New Type of Employment Fraud: Data Creator
2022-03-29
Defrauding Tricks
A victim earlier received a recruitment message offering opportunities to earn hefty commissions with no requirement on work experience or qualifications. The victim showed interest in the job, then received an authorisation letter purportedly to be sent by a company called Visual Data from a scammer. Misled into believing the scammer was a staff member of the company, the victim accepted the offer.
The scammer subsequently sent the victim a fake link https://www.visualdata.top/index/user/login.html which appeared to be the company webpage, asking him to click on the link, register an account and perform the task of creating data. While doing so, the victim had to deposit money into a designated bank account. The scammer claimed that the victim could regain the amount of money he injected and earn commission after he successfully created 45 items of data.
The victim then remitted HK$19,000 to the designated bank account and contacted the customer service staff member impersonated by the scammer, asking for the amount of money he invested and the commission he earned. The scammer rejected the victim with various excuses and could no longer be reached afterwards.
Our Advice
Be extremely cautious if recruitment messages claim to offer “quick money” opportunities or high paying jobs that require no skills;
Be extremely cautious if recruitment messages do not include their company information, or just leave their social media or instant messaging application accounts for contact;
Learn about the company’s background and business nature if company information is provided in recruitment messages.
It is probably a scam if you are asked for advance payment or guarantee money, or it claims to recruit “click farmers”, “operators”, “data creators” or “likers”;
Remind your relatives and friends to stay vigilant against deception;
- If you suspect that you have fallen prey to a scam, please call the “Anti-Scam Helpline 18222”.
