and over again. I think it was like click, click, click, click, click, click, click. 90 times. That was a completed task. I did three of them a day, and that was sort of it.

Were you actually kind of working? It's a great question. It took me a really long time to figure this out. But it is a job that people do, and it is like it is something that exists. I think it was just ultimately sort of like a mockup of that to justify the actual scam, which was finally far cruder and much more elementary. And how are you getting paid in all of this? Yeah.

So this is where if I wasn't going into this. eyes wide open. This is probably where, like, the red flag starts showing up. They were like, you're going to be paid in cryptocurrency or any paid in Bitcoin. You know, you have to have a Bitcoin wallet. So Alex set up this wallet, and he was told that in order to move on from task to task, he'd need to maintain a minimum balance. You need to ensure that the account balance is at least $100 U.S. dollars to reset the next set of tasks.

And he figured, why not? He was crushing this job. Kathy was like, you did such a great job at this training. You encountered this thing called a bunble and the result of which is that someone needs to put up $200 to refresh the account

because this great thing happened which is very hard to explain. I think we got to pause because what is a bunble? I thought she was saying bundle at first but she was adamant and continued to text me. It was a it was a bunble

B-U-N-B-L-E. According to Kathy, a Bumble was like, if you get lucky and you happen in the course of your clicking to click on to a song that's like so low performing that they can put multiple songs together, then you hit a Bumble and what happens is that you have to put up some money to buy more something to clear up the account. But the great news is you get that money back and then a way more money when it comes time to cash out.

And that was sort of the day and day out of it. It was like, do a lot of clicking. Click, click, click, click, click, click. Numbers go up. And then every once in a while, I hit a bundle. And then I would say, you know, hey, we need a couple bucks. I'd have been like $19, I think, was the first hit. And I was like, all right, you know, I got to see this thing through.

Like, I'm happy to patch it $19. So I'd buy that amount in Bitcoin. And I would send it over and I had to prove that I'd done it. Yes. And they would refresh my account. They would congratulate me for my great work. And then I would go back to doing it. Click, click, click, click, click, click.

Click, yes, click, click, click, click, click, click, yes. And then it was slightly more money I had to fork over and I would do that. Yes. Sometimes it was because if I wanted to level up and get more work, I had to put more money in. It was never like totally explained as to why that was required. I did this job for a while and then I was like, okay, time to cash out. But then every time I tried to cash out, there was always a problem. I would put in my Bitcoin wallet and then they would say like, oh, you didn't.

You didn't clear this with the right person. Like Kathy would say, if only you had told me you were cashing out, I could help you. And then she would be upset. She would be like, no, no, now it's too late. You can't cash out right now. You have to go back to work. When you are done, remember to tell me, and I will teach you how to get another reward. I think I was on for about six weeks.

And there came a time when I was out $96 at that point. She asked at that point for $300, and at that point I felt like I've seen enough. Finally, I was not ever able to cash out. I made many attempts. They were not very well received, and crucially, they did not work. Alex told Kathy he wanted out. He also finally told her he was a reporter writing a story about scams. Kathy seemed undeterred by that.

She still wanted him to stay in the scam. As for Alex, he figured losing. 96 bucks made him a lot luckier than other people. You have to, unfortunately, you know, know that, like, the idea that you have to be sending your boss money via cryptocurrency or any sort of other alternative currency, you know, gift cards have become a big part of this. Like, those sorts of things should concern you. Like, if you have a job, you're probably not sending money to the job.

There's a lot of shame around it, too, I think, that once you get down these things, you're like, how could I possibly fall in for this? and not wanting to believe that you fall in for it actually makes you go deeper. You know, like the few things that exist, the few law enforcement agencies that exist to combat this stuff, like they've seen a hatchet taken to their budget, to their staff, to their administrative capacity. You can report this stuff to the FTC. It's unlikely they're going to be able to do that much for you. Did you ever hear from Kathy again?

Kathy will pop up I want to say once a week and we'll say Hello What's going on? The tone changes all the time It goes from stern and scolding To encouraging and concerned

But she still will call me sometimes I'll get phone calls from her as well So ongoing certainly I hope you're okay Why'd you leave? Come back to work So That's how these scams play out

And on their face, they're pretty absurd. They're even kind of funny. But if you dig a little deeper, it gets really dark. That's next. Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left.

Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequence. Wolf that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. Get no frills, delivered.

Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at PCExpress.CA.ca. We're back. This is Explained it to me. I'm JQ. And today we're trying to figure out what's up with all these text message scams and who's behind them. Matt Burgess writes all about privacy and information security for Wired. And he's reported on one of the main actors in the world of texting scams. It's called The Smishing Triad.

Yeah, so over the last three years or so, this group called the Smishing Triad has emerged as one of the most prolific senders of scam messages, and they are one of several groups of scammers that are known as Smishing Syndicots, and they've been estimated to be sending 100,000 messages per day. They have around 200,000 malicious websites that have been linked to them, and these smishing syndicates in general, they develop their own software, and they sell it to other cybercriminals who may be able to use that software to then go and scam people further, in almost in a plug-and-play style way. I think some of these Chinese-language fishing scamming groups have actually been estimated

to be making around a billion dollars in the last couple of years. What are the odds that you or I have gotten a text from the smishing triad? Like, is there reach that big that, you know, they're probably in my phone right now? There's a good chance of it. The smithing triad has been linked to scam messages. in more than 120 different countries. And a big one that they do is impersonating in the U.S., the U.S. Postal Service. A text message from the Postal Service, wow, I didn't even know they had my cell number.

They don't. And they don't send text messages about unclaimed packages. But around the world, they have also impersonated banks. Police say in just the last week, in fact, a handful of people have lost nearly $100,000 to this scam. They've impersonated cryptocurrency platforms. It looked like it's from Coinbase, sharing a withdrawal code. It felt like someone was trying to take money for my crypto wallet. E-commerce, healthcare, law enforcement, all kinds of different organizations

that may want you to take action, such as clicking onto a website to confirm some details or to get your parcel sent back to you. They are constantly evolving and constantly adapting their software, becoming like targeting more different organizations or impersonating more different organizations. What is smishing? I'm not going to lie, when you say it, it sounds really adorable, but it is not cute. What is it? So, yeah, many people may be familiar with phishing to email accounts.

So really, when you're talking about smithing, that is just the SMS text message equivalent of that. But I would say with smishing, because it is via text message and straight to your phone, you will have something that is pinging up. Some of these scam text messages are very successful because they are straight, direct to you. that you may be out and about and see a message come in and then respond to it, click on the link straight away without thinking about it. So there's real that direct sense of urgency with a text message that you don't get with an email or another type of phishing scam. So all of these scam texts are being sent, like just so many messages.

How are they doing this? When cybercriminals are collecting phone numbers or other contact details, they can be purchasing these on underground markets, on forums, potentially from data breaches, where we've all seen people having their details linked elsewhere or possibly even data brokers. And then when it comes around to them sending the messages, they're quite often using automated software on a device, such as a laptop or a computer, where they can have multiple sort of virtual phones running on their screen at the same time and send out multiple thousands

of messages from those accounts. All right. So that's how these texts get to our phones. but I want to get a sense of how it looks to the scammers. Let's say I get a text and there's a link and I click on it. What happens? When you click that link, you'll end up on a website. So if this scam message is coming from allegedly the US Postal Service,

you'll end up on a website that looks like the US Postal Service. You'll end up on a website that looks like the bank that the scammers are trying to impersonate, which want you to enter your personal details. They might want you to enter your personal details. name, your postal address, your bank account details, your financial details, and then the scammers will be collecting these pretty much in real time. Okay, let's say I get the text, I don't click anything, but I block the number. Will these texts keep coming? Like, is there a way to stop this? You're not going to get text from that same number, but you may get text from another

number or another account that is trying to scam you. So I think that the scale that these scams are happening. People are going to continue to receive scam messages pretty much on a very frequent basis. I'm curious what tech companies are doing. You know, Apple, Google, they have millions of their own users at risk. What are they doing about it? I think there are a few players that are involved in trying to reduce the amount of scams that are happening around the world. So you've got the telecoms firms, the companies that own the networks. These websites have to be hosted. We're a domain company, so those domain companies can be better at blocking scam websites as well. And then, yeah, you've got Apple and Google and other mobile providers as well.

A lot of them now are using on-device machine learning to be able to detect the kind of language that is used in these scams, and they are able to better classify some of these scams from happening. I think that they are getting better, but this is a problem that is still affecting everybody very frequently, so there's more to be done in that space. You know, every era has its own scam. Why are tech scams so widespread right now? They're quick, they're successful, they're making money from them.

And I think that because we're all on our phones all of the time and we're getting messages and notifications, it can be easy for anybody to click on these links and enter their financial details. I think as well, I think once scammers find something that will work. for them, whether it is a romance scam or an employment scam or anything else, then they'll keep doing that until it doesn't work. Coming up, the horrifying employment scam on the other side of that text thread. day explained comes from Upwork. Upwork knows that scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, Upwork says you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, so much more. These are experts who are ready to help you take

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Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at TELUS.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. If you find that you're a victim of a scam, you might call Aaron West. She was a prosecutor in California for over two decades. And after seeing so many people get their money taken, she decided to do something about it. She started an organization called Operation Chamrock, and she's investigated scams coming out of Cambodia, Myanmar, all over Southeast Asia.

And she found the people on the other side of the phone. Just a heads up, there are some descriptions of violence coming up that might be upsetting to some listeners. I met someone named Small Q, and Small Q is a Ugandan man. Small Q was working in an internet cafe in Uganda. He's 23 years old. And a fellow Ugandan came in and asked him, I know you're making $100 a month working here. I can get you $1,000 a month in a live-work facility in Bangkok. You'll be doing data entry.

And so Small Q went through the interview process. He did two interviews. He did a typing test. He was delighted to hear that he got this job where he would literally be making 10 times what he made. So he told his brother, I could give this a shot or I could die poor in Uganda. And when he arrived in Bangkok, they took his phone, they took his passport, drove him for hours and hours. And ultimately, he found himself in a gated, massive walled community with large dormitories. And the men with AK-47s at the gate told him, you're a scammer now.

This is your job. So it sounds like the people who end up being the scammers are actually victims of an employment scam themselves. That's exactly right. This is one of the first times in history. We've got this tremendous, massive global crime where there are victims on both sides of it. And so inside these rooms where the scams are happening, people are in fear. That's the horrifying piece of this that people don't understand. On the other side of that text, is likely a victim who has been human trafficked to be there. Erin, you've been to some of these compounds. I'm curious, what do they look like? What do they feel like? It's really horrifying.

They are massive 10-story-tall buildings that are residential. They often have bars on the windows, literally to keep the people from jumping out. It's dozens and dozens along the Moe River in Myanmar. It's hundreds in Cambodia. It's dozens in loud. The scale of this is incomprehensible. Wow. And who's behind these massive compounds?

Chinese organized criminals are no strangers to the gambling industry. And in combination with a road that China was building in Cambodia, Chinese organized criminals thought we should fill this area with casino towers. But COVID hit. And so when their casino towers sat empty, they had to pivot. So they decided they were going to do this. That's when they started the human trafficking angle on it. I want to get back to the story of Small Q.

When people like Small Q arrive, what happens next? His day then becomes, okay, you're a scammer, and you are living your life on the awake hours of the United States or whoever you're targeting. And Small Cues Day would then be to report to a long table of people just like him, forced to be working on a desktop computer and 10 phones. And the way it works is there are different roles within this facility. So when you come in, you are one of the people who is trying to look, locate new contacts, new clients, they call them. Once you've been there a while, you elevate

to becoming a chatter. And when you are a chatter, you have, they call it their model, their profile that they use. And every day they submit at the end of the day to their boss what their character will be doing that day. It sounds so oddly corporate. I'm glad you picked up on the corporate nature of this. You're on a team and there's very much a corporate incentive strategy for what's happening there. So if small Q were to be able to be successful and scam money from someone, that's a big win. Sometimes there's fireworks for the for the massive scores. There can be treats offered. So like a karaoke room staffed with attractive women and liquor and cigarettes. It's the carrot and the stick approach.

What happens if these people don't meet their quotas? It's horrifying. So Small Q is not the only person I'm in touch with. I'm in touch with another Ugandan that I refer to as Sam. If he doesn't make his quota, he is not allowed to have food. He's beaten. He's beaten with an electric baton. There are sexual consequences for women. There is something called the dark room. There is a metal bar that's attached to the wall where you are handcuffed to the wall and beaten. And then you are placed in a room where you are hung by your arms for three days. We're talking about war crime level torture that is happening to people. And all of that

because you didn't scam enough because you didn't hit the quota? Yes. How do you get out of these scam jobs? It sounds like you can't just quit. You really don't get out. And that's how they've managed to accumulate hundreds of thousands of people inside these walls. There are others that when they ask, how do I get out, they're told they can pay a ransom. And the ransom is frequently, could be anything from $3,000, $3,000, $20,000, $20,000. dollars, if they are able to get that money, there are ways that their escape can be brokered.

But ultimately, Small Q was able to get home. He stole a phone from one of the bosses. He was able to contact Madam Betty, who is the High Commissioner for Uganda, and she was able to help him and 23 others get home. But the mental toll is massive. Individually, you get these texts and now you have this information and all you can think of like is, oh, no, like there is a person being harmed on the other end of the phone. I just wonder, is there anything individual people can do? Like, what do you do? Everybody understands that there's a scam problem right now. But I don't think that everybody understands that this is not going to stop, that this is operating in full force with no

friction. And I think for a lot of people, when you hear this story, you think, oh, Aaron, that sounds awful, but that is on the other side of the world. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this. So here's what you're supposed to do. You are supposed to tell everyone you know about this. Point out what is happening and point out that people globally are losing everything they have. It seems like no matter where you are in the world right now, there are people struggling to make a living. And our digital existence makes that really easy to exploit.

If the government can't do anything about it and tech companies aren't able to stop it, then it may be up to us. Stay vigilant, don't reply, and don't click. All right, that's it for this week's show. We've got an episode coming up about housing. The market is not in the best shape right now, especially if you're trying to buy. And we want to hear about the creative ways you're meeting the moment. Maybe you're thinking of going in on a house with friends

or moving to a community that better suits your needs. We want to hear all about it. Give us a call at 1-800-618-8-8-55 or email us at AskVox.com. And if you want to support the podcast, become a Vox member. When you do, you help us make this work, and you also get to listen to this show and all other Vox podcasts with zero ads. There are a bunch of other cool things that come with it, too. You can join and find out all about it by going to Vox.com slash members. If you do it now, you get $20 off.

This episode was produced by Peter Balanon Rosen and Ariana Aspuru. It was edited by Ginny Lawton with help from Jolie Myers. Our executive producer is Miranda Kennedy. And fact checking was by Melissa Hirsch with engineering by Adrian Lilly and Brandon McFarlane. I'm your host, John Glenn Hill. Thank you so much for listening. Talk to you soon. Bye.

Thank you.