There’s a new, brutal scam in the labor market that’s got job seekers down

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Did you have a good weekend? Chances are, it was better than H-1B visa holders. President Donald Trump’s visa fee order sparked panic among them. Three tech workers told BI about their frantic weekend.

We also spoke to more than a dozen tech workers, VCs, and immigration lawyers about how they were grappling with the uncertainty and what they were planning to do next.

In today’s big story, job hunting is becoming even more difficult and costly due to the rise of scams. But don’t worry — we’ve got tips on how to get in front of the hiring people.

What’s on deck:

Markets: A lunch with legendary investor Rob Arnott.

Tech: Some xAI workers told BI they encountered illegal sexual content when training its Grok chatbot.

Business: Knockoff Ozempic isn’t going anywhere.

But first, looking for work?

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

Scammers and the searchers

The job market is already terrible, but navigating it now comes with the risk of getting duped out of money.

Job seekers are being targeted with elaborate scams that cost them thousands of dollars and leave them embarrassed, writes BI’s Sarah E. Needleman.

At first glance, you might roll your eyes at the idea of losing money when applying for a job. (After all, aren’t they supposed to be paying you?)

But the rise of generative AI and a labor market with people being desperate for work has created the perfect storm for scammers to set believable traps. Between 2020 and 2024, reports of job and employment-agency scams tripled, and the money lost by victims climbed to $501 million from $90 million, Sarah writes.

In short, we’re a long way away from the days of Nigerian princes emailing you.

Sarah details two heartbreaking accounts of people tricked into forking over thousands of dollars after being hired for what they thought were legitimate jobs. In one case, the company even initially fronted her the money she needed to pay for some software, only for the cash to get pulled from her account after the bank determined the check was bogus.

The result is brutal. You’ve not only lost money, you’re also back to where you started: still looking for a job.

It’s another example of how ruthless this job market has been.

Résumé spammers mean job postings can receive thousands of applicants. If you’re lucky enough to get a call back, it might not even be with an actual human. And then there’s the risk that the job posting isn’t real.

You can imagine how someone who finally feels like they hit paydirt when they receive a job offer might be willing to overlook a few small red flags.

It all reaffirms something that’s long been true about the job market: The best way to get a gig is networking.

That can be a daunting task for the most experienced job seeker. Now imagine doing it as a recent grad who has no real experience in the professional world and is still working on their soft skills.

Lucky for you, Sarah has you covered. She compiled some advice on the best way to get in touch with old connections working at companies you might want to apply to. From the initial outreach to navigating the convo so you don’t seem too pushy, here’s how to go about it.

3 things in markets

Rob Arnott is still disrupting the market’s favorite strategies. These days, the Research Affiliates founder focuses on creating products around stocks that get kicked out of or added to the S&P 500 and other indexes. Arnott got lunch with BI’s William Edwards to discuss ETFs, investing, and his eclipse-chasing adventures. (He’s seen 18!)

The private equity challenge coming for your retirement account. In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order making it easier for 401(k) investors to buy into private equity. However, the industry’s methods for reporting returns can be opaque and hard to vet.

Confessions of a former day-trading addict. Chris Gawor says he was addicted to day trading for 12 years before he realized he had a problem. Over the years, he racked up six figures in debt and took out credit cards to fund his trading. Here are the warning signs he said he missed.

3 things in tech

Behind the curtain of Grok’s “sexy” settings. In conversation with more than 30 current and former xAI employees across a variety of projects, 12 told BI they’ve encountered sexually explicit content while training the company’s Grok chatbot, including child sexual abuse material. Grok has several provocative functions that could make it difficult to weed out the illegal sexual content, experts say.

Do you want to play a game? BI’s Rebecca Torrence spent an evening playing VC firm Lux Capital’s risk game about fake drugs, inspired by Ozempic, crypto, and AI. Chaos ensued in the game, revealing unsettling truths about AI and the attention economy.

AI training unicorn Snorkel AI just laid off 13% of its workforce. The $1.3 billion startup’s software engineering team was hit the hardest, while most AI-focused roles were spared. Snorkel AI attributes the layoffs to a shift toward its “data-as-a-service” business, which has meant “deprioritizing some legacy areas of our business.”

3 things in business

Why copycat Ozempic is still everywhere. After scarcities in name-brand GLP-1s (i.e. Ozempic and Wegovy) were resolved, the FDA released new rules requiring patients to switch to the patented drugs. Online pharmacies selling knock-off Ozempic said they found a loophole in the law that allows them to keep selling, though. The messy state of affairs epitomizes a lot of what’s wrong with America’s healthcare system.

A little-known $9 billion deal in the AI arms race is at risk. Data center company CoreWeave agreed to buy the crypto-mining firm Core Scientific in July. A major Core Scientific shareholder now objects to the deal, saying it undervalues the company’s access to cheap electricity, a critical asset data centers need to power the AI boom.

Starbucks is cracking down on baristas’ cup notes. Starbucks requires baristas to write messages on cups, but they can’t write just anything. Baristas can be issued infractions or even terminated for violating the cup-writing rules, but they told BI the policy’s not being consistently enforced. “Write-ups are being handed out like candy,” one employee said.

In other news

Elon Musk and Donald Trump were seen publicly together for the first time since May at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.

What I learned from a shopping trip with Dan Ives, Wall Street’s biggest Tesla bull and the funkiest dresser on cable news.

Famed strategist Albert Edwards shares 3 concerning charts showing the US economy may be on the cusp of recession.

I get a lot of unknown calls. This is how an iOS 26 feature is helping so far.

Missed the gold rush? Here’s why some collectors start with silver.

Why your favorite brand is trying to make the next “Friends.”

What’s happening today

• Remedies trial begins after federal judge ruled Google holds an illegal online ad monopoly.
• It’s the official first day of fall. Happy equinox!

Dan DeFrancesco, deputy executive editor and anchor, in New York. Meghan Morris, bureau chief, in Singapore. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.

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