I got scammed and lost PHP 1.1 million (~AUD 30,000) in the blink of an eye. It was a total heartbreak as a mediocre employee whose income depended only on my 9 to 5 job.
Photo by Lindsey LaMont on Unsplash
The modus.
The story started when someone who claimed to be working for “Upwork” contacted me via WhatsApp.
Screencapture by Author
Working for a considerable amount of years now, this looked believable — encountering invites through these messengers by recruiters.
She gave me tasks to rate Google Maps businesses. I tried. A couple of times I did what she asked and unexpectedly, she was crediting me for it. She was paying me using an e-wallet (GCash) with PHP 50.00 (~AUD 1.40).
She referred me to the so-called “Receptionist”, “Manager” and the “Merchant”. At this time, we were chatting over Telegram. The same tasks continued. The receptionist invited me to join a group chat where constant messages from pretentious participants of the company were being sent. It was getting more convincing.
The next day, tasks progressed and, I was still earning up to PHP 700.00 (~AUD 19.40). Of course, I was lured by it.