Woman joins Telegram group to earn money, ends up losing $500

A woman lost $500 after joining a Telegram group to earn money by liking pages.

The woman is Stomp contributor Shailey's friend.

"The scammers sent this link to join the channel where they give us a link to go and like three pages and send them a screenshot," said the Stomp contributor.

"They pay you $15, saying that we are promoting the business by liking them and making them appear in searches. After three such payments, they ask you to do a more advanced task – meaning you have to transfer them $200 to a PayNow number and then they would pay you back $240 within 15 minutes."

The Stomp contributor's friend was then asked to transfer $500.

"After sending them $500 via PayNow, they said to do another $1,200 transfer to get back the amount and the commission."

When the Stomp contributor's friend declined to do so, she was kicked out of the group and lost the $500.

"A person gains more confidence and then when asked to do a bigger transfer, they trap you with two big transactions and then they disappear and your money is gone," said the Stomp contributor.

"No police report was made by my friend as she’s scared her family might get upset with her for falling into this scam."

This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.

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