mann i can’t believe my first post is about me getting scammed T-T but i thought that it was really important for people to know bc scams nowadays are so prevalent but we never really think much about it until we actually get scammed… ngl i never thought i would get scammed so much but i did so i wanna share my experience so hopefully no one else has to undergo the same thing i did 😖bc i tried searching the name of this company but couldn’t find any bad reviews saying it was a scam ;-;
so basically i feel very dumb because i literally signed myself up to get scammed. i was searching for online jobs that i could do from home and i came across this website under a company called ‘Lodgez’ which was offering a really enticing job and all you had to do was rate hotels and you could earn commission from there. all you had to do was input your name and phone number and someone would contact you. so i happily put in my details.
a few days later, an agent called ‘Ashley’ contacted me and introduced herself as my agent. she confirmed if i was 20 years old and above then proceeded with a training session where i would be able to earn $40-$60 in an hour. she sent me her affiliate link to register for an account then told me to login to her account where i would be able to earn commission from the amount she earned. it was really simple, all i had to do was click ‘search’ and the system would generate a random hotel. the cost would be deducted from the current balance in the account. i think she started off with about $500 in her account bc she said the company would give users 2% commission so she basically earned $50 before even starting work. after a few bookings, the account balance suddenly plunged into a negative value. ashley said this was a good thing as i had gotten a ‘merged deal’ where i could earn 2% commission instead of the usual 0.5%. but as there was insufficient balance in the account she had to top up that amount. so she asked me to contact customer service and ask to deposit the negative balance which was around USD 800? then the whole process continued as the balance was no longer negative and i could proceed with the bookings. i encountered 2 merged deals in total.
looking back, i think this is how they get ppl to fall for their scams… by exposing them to what they might face and making them think its okay to get such a high negative balance bc if the agent themselves are willing to deposit the amount in, why shouldn’t you? which is just dumb bc the merchant account that the agent is depositing money into is probably their own bank account…
anyways, after that training session i actually stopped bc i was having exams and i told her i couldn’t commit to the job. she appeared really understanding, saying ‘ofc you should focus on your exams! studies more impt”. this really made me fall even deeper into the trap bc i felt like she was an actual person who i could relate to bc why would a scammer care about my exams right?
on the day my exams ended, ashley contacted me again. she reminded me of the job and said they had limited vacancies available for the job but again reminded me that it was ‘up to me’ if i wanted to continue. this created the sense of urgency in me where i felt that i’d be losing out if i didnt accept the job… so i agreed to start.
to deposit money in, i had to create a crypto account and download 2 apps: crypto.com and crypto defi wallet. i think these are legit apps but just tools used by the scammers bc its way harder for the police to trace… especially since its highly likely that these scammers are from overseas. ashley guided me through a really tedious process of transferring money from my account to my crypto account, converting it into USD coins, into my crypto wallet, and finally to the merchant account. as i wanted to try out first if i could actually withdraw the money and the minimum withdrawal amount was 50 USD, i transferred about 23SGD into the account to add to the money i had earned from her commissions to make it 50USD and tried withdrawing. all went smoothly and i managed to get all the money back into my account. i was overjoyed and agreed to start work.
to reset the bookings to zero, i had to deposit USD100 into the account. that’s about 144SGD. i did that and started making the bookings as i had done during the training session. all went well and i managed to earn a commission of USD12. to get a basic salary of 700USD for 7 days, i had to complete 3 sets of 40 bookings within 7 consecutive days. i guess that’s how they lure ppl in bc i was really thinking of the long-term and the thought of having a stable income was too enticing…
i got a merged deal on the first day but i think the amount was still relatively low? below SGD100 so i transferred the money in and managed to withdraw it. so all was good. it was the same for the second day and in total i managed to earn about 50USD commission per day so that was 100USD! i think that really took over my mind and brainwashed me into believing that this was an actual job and the possibility of having a stable income really made me oblivious to the warning signs. one of the red flags was them changing their domain bc the previous link they sent me a month before was now labelled as a ‘suspicious site’. i’m not sure how i totally overlooked it when ashley justified it by saying that their site just got upgraded to a new link…
anyway, the day i finally realised it was a scam was on day 5? so on day 3 i proceeded with the bookings as usual and the first 2 sets went smoothly; i could withdraw the money with no problem at all. on my last set, i started getting merged deals which were increasingly getting more and more expensive. the first merged deal required me to top up about 100+ USD. the next one required me to top up about 400+ USD. at this point i was getting nervous and kept asking ashley why i was getting such expensive merged deals, at which she ’patiently’ explained to me that it was normal as the accumulated amount in my account would be higher after completing the previous few merged deals hence it was expected for me to get them. she made it sound really relatable and said stuff like ‘at one point i had to borrow money from my husband and i got scolded so badly’ and ‘even my baby’s milk powder money was in there’ and ‘either all in or nothing, all my money inside so have to get it out’ etc. i realised too late that these tactics are what they use to build trust to get people to lower their barriers. the the last 2 transactions i made were about 900 SGD and 1000 SGD respectively, of which i am still very mad at myself especially the last 1k bc i KNEW there was something suspicious going on but i was just so desperate to get my money out and naively prayed that the last booking would not be a merged deal. alas it was not the case… the last booking required me to transfer about 7000SGD to the merchant account. at this point i was at my wits end as i did not even have 7000 SGD to begin with!! looking back, it was probably a good thing that i did not have that amount as i would probably have emptied my bank account out of desperation to get my money back if the amount had been within my means. but as it was, i simply had no way of getting such a huge amount of money. i even considered asking my family members to loan me the money but deep down i knew that they would probably not agree and could i live with myself in the event that i could not return them the money? i think this was the point where i realised i needed to stop.
i started getting really suspicious but was also extremely desperate. i proceeded to send a screenshot of my merged deal to ashley and even begged her to help me since she was so sure i would be able to get the money back. at which she unsympathetically replied ‘sorry caroline, agents are not allowed to help our customers. i hope you understand.’ she even probed me saying ‘is there anyone who can help you with this? or all your money will really be stuck inside.’ following that, i decided to investigate further my asking the live customer service a bunch of questions like ‘are you legal’ to which they replied that they were a verified company in singapore and provided me with their name and registration number. i did further research on it which further solidified my suspicions – their company status was listed as being ‘struck off’ and their stated address did not even match the current company that was occupying that space! i was devastated but had no choice but to concede that i had been scammed. i even attempted to ask why i had gotten yet another merged deal when the terms and conditions clearly stated that the merged deals were limited to 0-4, to which they convincingly conducted system checks and informed me that the last merged deal was a hotel room booking which was tied to the previous merged deal as each merged deal could contain 1-2 rooms.
i was so lost at this point and had no clue what to do. i didn’t want to concern my parents with this yet and decided to ask a businessman i had met previously for help. he told me to stop transferring money at all costs and make a police report.
as i had a meeting at 6pm, i decided i would go down to the police station after my meeting had ended. i reached the police station at around 7:30 and waited about 15 mins before the police attended to my case. not surprisingly, they confirmed that it was indeed a scam and took down the details of the scam. they also told me that it was unlikely that i’d be able to get my money back as the scammers were likely from overseas since they were dealing with cryptocurrency which made tracking them extremely difficult. they further confirmed that the Singapore number that I was seeing was probably fake as calls could not get through. the whole process took about 2 hours and i left with the police report in my hands. all i could do was hope that the investigation officer would somehow be able to track down the scammers and help me retrieve my money although i knew the chances of that happening was slim – close to none in fact.
i am still in the midst of awaiting the investigation officer to contact me but i have conceded that i will probably never get the money back… all i can do is to take it as a lesson learnt and be grateful that i didn’t complete the last transaction… although a small dumb part of me secretly still believes that i’ll be able to withdraw the money once i complete the bookings. but its completely illogical unless the scammers are really so greedy and believe that i will still continue with the bookings even after such large transaction amounts of close to 10k SGD…
but yes that kind of sums up my whole experience of getting scammed of 2.7k in 3 days… ngl i’m still extremely traumatised and shaken by the whole experience and i’ve been ruminating over it for the past few days because 2.7k is literally about 3 quarters of my current savings T-T and it’s accumulated over years of slaving away at part-time jobs, events, banquets etc. i keep thinking of what i could have done with all that money like going on a really nice trip to japan or korea, buying gifts for my loved ones, treating myself better and buying nicer clothes and food and spending more when going out with friends instead of being so thrifty with my money all the time ;-; but what’s done is done and there’s no point torturing myself over it so i’m writing all of this down to hopefully get it out of my system so that i’ll stop overthinking about it and just accept it and move on. but one thing’s for sure – i’ve learnt that earning money is never easy and to keep my guard up at all times. i’m making a promise to myself that i’ll never get scammed again and i’m making it my mission to think of a way to reduce the occurrence of such scams! scammers watch out i’m coming to get you. :<<<<<<<