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A young local university student recently became the victim of a “Merchant Task” scam which has been going around Malaysia. This is his story.
Hi. I just got scammed yesterday, RM20k, a huge amount for commoners, not to mention I’m still a student with no salary.
My father is a retiree from many years ago. Only my mom is working, as a teacher. My brother and I are studying at university.
I was approached by an online stranger
It all started two days ago, when an unknown person reached out to me via Whatsapp and asked me if I was interested in a part-time online job.
I usually don’t decline offers like this because I’m a student and I’m desperately looking for internship or job opportunities.
He gave me simple tasks I could do online. The first task he gave me was to subscribe to a YouTube channel. I would get RM10 for each subscription.
After I completed the tasks, he paid me for it. I was excited to see the money really enter my bank account.
He asked me: “Would you like to be added to a part-timer group where you can do even more tasks?”
I was interested as money did really go to my account, so I said yes. I was added into a Whatsapp group.
They would give these free tasks of subscribing to YouTube channels. Occasionally, they would provide merchant tasks throughout the day.
In these tasks, you have to bank transfer a certain amount of money to them, which was said to “help improve their crypto merchant’s reputation” or some sort, then they’ll return you a good amount of earnings after the task is completed. It takes around half an hour to execute each task.
I did 50 tasks in total, and it took me only 2 days to do them. In these two days, I “earned” around RM500.
So here’s where the fishing began.
News Straits Times: A total of 51,631 online fraud cases were reported in Malaysia between 2019 and last year involving a total loss of RM1.61 billion.
The next day, I continued performing the tasks as directed. There is a rule stating that I must complete all the tasks given in a certain sequence, or I will not get the money that I banked in before.
This sequence involved packages of money transfers. In each package, you have to follow a sequence where you would transfer some money, and you would get your money back with a 20-25% return.
I chose the least risky package, banking in RM300 to get a RM360 return. Then, I was required to continue the next task. I didn’t see the money banked in, but it was pooled together with the added money I provided for the next round.
So, in the next task, I chose the smallest amount RM2,000 to get RM2,600. The RM360 (my “returns”) was considered part of this amount, so I actually only had to top up another RM1640 from my account.
In order to continue the next task, I chose the smallest RM5,000 to get RM7,000. After that, I did it again, banking in RM15,000 with the hope I would get RM19,500.
At this point, I still hadn’t realized it was a scam. I was just thinking about completing the tasks given. All I was focused on was making back the money that I had banked in.
The final merchant task was the biggest. I was supposed to bank in RM40,000 to get a whopping RM52,000 in return.
At that time, I did not have enough money in my bank to fork out RM40,000.
Thinking I might lose it all, I panicked and sought out my friend to lend me some money. Luckily my friend, as a bystander, noticed that this was a scam and stopped me.
“Have you received ANY of the money you banked into them?” He asked.
“No…” I said, starting to doubt myself. “It’s a scam,” he replied.
I woke up finding that everything was too late. Just like that, within two days, RM22,300 was gone from my bank account.
The entire operation was manipulated by one person
During normal tasks, there are 40+ people. But during merchant tasks, I’m asked to leave the big group and I would join a small “exclusive” group of 3-4 members.
One of the scariest parts in this operation is that all the group members in the group are actually controlled by the same person.
Out of the 4 members, two might be playing rich VVIPs who will play the highest package. By doing so, they indirectly peer pressure you into playing with more money.
The 3rd person would play the role of a newcomer like me. He would play along with me, choosing the lowest package.
I suspect the recruiter is also the same person, even though he later transferred me to another person (called the receptionist) to handle. So there are at least 2 people involved in this charade.
Some precautions I made while attempting this
Read: I Was Targeted by the “Merchant Task Scam” and Lost RM 12,766 in Savings
I was being very careful with this. When I got the offer, I shared it with my parents on the first night.
My parents did warn me about it being a scam, but they didn’t stop me from it since there was proof that I’m earning something when I showed them the RM500 in my bank account.
They just asked me to be extra cautious.
I have two bank accounts, so before I proceeded with this, I moved most of my savings such that I have a “small” account and a “big” account, to prevent losses in case my “small” account got hacked.
I also created a new chat account with another phone number solely for this “part time job”. I also made a plan with myself and promised to only invest my earnings, so I couldn’t touch my savings account.
I used to read the news about scams in Malaysia, and each time I’d wonder, “Why are they so dumb, why do they fall into these types of scams?” That is until I ended up in their shoes.
I was being very cautious taking the above steps and always reminded myself to not be greedy, playing only the package with the least risk.
But there’s one trick that this scammer is using. He let me start with a small investment, then proceeded only with stages.
This forced me to continue because I wanted to rescue the money that I put in in the previous task. So it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
The worst part is, when I’m within that situation and cannot think straight, I even used my savings from my “big” account, just because I wanted to rescue the money I put in.
I’m Seeking Help For My Financial Situation
Read: “The Phone Number Matched The Police HQ” I was Targeted by a Scammer Pretending to Be From PDRM
Now I’m emotionally depressed. I’m thinking about suicide, but that won’t solve my problems. My parents still need me. And RM20k is earnable within 5 months if I graduate as an engineer.
So I look forward to taking this as a painful but valuable lesson.
At least my friend noticed it and didn’t lend me that money. At least I’m just financially scammed, I’m still healthy and not held hostage like those unfortunate ones, who were sent overseas.
I’ve contacted my bank fraud hotline, and I need to lodge a police report.
Now, how am I going to inform my parents? Who am I going to look for help? What should I do? Is writing to a politician okay? Will my university help? Who else should I find?
If you are the victim of a scam, call the CCID Scam Response Centre Helpline at 03-2610 1559, available from 9am to 10pm daily.
For more stories like this, read:
Beware! 5 Most Common Online Scams Malaysians Still Fall For
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