Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
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I consider myself a level-headed, rational person.
But one day, some low-life scum scammed me out of RM12,766 of loaned money.
Here is my story.
Every day, my family had ugly arguments about money problems
My family used to argue about money a lot. Every other day, some disagreement would break out — “how come you didn’t buy the cheaper brand?” or “Don’t you know how much we owe the bank?”
It was always about finances. Living with my family was stressful.
For example, they talk to everyone about how “useful” the other children are, when they think I’m not listening. Sometimes, they do give me hints that I should be the one supporting them and not the other way.
One day, things hit rock bottom.
I was in the kitchen and overheard my mother arguing with my father again. “How do you think we are paying for her studies… what are we even left with? You’re speaking as though I am buying myself everything I want and wasting money. I can’t even get anything for myself! This is all my fate.”
I was still a college student at that time and depended on my family for cash. That day changed everything.
I refused to remain a burden.
I was desperate to solve my family’s financial woes quickly
I was desperately looking for ways to make a buck or two. The situation at home was getting worse each day. I needed cash, and I needed it now.
Furthermore, as a student with classes and assignments, I could not accept jobs that required me to be physically present. That meant that online jobs were my only option.
One day, I was scrolling, scrolling, and scrolling, and suddenly a page popped out on my screen.
Looking to earn money online? asked the faceless saviour behind the screen.
I thought this easy ‘online job’ was the answer to my problems
At that moment, it was as if the screen was glowing with a divine light.
I threw all caution down the toilet bowl and flushed.
With a click, I was redirected to my WhatsApp. There was an available template: “I’m interested to learn how to earn money as a student.” All I had to do was click send.
I decided that I had nothing to lose, and sent that message.
They asked me to send them money, which they would send back with a ‘commission’
Image: Screenshot of a typical “Merchant Task” scam run by “Instantestore Commerce Sdn. Bhd.”
They claimed to represent Zalora. The job was to help them boost their views and add-to-cart numbers.
“You will learn on the job,” they said.
“You will get a hang of it when you try,” they said.
In hindsight, they didn’t want to risk me having the time to think it through. But at the time, all I could think of was my parents saying “you are a burden” ringing in my ears.
The scammer offered me Task 1.
Each task had several products, which could be accessed through links. This is how a task worked:
Step 1. I was to calculate the amount for each different product and add it up.
Step 2. I was to pay for the products by sending the money to a bank account they provided.
Step 3. I would be returned the money from them with an additional reward of 10-15% (“commission”) on top of the money I put in.
There was some maths involved, but I was confident I could do it. Now, I realise that the complicated instructions were meant to trick me.
But I didn’t know it then.
Things went wrong after I sent the first transaction of RM 69 over
Image: Screenshot of the Whatsapp convo with IRL where the victim shares her story.
A few minutes later, the scammer provided me with a screenshot of a series of numbers that were supposed to be my total earnings, instructing me to check if the figure was correct.
They promised to transfer this amount of money to me, with an extra ‘commission’ of 10-15% on top of my original capital.
I was waiting for my money to come back in when the scammer blasted me with a message, saying: “WTF, why didn’t you calculate properly? Now the system is frozen.”
Oh no! I thought at the time. I asked what was wrong, and he said I’d made a mathematical mistake in my calculation.
But ever the solutions guy, the scammer suggested that I perform another task to unfreeze the system. Obviously, there was no frozen system. It was just an elaborate ruse to trick unassuming victims like me.
I accepted Task 2, eager to get my money back. It was the beginning of the darkest point in my life.
I made 6 transactions in total, each one larger than the last one.
Image: The victim wrote down in her notebook all the transactions she made and the accounts she made them to.
I was to repeat the steps given to me by them, with more products added and more money I was to send over.
But they didn’t pay me back.
Instead, the system kept “freezing” and “timing out” and I had to complete more tasks to “unfreeze the system” and get my money back.
Each task got increasingly expensive.
But instead of realising I had been duped, I kept believing that I would eventually get all of my money back. I just needed to trust in the process.
Finally, after four long hours, I was left with nothing. I lost a total of RM 12,766.
This included money I loaned from an acquaintance to pay for my school fees. I needed it to pay for my Psychology degree.
My family still don’t know what happened
To find out more about how these scams work, watch this video.
After I was tricked, I told my friend and she shared this Tiktok, where a police officer explained in 3 minutes how the scam operates. This was pretty much what happened to me.
In the aftermath, my parents eventually paid my tuition fees like they had originally planned.
They had no idea that I had taken out this 12k loan to secure money for my tuition — which went up in smoke in 4 hours.
This loan was also supposed to be money for me to move out of the family house and live on my own, away from my parents’ toxic fighting.
Now, I’m painfully paying off the debt month by month. Until today, I am still attempting to fix the mess I made for myself.
After all this time, I am still struggling to come to terms with getting scammed.
My friends consoled me, saying that it is better that this happened to me when I am 24 years old than as a retiree.
But I doubt there are many who can say that they lost 5 figures of savings in one day.
But a loss is a loss. The cost of mine was RM 12,766.
All I can do is carry on living to fight another day.
Have you or a loved one experienced a huge financial loss? Let us know in the comments!
For more stories like this, read:
“The phone number matched the police HQ” I was targeted by a scammer pretending to be from PDRM
I hired the ‘abang lori’ service but was scammed
Do you have an interesting story? Email us at hello@inreallife.my
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