I Lost $600 and Got Scammed, Beware of This Company

Warning: long article ahead. This narrates the details of how I got scammed worth $600.

Oh man, the past few days were so stressful to me. Things happened so fast. In an instant, I lost $600. It all just happened on the same day. I supposed to write and publish an article days ago but I can't function well because of what happened. So let me share with you my experience with this company that reached out to me and offered me a part time job.

Last Friday, May 19th, I got a telegram notification from a person named Jasmine. Here's a screenshot of the conversation:

As you can see, it is already a deleted account on top. That's when I discovered that they're scammers. They immediately deleted their accounts right after I called them out. But let's go back to where it started.

At first, I was puzzled how did they find me. This person told me they are prohibited to disclose that information. They even make it so believable providing me their websites portraying they're legit and all. Makes me wonder, maybe they're just using this site and act like theirs just to deceive people. Poor company.

They gave me this website: https://newmedia.com/

And so I shrugged it off, I set my suspicions aside and told myself why don't I give it a try. After all, I was so desperate to earn money in all possibilities I could go into.

They introduced me to a task by which all I have to do is to make reviews on different hotels in Google Maps. They will send you the link, complete the task, take a screenshot to show some proof that you're done and get paid.

Completing the sample task.

I opened the link, gave the hotel a good review and got paid!

They introduced me to a person named Vanessa, she's the assigned admin assisting me to get my payout. After providing my Gcash details, I got the money right away. Here's a screenshot of the payout:

That gave me a big boost of hope of me earning money almost effortlessly. I mean, who wouldn't want to just do simple tasks and get paid $1 or $2 right away, right? Man, it only took me seconds to complete the task and got the payout minutes after.

I was invited into a group. A new task is given every after 40 minutes. I managed to earn $5 or 250 pesos in less than an hour. I was so into it and got very excited when another task is given. However, they introduced us a different task to accomplish. I had no idea how to do it but the admin helped me accomplish it. A mentor was assigned to assist me and I just have to follow his instructions and earn money after. I invested 2,000 pesos and earned 2,600 pesos right away.

By the time this task was introduced, I noticed a lot of my co-members in the group investing big amounts of money. They're even sending screenshots of the transactions. It got me thinking.

Chatting other members of the group.

I even messaged some members of the group to verify if the company is really legit. They told me that the company is really legit and they've been working part time there for a more than a month already.

Upon checking the profiles of the other members of the group, I had a hunch that these profiles were newly made and their images were most likely grabbed from Google. Their responses were kinda off and seemed like someone behind that profile is only portraying to be a Filipino.

Nevertheless, I still chose to ignore the red flags because I was so into that moment of earning money. Besides, they have proven me that they're paying so they have gained my trust already. Damn, they're so good in manipulating people. Oh gosh, I was so stupid to ignore all of these signs.

And the scamming begins

They introduced us the investment mission again and I grabbed it because they paid me on my first try. I opted to invest 3000 pesos.

I thought I'll be doing the same task for this but this came out different than the previous one. They didn't tell me that I have to complete 3 tasks in order for me to withdraw my money. The first task was good, I completed it but I need to accomplish 2 other tasks before getting my payout.

The problem is, the second task is worth $200 or 10,000 pesos. I got nervous because I don't have that money in my wallet yet. I only have 4,900 pesos in total and I need to get 5,100 more. I was so pressured to look for that amount because I can't withdraw my money if I don't complete the task. They cornered me to the bones. These scumbags.

I borrowed money to my cousin and continued the task. I thought everything was going well already until the mentor gave me sneaky instructions resulting me to fail the task. I mean, I was so stressed out already. I lost focus and my presence of mind, so following instructions carefully went off the board. Although I realized that they have framed it so well to manipulate the person's emotions. They have designed the instructions to be unnoticeable. Good Lord, they've done it so well.

The most heartbreaking part of all

Since I failed to execute the task correctly, I was forwarded to a person named Kelin. This person told me what to do for me to successfully withdraw my money. Here's a screenshot of the conversation:

They're asking me to pay $400 or 20,000 pesos to restore my account. They explained it so well. I was so shocked but still, I was still determined to get my money back. They even told me I have 44,000 pesos on my account. I was so stupid believing that. But to my defense, I'm pretty sure most people would have the same reaction as I did finding out about my account balance.

To my desperation, I borrowed 20k from my college classmate and promised him that I'll pay him back right away or the next day after I receive my payout. He did and I sent the money the account Kelin gave me.

After sending the money, I asked Kelin if it's all good now. I was already trembling the whole time. I was super stressed, I couldn't focus well, I had so many scenarios created in my head already. What if this won't go well? What if this is a scam? How can I pay my debt? It was the longest 8pm of my life.

Kelin replied and confirmed that they received the money, even told me that purchasing credit points was successful. He even asked my gcash name and number already until he sent me this:

This felt like a barrel or ice was poured unto me. I couldn't help but curse my screen and punched my bed in disbelief. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to take my money back, my body went numb, I couldn't cry because I was so full of blaming myself and regret. Why did I ever got into this situation. I felt betrayed but most definitely angry to myself.

They even had the guts to act mad and come clean. Such great manipulators.

I don't know if the website they gave me is really theirs but these people are undoubtedly, legit scammers. I am full of regrets but what can I do, it happened already.

I'll just let the deities do their job and let the karma serve what they deserved.

Thanks for reading.

Keep safe everyone!