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.

The operator said a study into how young people understand scams showed a surprising number of those aged 13 to 16 did not know criminals could pretend to be from brands that many teenagers like.

In the case of scammers posing as TikTok employees, one of the most common messages reads: “Hello, I am from TikTok Human Resources Department. We sincerely invite you to use your free time to watch TikTok videos and help to click like the videos. You can get paid by 300-800 pounds a day. We are waiting for you and look forward to working with you. Please contact us as soon as possible to get job details.”

Murray Mackenzie, Virgin Media O2’s director of fraud prevention, said the scam is one of the most frequently blocked by the company from hitting users’ phones.

“It’s very much driven by that dual feature of scammers knowing that [teenagers are] interested in TikTok at the moment and the opportunity to have some income as well,” he said.

A survey of 1,000 teenagers found almost one in every four (23%) did not know that criminals could claim to be from their favourite brand to defraud them. While most (77%) said they would be able to spot a fake text, when presented with a fraudulent message half of them failed to do so.

The other most frequent fake text messages being used at the moment are claims that the recipient has money from gambling winnings or that their package has been damaged during delivery.

“[Teenagers are] not able to gamble, they’re not able to bet and therefore the chance of winning a prize and having cash at hand is something they are quite likely to interact with,” McKenzie said. “Teenagers are consistently placing orders [and] they expect issues with parcels and updates on the parcels. You lose track of what you’ve ordered and not ordered and therefore anything saying ‘missing parcel’, ‘delayed parcel’ [or] ‘update on parcel’ is likely to induce someone to click the link and to participate.”

The research has come out in advance of Safer Internet Day on 11 February, which focuses on online safety for children and young people. Will Gardner, the director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said children want more help in trying to navigate scams.

TikTok declined to comment.