Rise in scam job texts to teens from fraudsters posing as TikTok staff, study finds

The study showed a surprising number of those aged 13 to 16 did not know criminals could pretend to be from brands that many teenagers like. Photograph: Daisy-Daisy/Alamy

Fraudsters are increasingly posing as TikTok employees in attempts to defraud teenagers with nonexistent jobs, according to research.

Virgin Media O2 said that in the past month there had been a sharp increase in the number of fraudulent text messages from scammers that claim people can make up to £800 for a day’s work liking videos on the platform.