Everything Online Feels Like a Scam

I almost miss the Nigerian prince.

You remember him. He had several million dollars, a complicated banking problem, questionable spelling, and, for reasons never fully explained, needed my help.

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It was a simpler time.

The scam practically introduced itself. Delete the email, feel slightly smarter than the scammer, and move on with your day.

Today, the scam arrives wearing business casual.

It has a professional headshot, a real-looking company page, and a message that sounds like it was written specifically for you.

Looking for a job? Perfect. A recruiter just found your résumé.

Waiting for a package? Amazing coincidence. FedEx suddenly can't find your house. Have a bank account? Bad news. There has been "suspicious activity."

The scammer may know where you work, what you do, and enough about a real company to sound legitimate.

That is what makes the story of Jay Jones, who calls himself "The Profiler," both entertaining and depressing.

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about Jones and his effort to find fake recruiters and job postings. He has found multiple profiles using the same smiling photo and even the same name: Linda Anthony.

Jones says he has tracked nearly 60,000 fake jobs and flagged about 7,000 scam profiles.

And he has been doing this while looking for a job himself.

This must be the most 2026 job search imaginable. Apply for a job. Investigate whether the job exists. Investigate whether the recruiter exists. Then consider adding "fraud investigator" to your résumé.

Looking for work was already a full-time job that doesn't pay. Now apparently you also need a minor in cybersecurity.

And it isn't just jobs.

Your social media account is about to be suspended unless you click immediately. Your bank detected suspicious activity. Your toll payment is overdue. Your package cannot be delivered. Your friend desperately needs $500 in Apple gift cards.

Every message has the same goal: get your heart moving faster than your brain.

Then there are the health scams and questionable pitches.

Watch one innocent video about nutrition, and suddenly someone is explaining that fruit is destroying your metabolism, vegetables are poisoning you, and everything your mother told you about breakfast was wrong.

Fortunately, this person also has a powder.

Three easy payments and apparently everything will be fine.

Not every health claim or supplement ad is a scam, of course. But the formula is familiar: scare people, tell them you know something "they" don't want you to know, create urgency, then sell the solution.

And people are paying a huge price.

The Federal Trade Commission says consumers reported losing $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025.

Behind that number are real people. Savings accounts emptied. Identities stolen. Social media accounts hijacked. Hours spent changing passwords and explaining to your bank that no, you did not decide at 2 a.m. to invest your life savings in cryptocurrency.

Artificial intelligence can write better messages and create convincing images. Automation allows scammers to create accounts by the thousands. Fake job listings can sit right next to legitimate ones.

LinkedIn told the Journal that it stopped close to 90 million fake accounts before they went live during the second half of 2025. Banks send alerts. Email providers block spam. Government agencies issue warnings.

But somehow the responsibility still comes back to us.

Use a different password for everything. Turn on multifactor authentication. Freeze your credit. Check every URL. Verify every caller. Don't open attachments. Don't click links. Don't trust anyone asking for money.

This is all good advice, but at some point it feels like the airline handing you a wrench and saying, "Before we take off, would you mind checking the plane?"

Which brings me to The Beekeeper.

In the 2024 Jason Statham movie, a phishing scam wipes out a woman's finances. Statham responds the way Jason Statham usually does: gasoline, broken furniture, and blowing up things.

To be clear, I am not advocating we start blowing up scam operations.

Although after changing your password for the 47th time, I understand the appeal.

What we do need are more people who can follow the money, find the people behind these operations, and shut them down before they change their name, buy another domain, and start again tomorrow.

Maybe we need a few more Beekeepers. Just with fewer explosions.

Until then, unfortunately, all of this falls on us.

Slow down. Go directly to the company's website. Confirm that the job exists. Never pay someone for the privilege of being hired. And if someone wants your password, bank information, gift cards, or cryptocurrency immediately, stop.

So yes, I almost miss my Nigerian prince friend.

I never responded, so I assume my millions are still waiting.

But at least with him, I knew where I stood.

Hector Barajas is a public affairs and strategic communications professional and the founder of Amplify360, Inc. His work places him at the forefront of high-level policy discussions among lawmakers, political candidates, regulators, and industry leaders. These articles aim to illuminate information, context, and implications often discussed privately and frequently omitted from public debate.

X: @HectorMBarajas

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hectormbarajas

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