False lure of get-rich-quick apps

EARNING cash from the comfort of your couch is no longer a pipe dream, thanks to the Internet. Some offer empty promises, and even worse, some turn desires into huge monetary losses.

In the second year of the pandemic, the Financial Services Authority noted that 28 bogus investment companies had been taken down not long after rising to popularity.

Money game apps like TikTok Cash and Snack Video quickly went viral for the easy money possibilities they seemed to offer. Both have now been blocked. TikTok Cash is not affiliated with the popular app TikTok.

Internet personality Cindy Lazar spoke publicly about her loss and filed a fraud report. In total, she lost 25.5 million rupiah (RM7,290) to TikTok Cash.

“I think someone has to speak up, especially after I learned that the platform had a lot of other victims, ” Cindy said.

The scheme requires users to do seemingly simple tasks such as watching TikTok videos and pressing the “like” and “follow” button.

To be eligible to do so and earn some money out of it, users need to inject cash in advance, from 89,000 rupiah (RM25) to 50 million rupiah (RM14,290). In return, users are promised 600,000 rupiah (RM170) to 37 million rupiah (RM10,570) in a month.

Cindy’s report has resulted in a formal police investigation. Representing 60 other TikTok Cash victims, Cindy hopes the authorities can prevent even more victims.

Relying on the same get-rich-quick scheme, Sel (not his real name), a 23-year-old student from Pekanbaru, tried similar tasks.

“Before the Communications and Information Ministry took down Snack Video, I had obtained 300,000 rupiah (RM85) as a result of watching some videos, ” Sel said.

He is well aware of the suspicious nature of these platforms: “It is understandable, knowing that there is no legal permit on these platforms. I have prepared, so I always choose the platform that requires no investment.”

Matthew Pradipta, a fresh graduate facing few job opportunities, went the same route.

“I had no income during the pandemic and I had been exposed to some success stories from my peers, ” he said.

After investing four million rupiah (RM1,140), Matthew spent his days watching random ads. For every one-minute video he watched on a seemingly foreign website called Midjobs, he made US$0.25 (RM1).

After a few weeks, he gained “some real money” and decided to inject more.

“My greed took over and I thought I could get more and more money, ” said Matthew.

After two months of constantly watching ads, one day he found that the website could not be accessed.

Wally (not his real name), a 41-year-old father of two, had also tried his hand at similar apps. He began investing to watch the ads, but realised that it was a scheme after the company was shut down by the authorities.

He said that like a casino, “they let you win the smaller prizes first, so you’re hopeful for the big one. But it never comes.” — The Jakarta Post/ANN