What is Online Employment Fraud?
Fraudsters post job advertisements on various social media platforms, forums or instant messengers, using various pretexts to lure job seekers into paying fees, guarantee fees or other fees. After snatching the money, fraudsters will be out of contact.
The characteristics of job advertisements posted by fraudsters are as follows:
Offer high salary, same-day pay or work from home arrangement
Low academic qualifications or age requirements
Work experience and CV are not required
Do not mention the name or address of the company, provide only the contact information of instant messenger or mobile phone number
Emphasise no illegal or obscene activities will be involved so that job seekers will let their guard down
Do not mention the specific post and duties
Popular "Boosting Sales" Scam
Recruiting "Order Handler"
Scammers send out fake job offers massively through SMS or instant messengers. Positions of “Order Handler”, “Merchandising Assistant”, “Order Placer”, etc., were advertised with vague requirements but great pay promised.
Impersonating retailers
Scammers publish online posts impersonating online retailers (such as AliExpress, Amazon, etc.) or make fake online promotions for Expedia, GenieCrawl, Cubix, Blackstone, etc., as well as creating fake websites or applications.
Boosting Sales
The employees are instructed to purchase products from specific online merchants to boost sales. By adding items to the shopping cart together with screen captures as proof, and transferring the deposit to a designated bank account, a commission can then be earned. During the first few attempts, the employees may get a full refund together with commissions. Yet, upon purchasing more expensive products, the scammers will make up reasons and refuse to refund, and lure the victims to go for a larger purchase to get the full amount back. As such, the employees may eventually incur losses.
Other Scam
Lending an account
Ask employees to lend their accounts to channel funds on behalf of customers to earn commissions, but they have to first apply for a loan from a finance company in their sole name, or buy gold jewellery with credit card cash advances and hand over the property as collateral. Some fraudsters even use various pretexts to ask the employees to surrender their ATM cards and PIN codes, and snatch their money from their accounts
Overseas purchasing agent
Hire people to travel abroad and purchase luxury products such as luxury handbags and employees have to pay for their own tickets and accommodation fees in advance
Advance payment for purchasing goods
Hire people to purchase goods such as smart phones, and ask them to pay in advance or to purchase cheap raw materials at a high price
Giving “likes”
Fraudsters offer commissions to employees for selling “likes”. They even introduce monthly package. The more expensive the monthly package, the more commissions the employees can earn for each “like”
Scam Prevention Tips
Find jobs through reliable channels
Understand the background and business nature of the company
Pay attention to job advertisements which offer high salary but do not have any requirements regarding academic qualifications or work experience
Do not give personal information to others indiscriminately
Pay extra attention if you are asked to pay administration fees or apply for loans
If in doubt, input phone numbers, social media account names, etc, in Scameter to assess risk, or call 18222 for enquiries
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