Ryan, young professional
- Job scam survivor
Out of a job at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ryan* was desperate to make ends meet.
A part-time job offered to him sounded credible, and after two weeks of observing, he decided to give it a try. Shockingly, within five hours, he lost RM18,000 to his so-called employers. This is his story as told to AIDILA RAZAK.
It was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and I was working as an insurance agent.
I became an insurance agent during the pandemic. Before that, I was a business consultant, working in a company which consulted for retail outlets.
During the pandemic, the company started retrenching staff and those who remained were made to work longer hours.
I was servicing clients nationwide and before the pandemic, we would travel to them.
Because of the travel restrictions, we had to do everything remotely through online means and consultations would take much longer. It was a stressful situation, and against my better judgement, I decided to quit.
It was hard landing another job, so I started doing insurance. I was desperate. I had expenses to pay. Living in Kuala Lumpur is expensive and I was on my own, away from my family, so I took what I could get.
But being an insurance agent was even harder because it was a commission-based job, and there was no way for me to go out and meet people to build rapport and relationships. So I was in a downward spiral, my situation getting worse and worse.
At the time, all my peers were talking about investments and passive incomes. So this lingered in my mind when I did a Google search for “part-time jobs”.
The website that I clicked on was in the top three searches. It looked decent. From there, there was another link to connect you to a contact person via WhatsApp. When I did so, the contact person then added me to a WhatsApp group, which they said was for those who are doing the part-time job.
There were several people in the group, with different profiles, and various ethnicities. They would send screenshots and say they have completed the task. I didn’t interact immediately. I just sat quietly in the group for a couple of weeks to observe what was going on and in that period, I wasn’t acknowledged by anyone in the group.
It wasn’t clear to me what the job was, but every time the supervisor acknowledged the report and returned the “commission”, they would send a bank transfer receipt and the size of the “commission” looked tempting.
I tried to find out more about the company through an online search and all I could find were brief profiles on job-hunting websites and a company address in Bangsar. There was no information about what the business was or what the part-time job was.
So after a couple of weeks of sitting quietly in the group, I sent a private message to the so-called supervisor.
They told me all I needed to do was transfer a certain amount of money to a bank account and within less than 10 minutes the funds would be returned to me but with a commission.
They sent me a link and it was a Shopee link to a table lamp costing RM20. The manager told me I had to bank in the price of that lamp to a bank account, and then within 10 minutes I would get the money back with a 10 percent commission.
The first three times, I got my money back. I got excited. I thought, “I can do this job just to keep afloat.” I took the bait. After that, the “items” would get more and more expensive.
For the next task, the link to the item itself was very long compared to previous tasks and the instructions were even longer. I had already done it a few times so I didn’t bother reading the whole thing. I just went straight to the link and did exactly what I did before.
This time I had to transfer RM88. I did it, but the commission didn’t come through. The supervisor then texted me to say I didn’t complete the task. I was surprised. “What do you mean? I did exactly what I did before.”
The supervisor told me to re-read the message and it turned out that this time, I had to transfer to two different accounts, or make two RM88 transactions.
No problem, I thought. I’ll just do the second part of the task now. I did that and sent through the transfer receipt and still no commission.
It turned out that I missed the part where it said the entire task needed to be completed within 10 minutes and the “window had closed”. So they couldn’t return the money or pay the commission to me. I was getting anxious.
The supervisor tried to calm me down. They said, “Don’t worry, I can issue you another task immediately so you can get the money back.” To recoup the money I lost, the commission needed to be bigger, and so the amount I had to transfer was larger.
They sent me another message with long instructions and I did my best to complete the task, this time sending RM200. So I did the same thing, and sent RM200 each to two different accounts. But when I sent through the receipts, I was told again that I didn’t complete the task.
How come? I did exactly what I was supposed to do. But no, it turned out I had to send money to three separate bank accounts this time.
Looking back, I can say that I was gaslit. They kept saying things like “Why didn’t you read the instructions properly?” It was all in the instructions to make it seem like it was my fault.
The instructions were always unclear. They used complicated sentences and jargonistic terms, words we don’t use every day.
English is not my main language or my mother tongue, and even though I am fluent in it, I had to look up some of the words used in the instructions to understand what they were trying to say. So with a time limit to complete the task, there was added pressure.
I didn’t want to make another mistake so I was reading the instructions carefully but it took time and so I couldn’t complete the task within the time allocated. The supervisor will then say, “It’s okay, we can return your money, provided you do the next task.”
I see now that they were trying to make me more desperate. They were trying to play with my heart and mind so I could not be rational anymore. I just felt increasingly desperate to get back the money spent and to do it quickly.
The next task was RM600 - the Shopee link was some sort of furniture. The same thing happened. My savings were drying up. I was nervous and hesitant each time I was to click on a task and it slowed me down further.
There were times when I couldn’t even click through to the task. But the manager would say, “Oh, our IT system was down. We tried to send it through and it was supposed to open through a window but there was a glitch. But we’re trying to help you, we’ll send you other tasks to do.”
They always made it seem like they were trying to help you, that you shouldn’t worry. They gave assurance that they were not trying to cheat you and they were guiding you through it so you can get your refund and commission.
I was never under any threat. They were just very gently persuading me each time. They seemed like a very caring supervisor, trying to help you complete your work.
By this time, I got my money back thrice but wasn’t able to complete the task three times. It went on another two times, to the point that I was so desperate that I ended up borrowing RM4,000 from my friend and another RM5,000 from my father.
I was just thinking if I do this correctly this time, I can get this money back. I was so confident I could do it but so wrong at the same time.
In this period, someone contacted me claiming they’re the HR from the company and they understand I am having some problems so they’re trying to assist and sort out any issues for me. It was really convincing.
“We’re trying to help you, so could you just do this task now as soon as possible so we can sort out the issues quickly?” they would say. The time to complete the task seemed to be getting shorter and shorter.
It made me feel so desperate and unable to think. My only thought was: “I have to do this now or I won’t see my money back.”sh: RM18,000 in four hours
Right before I started the work, I called a friend of mine. He’s a bit older than me, more experienced in the business world, is quite wise and gives good advice.
I wanted to ask him what he thought of the part-time job, but when I called he didn’t pick up. It turned out he was asleep at the time. Coincidentally, as things got very desperate on my end, he returned my call.
I told him what was going on and immediately he said: “Stop what you’re doing now, you’re in the middle of a scam!”
My heart just sank and I felt my whole world darken around me. I remember just thinking, “What have I done?”
He quickly came over to my house and he used my phone to try to communicate with all the people who were in the initial WhatsApp group. Just innocently asking questions about the so-called job. All of them barely replied and if they did, it seemed like something similar.
I realised that it was possible that everyone in that group was part of the scam, and these characters were just one person using multiple WhatsApp numbers. It made me realise how bad my situation was.
The craziest thing about this was that the entire thing happened in just five hours - from 1pm to 5pm. And in that short period, I lost all of what little savings I had left, and not only that, I owed money to my friends and my parents. I lost about RM18,000 in total.
The next morning, I lodged a police report.
On my way to the police station, the so-called supervisor contacted me to ask if I still wanted to do the job. I replied: “Give me my money back.” They continued to offer me another task but I refused and then they stopped replying.
Spookily, when I arrived at the police station, everyone in that so-called part-time job group started leaving the WhatsApp group and then I got kicked out of the group. It was as if they were tracking my phone, knew where I was and what I was going to do.
After all this happened to me, my friends and family started sending me videos about scam awareness, but before it happened I was completely unaware. At the time, there were news reports about job seekers being scammed and trafficked to Cambodia. I am relieved it did not go that far for me.
Thank God I had my parents’ financial and moral support. I am so fortunate because I come from a middle-class family, so my parents have their savings to help me. That money is actually for them, for their retirement, but they helped me through this.
I got a lot of scoldings from them, of course, but my parents helped me see this as a lesson. “If you’re always in your comfort zone, you’ll never grow,” my mum told me. Of course, it doesn’t mean everyone should go through something like this. No one should.
The incident scarred me. I always had trust issues and this made it worse. These days. I don’t open up to new people, especially business people.
But I’m lucky that sometime after I got scammed I found my current job and it has given me a sense of purpose and fulfilment. I was able to rebuild my self-esteem.
Despite the losses, I am grateful to have come out the other side with the kind of lessons that are now engraved in my heart.
Looking back, my desperation and the fact that I was on my own during the movement control order (MCO) made me a prime target to be devoured by the scammers.
Since I went through this, I came to know that someone within my circle of friends fell for the same scam. It really is unfortunate because I had already shared what happened to me.
In my case, I was vulnerable because I was desperate for an income and in my friend’s case, they needed fast cash for an upcoming holiday.
Outside of sharing the modus operandi, one thing I want people to know is that scammers prey on our anxieties and desperation. So in any situation, assess our emotions.
When you're in a tense situation and you feel like someone is pressuring you to make a decision, that is when you need to take the time to think.
There is always time to sit down and think rationally. Seek advice as much as possible.
*Editor’s Note: Scam survivors' names have been changed to respect their privacy and to avoid prevailing stigma against them.
If you feel you have been scammed, please call the National Scam Response Centre’s hotline at 997 for help.
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Published by Kini News Lab on Feb 26, 2024.
Kini News Lab
