There’s a saying that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
But unfortunately, human greed, folly, or a mix of both tends to cloud our judgment.
One woman lost almost ten years’ worth of savings, amounting to $89,000, through a job scam on Facebook.
She thought she would be earning about $18,000 a week when she signed up for the job.
Here is what happened to this woman.
Woman Lost $89K in Job Marketing Scam
A 31-year-old single mother of two lost almost $89,000 to some ill-hearted scammers.
She fell prey to a job scam on Facebook, which promised her great returns. She expected to earn about $18,000 a week.
The woman, who spoke to The Straits Times about what happened, shared that she started to look for work this July as she wanted to be financially independent.
She had been relying on her parent’s support and her ex-husband’s maintenance payments to get by before she started working.
She Thought It Was a Legitimate Post After Doing Research
During her job search, the woman chanced upon an advertisement on Facebook promising a marketing role with Singsale.
Singsale is a local company with a “proper website”, according to the woman. She thought the job post was “legitimate” after doing her research about the job posting.
The scam started when the woman reached out to the contact number listed in the posting via WhatsApp.
The woman then liaised with a woman called “Ivy” and was told that her job was to place orders on online goods, where she would receive a cushy 20% commission for her efforts.
Reeled in by earning $200 after using Ivy’s account to complete some orders, the woman started to pump in her own money.
She was looking forward to the 20% commission after carrying out 60 orders.
The woman put in about $89,796 of her own money for 40 orders ranging between $200 and $5,000.
She expected to receive $107,700 in return. This would be $18,000 profit in a week.
However, what she actually received was shock and disillusion.
The woman was told to pay $6,000 commission to withdraw her money. The company told her it was an “authentication fee”.
It was then that the woman realised she might have been scammed and complained to Ivy, who pretended to share the woman’s plight as a fellow victim.
For now, the woman has engaged a local debt collector in the hopes of getting back her money, though the chances of being able to do are slim.
The Straits Times reported that police investigations are ongoing.