Kiwis are losing millions to love, family and overseas investment scams. “The scammers know that there’s more money in this than robbing a bank”, an expert says. Video / NZ Herald
A woman who lost her entire savings after falling victim to an elaborate employment scam has issued a stark warning.
After leaving her job at the beginning of the year, Melbourne woman Ayla spent hours scrolling through different recruitment sites applying for suitable positions.
The 30-year-old, who used to work as a chef but recently made the move to corporate, was desperate to find work and have a steady income once again.
So when she received a message from a “Charles” who claimed to be from a big company and was interested in hiring Ayla, she was over the moon and quickly accepted.
It sounded perfect – she could work from the comfort of her own home and the work meant she had the potential to make thousands of dollars in commission.
“So it didn’t feel out of the ordinary that someone was contacting me about a job opportunity.
“They contacted me on the messaging platform WhatsApp, which I guess should have been my first red flag.
“He set me up with an account, and I got to work right away. I thought it was great.”
Ayla never talked to Charles over the phone or saw his face on video chat – instead, their entire correspondence occurred over WhatsApp.
He claimed to work for a sales platform that was associated with a large retail website in Australia, however this was untrue.
Ayla’s job description was to complete “missions” where she would boost merchandise sales and help garner positive customer reviews.
She would then, in turn, receive commissions based on how many shoppers clicked and purchased the products that she had been working to help boost. In the first few days, she made around $100, and was hopeful that she could earn more as she got better at the job.
“I’d message Charles in the morning and then log in, do boostings and make commissions,” Ayla explained.
“I made about $100 at first, and everything was going well. I was added to a huge group chat with about 35 other people that claimed they were other employees.
“All day, they would be sharing screenshots of all the money they were making. I saw people earning thousands of dollars.”
Ayla lost her entire savings due to the scam. Photo / Supplied
Despite investing thousands, she was instructed to keep investing more, until it got to a point where she had no money left in her bank account.
When she confronted Charles, he told her there was nothing he could do.
Ayla realised she had been scammed, and blocked him.
She reported the incident to police and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
On further investigation, a reverse image search of the man’s profile picture shows him standing in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
However, Ayla understands that the name “Charles” is probably fake and the picture used by the scammer on their WhatsApp profile is most likely stolen from somewhere online.
IDCare: Backed by the Ministry of Justice and its counterpart in Australia. Assistance freezing credit records, regaining control of online identity after an ID theft: idcare.org
