He was promised $300 a day but ended up losing $413 to scammers

He was promised that he could earn up to $300 a day by rating airlines, but instead, he ended up losing $413 in a job scam.

Stomp contributor S shared that he took the job to earn some extra money for his mother, who was preparing to go on a religious pilgrimage, Umrah. “My mum is going for umrah, which is a mini haj, and I wanted to spoil her with spending money since I can’t join her. But I was scammed, and people need to be aware of this,” he told Stomp.

It all started with a message S received via Telegram on Sept 29, offering part-time work with a daily pay of $300 for promoting airlines. The sender introduced herself as Alice from Trust Recruit, a legitimate company whose name was used by the scammer to deceive victims. Alice claimed that the job involved “rating airlines to increase their popularity and reviews,” with the potential to earn $150 in just three hours.

S was interested and asked for details, only to be told that another person would explain the job to him. Soon after, a woman named Joana Cheng contacted him and explained that he had to complete four tasks daily, each requiring him to provide 32 five-star ratings for airlines in order to receive his commission.

S completed the first task with no issues, but things took a turn when he began the second task. “I had to put in my own money to complete it,” S explained. He transferred $105 using PayNow. For the third task, he was asked to pay $308, which he also did.

However, just 30 minutes later, Joana asked him for another $565. At this point, S became suspicious and refused. He requested a refund of his initial deposits and even offered to forgo his commission in exchange for getting his money back. Despite his requests, he was ignored, and when he asked to speak to a manager, there was no response.

S soon realized he had been scammed.

In response to a Stomp inquiry, Trust Recruit clarified that they do not recruit through Telegram or WhatsApp and do not offer jobs involving rating airlines. The company confirmed that it was a scam and had reported the incident to the police. They also posted a scam alert on their social media pages due to the rising number of similar cases.

A similar case was reported on the Scam Alert website last month, where scammers offered fake jobs reviewing airlines.

To avoid falling victim to such scams, the police advise the following precautions:

Be wary of job offers that promise high returns with minimal effort.
Never download applications from unverified sources.
Never send money to people you do not know or have not met in person.
Reflecting on his experience, S said, “I just feel stupid. Nobody should go through what I have. I went into this with the best intentions, just trying to get some extra money for my mum, and I was going to stop after that.”