Man arrested for Ponzi-like job scam involving watching movie trailers for money

SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in Ponzi-like job scams that concerned the incomes of fee by viewing film trailers, the police mentioned on Wednesday (Apr 6).

The police had been knowledgeable on Mar 30 of an rising job rip-off platform referred to as “Moviitech”, the place job seekers obtained unsolicited messages on Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or got here throughout on-line commercials selling profitable and simple money-making alternatives, mentioned the police in a information launch.

The job rip-off portal was presupposed to be a web based platform the place customers could be paid to observe film trailers, with job seekers in a position to enhance their earnings by recruiting extra folks to take part on the platform.

Job seekers could be required to register a free account and buy a membership plan, starting from S$65 to S$450, earlier than they might begin incomes commissions by watching film trailers. The transactions could be carried out within the type of financial institution transfers, police mentioned.

Initially, the job seekers could be satisfied that it was a official job as they might obtain commissions and revenue through the early phases of their memberships. However, they might later realise they had been scammed when they didn’t obtain additional commissions or had been unable to make withdrawals from their member accounts.

During an island-wide operation from Apr 1 to Apr 5, the Commercial Affairs Department arrested the suspect and recognized three different males, aged between 18 and 41, who’re at the moment helping investigations for his or her suspected involvement within the scams.

Preliminary investigations point out that the bogus firm was operating Ponzi-like schemes utilizing multi-level advertising and marketing methods, police mentioned. The 4 males are believed to have facilitated the schemes by promoting and recruiting potential job seekers as members, in addition to offering financial institution accounts to facilitate the switch of illicit funds. Further investigations are ongoing.

Those discovered responsible of by false illustration of place not related with contracts for items and companies beneath Section 424A of the Penal Code 1871 could also be jailed for as much as 20 years, fined, or each. The offence of aiding the fee of fraud carries a jail time period of as much as 10 years and a positive.

Police cautioned job seekers to be cautious of on-line job commercials that promise the comfort of working from house and being paid a excessive wage for comparatively easy job obligations.

“Legitimate businesses will not require job seekers to make upfront payments to secure job offers and earn commissions. These acts are common ruses used by scammers to lure individuals into participating in their schemes or scams,” police mentioned.

To keep away from changing into concerned in cash laundering actions, members of the general public ought to all the time reject requests to make use of their private financial institution or cryptocurrency accounts to obtain and switch cash for others, police added.

Members of the general public are additionally suggested to undertake the next precautionary measures:

• Be cautious of the usage of international numbers by individuals claiming to be hiring for a Singapore workplace;
• Avoid making upfront funds to financial institution accounts belonging to unknown people;
• Always confirm the authenticity of the calls or callers’ intent with official web sites or sources. You could achieve this by contacting the businesses that declare to be hiring; and
• Report and block the WhatsApp quantity through the in-platform reporting operate.

Anyone with info on such scams could name the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit info on-line at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All info will probably be stored strictly confidential.