It took just 48 hours for John to lose his money. Photo / 7 News
A Sydney dad has been swindled out of his family’s life savings after falling victim to an elaborate hiring scam.
The man, who thought he was starting a new job working remotely after clicking on a fake job ad on Facebook, was conned out of $80,000 in just 48 hours.
The father of two was introduced to a fake employer and added to a WhatsApp group filled with fake employees, all working together on the intricate scam.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said these kinds of scams were common, with 300 reports of similar scams this year alone.
The family are so embarrassed by the incident, they wish to hide their identities, reported 7 News.
John – not his real name – owns a petrol franchise that went bust due to the impacts of the pandemic and a new motorway diverting traffic. He was looking for some extra cash while attempting to sell his business.
With two children Nick, 19, and Kathleen, 21, both studying fulltime, and wife Carol not working, John was under pressure to find a new way of paying the bills.
“We didn’t have any income, we needed some way for money to come in, so we were sort of desperate,” Nick told 7 News.
The job ad had popped up on Facebook on August 24 with the option to work online.
Desperate, John, 48, didn’t think twice about clicking on the link.
Venus, a fake e-marketing company, manipulated John into creating an online wallet for his clicks-for-commission role, in which he…
