I have specially taken my time out to write this post on behalf on my friend who has been involved in a scam. The reason Im doing this is because I do not want this thing to happen to anyone.
The story goes like this.
My friend chanced upon a blog and in the shoutout box, a girl named Amelia wrote something like this: " earn $100 a day just by doing blogshop". She msged Amelia to find out more about it. She was told that her role is to take down orders on behalf of the supplier and deliver the goods to the customer. Reason for that is because the supplier is too busy to handle the orders, thus they decided to find people to do the job. Those who have successfully delivered the goods to the customer will get $100. Accordingly to my friend, she could earn more depending on the number of stocks the customer order. My friend dont trust her and ask her a lot of questions. However, she assured my friend that she can get a refund if the customer runs away or dun want the stocks. (I dont know how she did that but my friend told me she's good at making promises that the supplier will surely pay the refund amount if the customer dun want the stocks.)
The girl told my friend that she currently has one customer on hand and asked my friend if she want to take the order. The girl gave the customer's contact number to my friend. My friend took down the order and asked the girl for the price of each goods. Before that, my friend have requested for the list of prices and products from the girl. The girl said the supplier will send the list to my friend's email latest by weekend.
At the point of making payment, my friend felt uneasy for fear that this girl might run away with the money. This girl told my friend that she can make a police report if she ran away. My friend said she was too good at assuring her and she somehow believe the girl.
The first few meet up with the customer failed and eventually, the customer cancel the order. My friend contact this girl to get the refund. The girl told my friend that she has contacted the supplier and waiting for the reply. Ended up the girl told my friend that she couldnt get through the supplier.
My friend think everything is a scam because:
Firstly, the girl said she have long working relationship with the supplier. Since she have a very long working relationship with the customer, she could agree to pay the refund amount first and then contact the supplier herself. If she is really sincere in helping my friend and taking on the responsilibity, she could have agreed on doing this but she kept saying she has no money and will try to help contact the supplier.
Secondly, the girl said she did this before but stop taking orders due to her being too busy in her work (telemarketer job)and studies at the same time. My friend asked her why she want to do telemarketer job instead of taking orders? ( since the girl said my friend can really earn a lot taking orders and doing delivery.) The girl just said I chose to do telemarketer job. My friend didnt probe further as she thinks it is the girl's decision anyway.
Thirdly, the girl could not answer why she still work as a telemarketer when she can earn a commission from finding people to take orders.
Fourth, the girl always return messages only at night to near midnight. Always stating working late as an excuse. (telemarketer work so late?)
Fifth, a lot of delay in response to my friend's message.
Sixth, could not answer why my friend cant directly contact the supplier to get the goods. She thought this could be their way of doing business, so didnt probe her further.
There are a lot of details and questioning by my friend to the girl just to ensure that everything is not a scam. But unfortunately, it happened to my friend. It is a lesson learnt and she advise me to be very careful, especially when it is related to money.
My friend and I think she will continue to cheat other people. Please stay vilgilant at all times when faced with such situations. The girl might even changed her name and her method.
My own opinion after hearing this story is, never jump into any business with people that you dun trust. Get all the facts clear, analyse the situation clearly before making decisions. If after that you still cant trust the person, dun do business with them. Especially when it's just an verbal assurance coming out from the same mouth.