Woman lost $78k to job scam in four days

Ms Lee, 48, always believed she was too smart to fall for a scam. Even if she ended up talking to one, she was confident she’d never be fooled.

Job scams have been on the rise, and in 2024 alone, over 9,000 victims reported losses totaling $156.2 million, according to police figures. These scams often start on messaging platforms, where victims are lured into fake job offers promising attractive commissions—only to be tricked into sending money that’s never returned.

Ms Lee, a sales professional, was approached on WhatsApp late last year by someone using a foreign number. The person offered her a part-time online job. Feeling bored with her routine work life, she agreed to hear them out.

Soon after, another man entered the picture. He introduced himself as “Charles Khoo,” claiming to be a Malaysian living in Singapore. He said he was married and had a newborn child. Although Ms Lee suspected something was off, she decided to play along. She later admitted that her life felt a bit dull, and she thought she could outsmart the scammers for fun.

“I just wanted to mess with them,” she said. “I thought I was clever enough not to fall for anything.”

She reached out to The Straits Times after reading in March about the government considering harsher punishments like caning for those involved in scam operations.

For months, “Charles” kept up a friendly front. He sent daily messages full of cheer and support. He constantly encouraged her to try the job, referring to her affectionately with the Mandarin term “Jie” (sister). Eventually, the consistent attention made her feel like she’d found a genuine friend.

“He’d ask how I was doing every day,” Ms Lee said. “He kept saying, ‘Why don’t you just give this online job a try?’ It didn’t seem harmful. I figured I could earn a bit on the side.”

The so-called job involved depositing cryptocurrency and completing brand-related surveys. She was told she’d earn a commission on top of getting her deposit back. On February 15, she tested it out by depositing around $600—and got back $700.

That quick return lit a spark of hope. Encouraged, she invested larger amounts over the next few days. But when she tried to deposit over $11,000 on February 18, the platform paused the transaction and alerted her that she might be a victim of a scam.

Still, she trusted “Charles.” He assured her everything was fine and instructed her to transfer the money directly to his boss using PayNow. Blinded by trust, she complied.

It wasn’t until they asked her to invest a jaw-dropping $120,000—money she didn’t have—that reality hit her like a freight train. By then, she had already transferred $78,000. When she tried to withdraw the funds, she was told she couldn’t until she completed the job.

“I was devastated,” Ms Lee said. “I begged them to return my money. It was all my savings—money I worked so hard for.”

The scammers didn’t budge. Instead, they coldly suggested she borrow the money from a bank or moneylender to continue.

That’s when she finally broke down and confided in her family.