ONLINE job scams have become more rampant day by day, targeting vulnerable and gullible Malaysians looking for part-time jobs to sustain themselves due to increased cost of living.
A World of Buzz report surfaced about an individual’s experience being on the receiving end of a job scam from a legitimate company.
The individual named Chee, received a message on June 7 from a woman named Aminah claiming to be the Head of Recruitment in the Human Resources department of a digital marketing agency.
“My company is hiring online part-time employees. Our work is simple and free, with a daily income of RM800+. Can I send you the job details?” said Aminah. She added that the work could be done during one’s free time and requested if she could send over the job details.
According to the recruiter, the company specialised in “Digital Marketing Services in Malaysia that includes Search Engine Optimization, subscriptions, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Google Display Ads”.
The recruiter added that part-timers are paid a daily income between RM200 to RM600 and the job scope involved increasing the exposure of shops and restaurants on YouTube.
Due to the vague and “confusing” job details, Chee began to suspect that the job was a scam.
However, Aminah kept pressing on. Chee responded, “I still don’t understand the job scope.”
“Here’s how it works. We reach out to shops, hotels, and tourism owners such as managers, fellow HRs, businessmen/women and commercial stores, and help them increase their visibility by giving them a survey, a rating of five stars and a review.”
“We charge them a fee for the services we provide so we can pay those who assist us in making them more recognised,” she explained.
After the thorough explanation, Chee understood that the job entailed subscribing to certain YouTube channels and answering surveys.
These additional details further confirmed Chee’s suspicion of similar job scams where users were asked to review certain companies.
When confronted with the possibility of the job being a scam, Aminah revealed the company’s name, address, registration number and website.
After some digging, Chee discovered that it was indeed a legitimate company. However, the company’s Instagram page had a post warning the public regarding scammers impersonating as their staff and recruiting part-timers.
Chee then dropped the company’s Instagram a message along with screenshots of the conversation with Aminah.
“We believe this is a scam as we are not hiring any online part-timers. We strongly suggest that you not continue the conversation with the person. Thanks,” the company responded.
