QuickCheck: Are scammers luring victims to be 'online purchasing agents'?

PETALING JAYA: Another day, another scam. Scammers are persistent and creative in coming up with novel ways to separate the unsuspecting public from their hard-earned cash. One of the latest scams involves fraudsters luring their victims with the promise of an easy way to earn some side income by being "online purchasing agents". Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

According to the Finance Ministry, scammers would contact their victims via WhatsApp and offer them the job of being "online purchasing agents".

The victims would be told to "purchase" items on ecommerce platforms in order to "boost" the rating of the items and the vendor.

The victims would be asked to bank in the cash to "buy" the items directly into a bank account instead of buying them from the platform.

They would also be promised to be reimbursed and given a commission for every item that they "purchase".

The victims would be reimbursed the first couple of times to build their confidence before the victim would be asked to "purchase" an item worth a lot of money.

However, as soon as the victim banks in the money, the scammer would vanish and would not be contactable.

"The public is urged to always be wary of any easy-to-make-money scheme they come across online," said the Finance Ministry.