A woman named Janice Sia took to Facebook to expose how ads for e-commerce jobs are actually a big scam, where people could get lured and end up losing a lot of money.
She first posted an ad she had found on Instagram from an account called “Top Talent Needed,” which offered part-time work that would have a daily payout of between S$50 to S$300.
Ms Sia first put up posts on IG stories, and later on Facebook, to warn the public.
Ms Sia wrote that since she’s currently in a gap year, a job working from home sounded “cool.”
When she clicked the ad’s link, she was directed to a WhatsApp chat with a “Miss Clara” who claimed to be from KEPPEL CORP LTD, sponsored by Amazon, Instagram, and YouTube.
The job involved helping “businesses and bloggers increase their reputation.”
Payment would be given after a certain task was completed, with Ms Sia’s first task given as liking a post.
“Miss Clara” invited Ms Sia to a WhatsApp group so that a tutor could assign tasks daily.
At this time, Ms Sia felt that things were still “legit.”
In the other group, she was welcomed by a “Tara,” who wrote, “We are helping major networks to increase their click-through rates and exposure. Make them famous and visible to more people.”
Ms Sia then received her first task to like a post on IG, YouTube, or Amazon, for which she would be paid $2 via PayNow “immediately.”
“Sounds, great ah?” she added.
Her next task was to buy an item online, for which she would get back the money she paid for the item plus a 30% commission.
“Tara” explained that this task was “to help merchants increase their sales and ratings to achieve exposure.”
Ms Sia was asked to buy an item for $120, and then she will receive her money, plus commission, back.
She was then given another “repurchase task” this time to buy shoes. However, she needed to initiate a withdrawal on the platform within 10 to 20 minutes.
But this carried the promise of an even bigger payout.
The shoes were worth S$520. If she finished the task, she could earn S$156 for her commission.
However, if you were uncomfortable with this task, you had no option to return to “like” tasks.
The person from the company she was exchanging messages with even asked her, “Are you bullying me?”
To make a long story short, people get lured in by the possibility of making more money, only for the e-commerce company to disappear in the end.
“It’s like a fishing method. You think it’s legit until you decided to trust them more and then they disappear on you. Then you realise all your savings are gone,” Ms Sia wrote in the caption to her Facebook post.
In her most recent update, she says she is no longer part of the online group she had joined where the scam was being carried out.
“Ps I haven gotten scam yet. Adding on, please note that they have multiple Singapore WhatsApp number but all are handled by china people. If you know, there is a lot of china scam going on and you won’t be able to retrieve ur money back.” /TISG
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