Today’s Big Story

Job Scams on the Rise

Beware of those innocent-seeming and promising texts or WhatsApp messages

Like so many scams, this new rash of bogus offers takes advantage of people’s vulnerabilities and needs. Amid a rocky labor market, job scam texts have begun targeting people desperate for work. And more and more Gen Z and millennial workers are falling for it.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received about 105,000 reports of job scams and employment agency impersonations—nearly triple the 38,000 reports in 2020. Victims reported losing a combined $501 million in 2024 to these scams, up from $90 million in 2020.

Hindsight is 20-20 when it comes to scams, but they're easy to fall for when a victim is overextended or desperate to find employment, Rivka Gewirtz Little, Socure’s chief growth officer, told Axios. The outlet spoke with one victim, who said she was strung along through emails, phone calls and video interviews into believing she’d been hired as an executive assistant. She found the role on a legitimate job board, and it was a real position Socure was hiring for. But scammers had posted their own duplicate listing to ensnare victims like her.

Business Insider says with the labor market getting rockier and Americans increasingly on edge about their finances, there is increased opportunity for dupers. Especially with so many people wanting to work remotely. At the same time, the means of cranking out these texts is getting more sophisticated: AI makes scam texts easier to craft in ways that seem plausible and realistic. The overall result is that unsuspecting job seekers may become even more susceptible to hoaxes.

The scams start innocuously, often with a tailor-made text or WhatsApp message, and the scammers take time to build trust with the victim before cashing in on the relationship. Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, tells NBC News that people should never pay to get paid, or to get a job. That requirement is an instant red flag that the position is a scam. She says don’t trust generic offers that seem too good to be true and don’t trust employers who say they’ll pay you to rate or like things online, without an above-board process for using the actual products or services you’re rating.

The Inflation Divide

There’s a looming split over whether and when officials will resume rate cuts

A majority of Federal Reserve officials expected they would be able to resume interest rate cuts this year, but only two of them voiced support for a rate cut as soon as the central bank’s next gathering later this month, minutes from the central bank’s latest meeting showed. The record of the June meeting, released on Wednesday, underscored the high degree of support among policymakers up until this point for the Fed to take its time before restarting interest rate cuts that it paused in January.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the minutes suggested officials—potentially from both camps—thought current rates might not be far above an estimated “neutral” setting that neither spurs nor slows growth. That means even if officials did resume lowering rates this year without signs of serious economic deterioration, they might only envision a fairly shallow series of reductions.

Why does this matter? Well, the central bank is leaving interest rates paused for now, but the ultimate judgment over whether inflation is temporary or lasting will shape their willingness to cut rates in the months ahead. “Participants agreed that although uncertainty about inflation and the economic outlook had decreased, it remained appropriate to take a careful approach in adjusting monetary policy,” the minutes said. That stance has angered President Donald Trump and some other Republicans, who believe the Fed should be cutting interest rates aggressively.

Russia Batters Ukraine

It’s the largest barrage of the war, officials say

Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks as Moscow intensifies its aerial and ground assault in the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said.

NATO jets were scrambled and the Ukraine’s Air Force said the assault mainly targeted the northwestern city of Lutsk, and according to preliminary data, “air defenses neutralized 718 enemy air attack vehicles, 303 were shot down by fire, 415 were lost in location.” President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the "telling attack", adding: “It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is clearly brushing aside President Trump’s professed disappointment in him and is pushing ahead with renewed intensity, convinced that Moscow’s battlefield superiority is growing. Trump vowed last year that he would move quickly to halt the conflict but has been unsuccessful thus far. Sources close to the Kremlin told the New York Times that Putin believes that Ukraine’s defenses may collapse in the coming months.

Samsung’s Affordable Foldable

Hear that Apple? Everyone’s doing it but you.

Look, I’m an Apple fanboy. I have the whole suite and I’m happily locked into the ecosystem and not planning to change. But (as longtime readers are likely aware) I want a foldable phone—and have for some time now. And Samsung is just rubbing it in at this point. Their latest clamshell-style foldable is officially here, and it brought a new, more affordable sibling to the party.

The Z Flip 7 was announced at Samsung’s summer Unpacked event, and it’s been updated with an edge-to-edge cover screen. Alongside the Flip 7, Samsung is also launching a new model: the Z Flip 7 FE, which maintains the older, file-folder-shaped cutout for the cover screen. According to The Verge, the Flip 7 FE is the first foldable that Samsung has introduced in its “Fan Edition” line, which provides budget-friendly alternatives to the company’s flagship Galaxy phones. At $899, it’s not quite affordable enough to compete with Motorola’s Razr, which starts at $699, but it’s a lot cheaper than the Flip 7 model, which costs $1,099.

CNET prefers the brand’s other foldable, the book-like Galaxy Z Fold 7, and says the most extraordinary thing about it is how ordinary it feels in the hand. They say you’ll forget it’s a foldable because it’s so thin and then you open it and enjoy massive screen real estate. What about the creases? Well, in person, reviewers say it looks the same as last year’s phones, and, interestingly, Samsung isn’t hyping some hard-to-measure crease visibility metric. Samsung’s focus seems to be on improving toughness and longevity. The Flip 7 now has a new waterproof coating beneath the glass and AMOLED display. The ball is in your court Apple …

News. Without Motives.

Join over 4.5 million Americans who start their day with 1440—your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Motivation is loud but short-lived.