In particular, job advertisements spread in Facebook groups promise easy and profitable work. However, the reality is different.
Many people may have recently come across posts on Facebook where they are urgently looking for employees. Groups intended for job hunting in particular are full of these announcements.
“Available part-time and full-time work in Finland. Place: Tampere, Turku and Helsinki Morning shift/night shift is available. (weekdays/weekends) Working time – 5–8 hours per day. Full-time salary- 1400–1600€/week with bonus. Part-time salary €200/day with bonus”
Sound appealing?
The profiles of the publishers of the announcements seem reliable: the information includes both education and place of residence. Some accounts also have family photos.
The announcements promise, among other things, that the job offered will not affect any existing job or salary. No experience is particularly required, and remote work is also possible.
On the surface, the announcements seem believable. Those interested are advised to contact the publisher of the announcement.
It even sounds too good to be true. And unfortunately it is.
Henna is one of the victims of the scam.
A complicated process
– I saw an announcement on Facebook that there was a job available, and I contacted the advertiser.
Henna appears in the story under her first name to protect her identity.
She says that as an unemployed single mother, she wanted to seize the job opportunity.
– The idea of an easy and quick job interested me, because I could be at home with my son. Thus, no money would be spent on day care fees.
Henna was the target of a nasty and complicated scam. Illustration picture. Mostphotos
The job offered to Henna was said to be that of an assistant under the Six Flags amusement park chain in the United States. The task was to rate the chain’s amusement parks using a separate application.
Iltalehti has seen screenshots of the exchange of messages between the scammer and Henna.
– The exchange of messages was really fast and seemed reliable at first. The agent who spoke with me gave me detailed instructions regarding the work.
Several different accounts were created for Henna for work, and she was told to download the Telegram messaging app. An account was created for Henna in the review system. He was told that he would first have to do 45 reviews through the agent account.
– I was promised a 30 percent commission for reviews made on the agent’s account.
However, the money could not be withdrawn until Henna made the reviews again with her own user account.
The complex process also included creating a Revolut bank account and an OKX wallet for transferring cryptocurrency. Henna also had to transfer 22 euros from her bank account to the review system, where the money was.
First came the money
In the beginning, everything went quite smoothly. However, there were problems with the account when, after the transfer, the review account had a minus of 22 euros.
If the account was in the red, reviews could not be made. However, the problem was caused by the account transfer happening at the weekend, and Henna continued working on Monday.
Henna got the reviews after making about 200 USDT payments to her account.
USDT, i.e. tether, is a stable currency tied to the US dollar. One tether is worth around 0.93 euros.
– I received instructions for changing the money into euros and the money entered the account normally. I wonder if this is really that easy, Henna says.
Soon, however, the arrangement began to seem strange. The review account was suddenly $150 in the red.
Henna wondered about it. He paid the account to zero and continued to work. Soon the same thing happened again, but this time the account was $450 in the red.
Henna paid for that too, because she thought she would get the money back.
– The agent also assured that these rarely happen, and a third negative reading is unlikely.
However, it happened. Soon the account was almost 800 minus.
– That’s when I contacted my daughter, who works in the IT field, that something was off.
The daughter helped her mother figure it out and contacted the customer service of the Six Flags chain. It soon became clear that the company’s employee could not even access the review site in question.
– He said that they don’t even have such a job.
Such job advertisements are now found in several Facebook groups. Behind the fake name and profile is an extensive money scam. The profile shown in the picture is not the same one that Henna was in contact with. screenshot
As a warning to others
It dawned on Henna that she had been tricked. In addition to the strange minus readings, the suspicions arose from the messages that I received from my agent at strange times.
– Those messages were deleted very quickly. In hindsight, I understood that they were intended for other targets of the scam, he estimated.
Henna lost about 460 euros to the scammers.
Similar scam announcements have been received in many local Facebook groups as well as in groups intended for job announcements.
Henna wants to talk about her experience publicly, because she hopes it will help others who have been scammed.
– Of course, it’s very embarrassing, but I don’t agree to keep quiet because of shame, when there’s hardly any information about this scam itself.
After the scam, he has not noticed any suspicious activity on his own accounts. However, now he has problems with his Revolut bank account.
– Of course it’s sad and embarrassing, but luckily no more money was spent.
He also says that an acquaintance was lured into the job. However, he stopped when he heard about Henna’s experience. According to Henna, the acquaintance in question did not lose any money.
After the interview, Henna says that she filed a criminal complaint about the incident.