According to the FTC’s latest data spotlight, task scam reports skyrocketed from virtually none in 2020 to 5,000 in 2023, then quadrupled to an alarming 20,000 in just the first half of 2024.

The Federal Trade Commission will mark its annual Identity Theft Awareness Week with a series of free events January 30-February 3 focused on how identity theft affects people of every community and ways to reduce your risk.

It stems from a new complaint filed by the DoJ on behalf of the FTC, alleging that Twitter violated the order in the earlier case by collecting customers’ personal information for the stated purpose of security and then exploiting it commercially.

Scammers, pretending to be contact tracers and taking advantage of how the process works, are also sending text messages.