Is Care.com worth it for caregivers?

Use it with eyes open: caregivers must pay a subscription to apply while job posters list free, so a listing's existence doesn't mean a hireable job stands behind it. Read listings as ads, not offers, and negotiate pay directly.

Who got Care.com settlement refunds?

In June 2025 the FTC sent 194,207 refund payments totaling more than $8.1 million — roughly $40 apiece on average. The program never asks for money or account information to release a payment.

Scam verdict · Educational pattern check

Scam Detective research desk · Updated October 2026

Legit platform — FTC settlement on file

Is Care.com Legit? The Platform Is Real — So Is the FTC Case Over Its Job Numbers

Care.com is a real, operating care-gig platform — and a completed FTC case. The FTC charged that it vastly overstated available jobs, advertised earnings it couldn't back up, and trapped subscribers in cancellation mazes. The settlement: $8.5 million, honest-numbers and simple-cancellation requirements — and in June 2025 the FTC sent 194,207 refund payments totaling more than $8.1 million. Use it with eyes open: a listing's existence doesn't mean a hireable job stands behind it.

Educational verdict from documented scam patterns — not a live report. For a 0–100 risk score on the exact link in your hand, run the checker.

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Straight from the source

The verdict stands on the public record — the line below is quoted verbatim from the source named under it.

“Care.com used inflated job numbers and baseless earnings claims to lure caregivers onto its platform, and used deceptive design practices to trap consumers in subscriptions.”

— Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Aug. 26, 2024.

Why this question never goes away

The mechanic the FTC attacked is structural. Caregivers must pay a subscription to apply — while job posters can list for free, which means listings exist that no paying employer stands behind. The FTC's 2024 complaint alleged Care advertised millions of jobs inflated by listings with “little to no chance” of a hire; touted earnings it never tracked — one third-party ad promised “Childcare jobs from $18/hr” while its own site put average babysitting rates at $13 to $14.25; and kept making the claims even after a 2021 FTC Notice of Penalty Offenses about earnings claims. Cancellation, the complaint alleged, was a maze of unrelated links, multi-page questionnaires, warnings, and new offers — while canceling a free membership took two steps. The outcome: $8.5 million for refunds, a duty to substantiate earnings claims and count only jobs from posters who can actually hire, and a simple cancellation method. In June 2025, payments went to 194,207 consumers — roughly $40 apiece on average. Read listings as ads, not offers.

Five red flags — any one is enough

A job count in an ad treated as proof of opportunity — the FTC alleged the numbers were grossly inflated by listings nobody could be hired for.

Earnings promises in platform marketing — the FTC alleged Care had little to no data behind them; real pay is negotiated off-platform.

Applying daily for weeks with total silence — the pattern documented in the complaint, not necessarily your résumé.

A cancellation flow with questionnaires, warnings, and new offers — the alleged dark pattern; the settlement requires a simple method.

Any lookalike “care jobs” site charging upfront to apply — the model has copycats; check the URL and refund terms first.

Your next three moves

Verify through a channel you open yourself — navigate to the platform yourself, not from an ad, and confirm what a subscription actually unlocks and that a given job's poster can hire before paying.

Refuse the specific ask: don't treat advertised job counts or hourly figures as offers — negotiate pay directly — and don't pay any lookalike “care jobs” site upfront to apply without checking the URL and refund terms first.

Report inflated-claim platforms at ReportFraud.ftc.gov — if you were a subscriber, the FTC's Care.com refund program never asks for money to release a payment — and check any “refund” email with the $2 instant check for a 0–100 scam risk score before you act.

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