A few months back, we received word of a fake part-time job offer scam that cost an 18-year-old girl’s parents RM656. They had lodged a police report but the police had allegedly not taken the issue seriously.
And it looks like they should have, as another has fallen victim to the part-time job scam.
Sarah (not her real name) reached out to WORLD OF BUZZ to share how she had initially found the ‘job’ on an a website called Careers Insider. There, she found an advertisement for a ‘part-time job’ that paid commission for every item she bought on an online shopping site.
Here’s how the fake job works:
You will be given a link to an item on an online shopping website. You will then have to order the item in the link but make the payment through an online banking transfer instead of via the online shopping site itself.
Sarah shared,
“But the payment has to be made via instant transfer and not through the online shopping site as their system will not accept it, they (the scammer) said.”
You will then receive the amount spent back with a 10% commission.
For instance, if you were to purchase a gaming mouse for RM300, you will receive RM330 back (RM30 being the 10% commission).
Interested, Sarah contacted the WhatsApp number displayed in the ‘job’ advertisement and got right to work. Just as the previous case, the first 2 transactions Sarah made were successful.
She made one purchase of RM85 and received RM93.50 back and another purchase of RM330 and received RM363 back.
But the transactions after these was when the trouble started.
Sarah was then asked to make multiple ‘purchases’ with transactions to multiple banking accounts:
- a RM999 purchase to a CIMB account
- 2 other purchases worth RM1998 to the same CIMB account
- 2 purchases worth RM2499 to a Bank Islam account
- a RM2999 purchase to a BSN account.
After spending a total of RM8,495, she then requested for her money back along with her commissions. But, there was a problem.
Apparently, these transactions need to be made within 10 minutes, so, the scammer responded by asking Sarah to redo the last transfer of RM2,999 as she apparently ‘took too long’.
That’s when Sarah realised that she was being scammed and stopped making anymore transactions. She too, has since filed a police report on the matter.
We genuinely hope that with this article, everyone will be more aware and careful of these part-time job scams. We understand that times are tough and part-time jobs have become a necessity, but always ensure that the job you’re interested in is legitimate.
Don’t forget to warn your loved ones and spread the word!
Also read: Woman In Changkat Attempts To Scam Road User, Netizens Encouraged To Invest In Dashcams
