JOHOR BARU: A syndicate has been using a renowned luxury hotel brand to scam job seekers, with one of the victims losing about RM80,000 just four days after being “hired”.
The syndicate – which advertised job opportunities for people to work from the comfort of their homes – would send the job seekers an ecopy of a Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) registration with the hotel name to get them on board.
However, the so-called SSM document was found to have formatting errors and a bogus QR code that leads to nothing on the online search engine.
The job seekers would be given “tasks” to perform to earn an income, which usually involves helping guests to book hotel rooms on a fake hotel app using their own money.
The job seekers were told to make payments to the bank accounts of unknown individuals to earn 10% of the amount, which the syndicate claimed would be credited into their account on the hotel app.
To keep victims interested, the syndicate would also arrange other “part-timers” to contact the job seekers and provide positive testimonies to motivate them to continue performing the tasks.
One of the victims, a 34-year-old woman only identified as Teo, said she found the part-time job via Facebook on Oct 24 as she wanted to help with her family’s expenses.
After contacting the Facebook account, a woman who claimed to be the hotel’s customer service agent got in touch with Teo on WhatsApp.
“The agent convinced me to join the company and download the hotel app to earn money immediately.
She also gave me an account login and password, as well as a RM10 sign-up bonus.
“My first task was to book a RM64 hotel room. Because of the sign-up bonus, I was told that I only needed to transfer RM54 for the payment, which was made to a stranger’s personal bank account.
“After that, the agent told me I had earned 10% of the total purchase (RM6.40) just for completing the simple task.
“In the hotel app, I saw that RM70.40 had been credited so I was convinced to continue,” said the housewife from Kluang.
The following task came a few minutes later, said Teo, adding that one after the other, she was told to transfer “hotel payments” into different bank accounts of unknown individuals that ranged from RM181 to RM9,000, which the agent claimed was for a “VIP hotel package”.
Teo said she even went to a bank branch near her house after 9pm to make cash deposits as the agent claimed that the hotel app’s system was down at night.
When Teo brought up about cashing out her earnings the next morning, the agent apparently said that due to the app system error, she would have to purchase another hotel package worth about RM20,000 in order to resume her job.
“I was desperate at that point as I had already used up my personal savings.
“Coincidentally just when I needed money the most, I received a text message from an Ah Long asking whether I wanted financial help.
“As the Ah Long could arrange funds for me quickly, I ended up borrowing about RM65,000 from five different illegal money lenders just to complete the tasks given by the agent,” she said, adding that she snapped out of it when the agent asked for a 19% “customs fee” to cash out her earnings amounting to RM100,000.
“By then, I had already transferred RM84,000 to seven individuals’ bank accounts and had no more money.
“I pleaded but my messages went unanswered,” she said, adding that she then sought help from MCA public complaints and services bureau committee member Joan Ng Geok Yin.
“Not only have I lost all my money, I am deep in debt and my husband is also disappointed with me,” added Teo.
When contacted, Kluang deputy OCPD Deputy Supt Nik Mohd Azmi Husin confirmed that the housewife had lodged a police report about the matter.
