While we have all (ok not ALL because so many people get scammed every day) heard of the famous Macau scam, love scam, customs scam, IRB scam, Poslaju scam, buying products scam, investment scam, money laundering scam, credit card scam, scratch and win scam, etc. I notice that not much has been posted online about the Telegram part-time job scam. Every time I read that so-and-so got scammed of tens of thousands or millions, I wonder if they read the news. Scams are not new, they have been around for years.
Last Friday evening, I received a WhatsApp from a woman (let’s call her “Z”) who claimed to be a Human Resource Recruiter from a marketing and corporate communications holding company. She even gave an address based in KL which makes it kind of legit-looking.
Z went on to say that she understood from myStarjob that I was looking for a job and dangled a part-time job in front of me. I sensed something was fishy because I don’t think I have ever posted my details looking for a job on myStarjob. The job was so easy even a primary school kid can do it as it involved subscribing to YouTube channels as requested by her company and I’d get paid RM10 for each subscription. She said that I didn’t have to buy any products (not true!) as I was to discover later. The tasks would not just be as simple as subscribing to YouTube channels (if only!).
Once I joined their workgroup, I’d be able to earn up to RM250-500 daily. There would be 30 tasks daily and if I completed all of them, then there would be a bonus of RM200 in addition to the RM300 for all 30 tasks completed.
She sent me 3 sample tasks for which I would be paid RM10 for each task. Yeah, just subscribe to the YouTube Channel she directed me to, send her the screen shot after subscribing and payment really was immediate to my bank account. If I wanted to join their workgroup, I would need to have the Telegram app and message their Senior Receptionist who would direct me on the next steps to take.
I googled the marketing and corporate communications holding company she said she was working for and although it exists, their address is completely different from the one she gave me. In fact, they were miles from each other. There was a lot more to this job than meets the eye which brings me to the Senior Receptionist in my next instalment.
