A woman who thought she had found the perfect work from home job lost tens of thousands of dollars after realizing it was a scam.
Amanda Peters, 44, a Queensland woman, received a text message from Isla claiming to be a recruiter for job website Indeed.
She claimed that several recruiters had seen her profile on the platform and were asking if Ms Peters was interested in a work-from-home position.
The equine business manager told Daily Mail Australia that it didn’t seem out of the ordinary because she had updated her Indeed profile the week before as she was looking for a side job from WFH to “make ends meet.”
After saying she was interested last week, she was given the details of another woman on WhatsApp, who explained that the job was for a movie platform where all she had to do was give movies a five-star review.
“He basically said, I’ll train you and we’ll look into it,” Ms. Peters said.
‘That was about six hours in total of training. Walking me through what I needed to do on the website.
‘They have terms and conditions, they have facts, it’s a website. It is very well done. It has all the Disney animations; It seems legit. Very elaborate.’
Amanda Peters, 44 (pictured), from Queensland, has been caught up in an elaborate employment scam that has seen her lose a staggering $48,000.
Isla’s text from ‘Indeed.com’ (pictured) seemed legitimate to Ms Peters as she had just updated her work profile on the platform to say she was looking for work from home to supplement her income .
To make the scam look even more legitimate, Ms Peters was invited to join a WhatsApp group that had 15 people.
“Obviously now I know that it’s AI, a robot or something like that in the background,” he said.
‘But at that moment, you feel like you’re in some kind of community. You have people who talk to you and encourage you.’
The job involved about three hours a day, which suited Mrs. Peters and her busy schedule, which included other work.
“I thought I was going to have to sit back and watch things, and they basically told me, ‘no, these companies basically pay us to get five-star reviews,'” he said.
Ms. Peters explained that people working on the platform needed to invest a small amount of money ($100) to be able to perform the daily tasks assigned to them.
“You get your first set of assignments, which is 40 reviews,” he said.
“You do that, you earn commissions for every review you make, and you cash out all your money at the end, including the $100 you started with.”
The manager of the horse business (pictured) has always been “self-sufficient” and has her own property, so she feels “exhausted” for having fallen for the scam.
The scam also included inviting Ms Peters into a WhatsApp group with other “workers” to make it appear more legitimate.
The 44-year-old said it worked well for the first four days, earning around $40-$50 per day, which was paid into a crypto account she was told to create.
The “normal” payment amounts were another measure to make it seem legitimate, because it didn’t promise large amounts of money, which made it “seem realistic.”
“The fifth day came and they deposited my ‘payment,’ which I couldn’t withdraw,” he said.
‘Then I asked them how I could get my money.
‘They said, “You need to complete today’s tasks.” And then you can withdraw your money.”
Peters said he was then offered “packages” that included two or three reviews, but which required more money to access.
“The more money you have on the platform, the more they can get you,” he said.
‘When you do the first review, you take all your money. So when you want to do the second revision of the package, you have to reinvest.
The website can only be accessed between 11am and 11pm, and all tasks must be completed within this time period or they will be reset. The Queensland resident knew she was being scammed when she had a large amount of money on the platform, but it wouldn’t allow her to withdraw it and automatically reset her ‘tasks’ (pictured).
‘So if I have $900 there, they want me to put $900 in to complete the next review. Then they hit you with another package before you finish your tasks.
“And the next thing you know, they’re asking for $26,000 off to get your money out.”
Ms Peters said the money paid to unlock the tasks soon added up quickly and that was when things went horribly wrong.
‘I was at a point where I had one task left to complete and then I could withdraw all my money. At that time I had $10,000 in profits,’ he said.
‘So I borrowed an additional $10,000, completed my tasks and went to get my money, but he wouldn’t let me.
‘The platform had restarted at the start of my 40 tasks. And then they say you have to complete your tasks to withdraw your money.
“But those tasks required money again.”
After contacting customer service on WhatsApp, Ms Peters was told there was nothing they could do because “the platform is what it is and we can’t alter it”.
At this stage, the manager of the equine business had deposited two lots of $10,000 on December 10 through the scammer’s crypto account, but on Wednesday he was given a task package requiring an additional $20,000 to unlock his funds.
To access her money, Ms Peters continued to borrow money so she could withdraw it, but the platform would not allow it, showing her that she was in default (pictured).
“I had $20,000 in there and that’s when it reset, so I put in the extra $20,000,” Mrs Peters said.
Mrs. Peters now owes her partner $48,000.
“To be honest, I’m not doing very well. “I’m just trying to figure out how I can pay my mortgage this month,” he said.
And possibly buy my niece a birthday and Christmas gift.
The 44-year-old, who was also doing bond cleansing because she was already struggling, broke down in tears and said she was “emotionally exhausted.”
“I feel like I have nothing to give right now,” Mrs. Peters said.
‘Scammers really go after job seekers who are struggling.
‘I’m only looking for extra work because I need it. That’s why they target people who need to make money, vulnerable people.
Mrs Peters said the whole process had “ruined” her.
‘Even sitting here now, I’m thinking, “Am I reporting this as a scam and it wasn’t?” My head is so fucked up,’ he said.
But she wants to warn other Australians and can’t believe she fell for the scam after having been so smart and “self-sufficient” all her life, even owning her own property.
‘Just be careful. It seems legit, they are very smart. “I just wish there was some way to prevent this from happening to anyone else,” said Mrs Peters.
A GoFundMe has been started so Mrs Peters can pay her mortgage, groceries and bills, as well as pay her partner back.