There’s this scam going around, from Whatsapp to Telegram. A foreign number will contact you on WhatsApp, offering you a job (completing tasks) and earning money.
They will tell you to complete tasks on Jumia or on Youtube. You screenshotted after completing the task. You will also receive Sh 50 for sending Good Morning, Afternoon, or Evening (depending on the time) to the referrer.
“I have been ignoring them, but yesterday they contacted me again, and I decided to get into the rabbit hole,” one of our journalists opened up.
Remember, anyone promising you money for doing nothing or almost nothing is probably lying. “So I was curious to know at what point the scam would happen. The requirement for the job is to simply have a Telegram.”
The task is simple: they sent you a YouTube link to a video, and you’re required to share a screenshot of the video showing you liked it. The first video will earn you 200 bob, and they will send the 200 bob to your Mpesa immediately. Scammers are patient, and they try to earn your trust.
They then invite you to join their “workgroup” on Telegram, where the main scam is happening. The first red flag is that you have been restricted from commenting. Here, they share screenshots showing huge amounts of money sent via Mpesa. Of course, the people sharing are in this together.
“When you are very keen, you will find the same names in one task, meaning one person gets it three or ten times. However, they will do one task at a time. Nobody should skip a task,” he added.
As the scam is happening in the main group, someone will be in constant communication with you, sharing YouTube links and sending money. “I received a total of 1000 bob. Yesterday, 400, and today, 600. He or she cleared our chats after realising I wasn’t going to send them any money and blocked me.”
So here is the scam. The client is required to complete all four tasks of the day, and the last task is the merchant task. Here, you send them money. If you send 2000, you get 2600 after 10 minutes. 5000, you get 6500; 10,000, you get 13,000; e.t.c. Sounds good, right?
“I almost got into the ditch. I shared it with my friend, who told me it was a scam. They scammed him for Kes 8,000.
“I have already established it’s a scam. The catch is that if you send them 2000, they’ll send you 2600 to just show you it’s real. You will then send them more money. They block you from responding to your ridiculously stupid behaviour, and they move on to the next catch.”
