In other variants, victims who contact the number provided in the job advertisement would be advised to complete tasks on the web, such as liking social media posts, or reviewing hotels and dining places on a website, for any commission.
And in a Ponzi-like variant , sufferers would be asked to buy expensive memberships just before taking part in lucrative job tasks . They would often do so until the soaring membership rights costs forced these to stop.
Several realised they had already been scammed when they had been told they could just get their money back right after finishing all the tasks, police said.
Where are these types of scammers located?
In October last year, two job scam syndicates based in Johor and Kuala Lumpur were busted in a joint procedure by the Singapore Police Force and the Royal Malaysia Police.
Professionals raided an apartment in Johor and an additional in Kuala Lumpur, and arrested ten Malaysians aged in between 21 and 32.
Preliminary research revealed that the team had targeted Singaporean and Malaysian victims and laundered their own criminal proceeds in Malaysia. The association is believed to have targeted more than 390 victims reported within Singapore and cheated them of S$5 million.
How to prevent getting duped?
The police have urged job seekers to be cautious about online advertisements that promise the convenience of working from home and being paid a high salary for “relatively simple” job responsibilities.
Legitimate businesses will not require job seekers to make upfront obligations to secure job provides and earn commission rates or utilise their own bank accounts to receive cash on the businesses’ account, the police said.
“These acts are typical ruses used by con artists to lure people into participating in their own schemes or frauds, ” it added.
If you get an unsolicited job offer, always verify the authenticity from the offer with the employing company through their particular official channels, according to scamalert. sg. You can check the information against the “recruitment” section on the corporate website or simply by emailing the HUMAN RESOURCES department.
The particular anti-scam website furthermore urged the public never to respond to dubious work offers or download unverified apps through unknown sources to apply for a job.
Why do some still fall for it?
Above initially getting covered the work, victims will often be added to a WhatsApp group with members who are purportedly doing it same job.
These people would chat about their daily lives, share screenshots from the attractive sums pounds they got, and actively deny the job was a fraud. These create an air of legitimacy for the victim.
When approached independently about whether it was a scam, the people would go to extra measures to convince otherwise, telling the sufferer that they were “crazy” and that nobody experienced doubted the legitimacy of the job before, a CNA investigation in January uncovered.
The front firm in the scam would certainly also have a legitimate and professional-looking website, filled with details like a telephone number.
Can you make your money back?
Like in every type of scam, time is of the essence when it comes to tracing and recovering cash lost.
The cash will typically be routed through multiple accounts to evade detection, and if it leaves Singapore, it will eventually become even more difficult to get back.
The police can freeze bank accounts and have successfully recovered money that was transferred overseas. But this is not a guarantee, especially as some jurisdictions can require victims to endure complicated and costly legal processes.
The police have also consistently reminded people to deny requests to use their own personal bank accounts to receive and transfer cash for others, or risk getting implicated in money laundering actions.