‘What am I going to do?’ Two Ontarians lose more than $80K to separate online job scams

Greg Burgos says he was directed to open a TikTok Shop to buy and sell items, but later learned he couldn’t withdraw the funds he supposedly earned.

Two Ontarians lost more than $80,000 combined to fraudulent jobs they found through social media.

“I felt sad. I thought, ‘What am I going to do now?’” said Greg Burgos, of Toronto, who recently lost $11,000 to a job scam.

Last year, Burgos said he lost his job. Soon after, he had a health condition that put him in the hospital and left him with medical bills.

He needed a job, and Burgos said he saw a social media ad promising work.

“It said, ‘Is anyone interested in a part-time job making a little extra money?’ and I said yes,” said Burgos.

From there, Burgos said he was directed to open up a TikTok shop, where he would buy and sell items. He adds that he was told to pay for the goods in advance and would later receive a commission.

He was skeptical at first, but Burgos said his online account appeared to be growing and his digital wallet seemed to contain thousands of dollars.

“Sooner or later, I’m going to be able to withdraw my money and a little bit of extra money to get me through all this,” said Burgos. “I thought.”

When he couldn’t withdraw his money, Burgos said he realized he had been scammed.

“I just want my money back. This is money I’ve been saving, and this is money that I need,” said Burgos.

Oshawa resident Maria, who CTV News Toronto agreed to identify by first name, said she was also recently caught up in a job scam.

Maria said she sent out her resume to several companies, so when someone on social media reached out to her with a job reviewing products online, she decided to take it.

For Maria, she said she was told to put down some of her own money up front in order to earn a commission.

“Anytime you rated the products, what happened was you hit a certain number, and then you would get the commission. But, every time you hit that number, it would extend and they would want more money,” said Maria.

After months of depositing her own money, Maria said she couldn’t withdraw what she thought she earned, learning she was scammed out of $70,000.

“It’s devastating. I feel awful because that’s a lot of money,” she said.

When it comes to online work, cybersecurity expert Claudiu Popa advises against going for unusual or unexpected job offers that come through social media.

“Never respond to someone you don’t know, who are complete strangers, just because they make an appeal to authority and pretend to be someone they’re not,” said Popa.

To avoid job scams, Popa says to be concerned if there is no in-person interview required and if you’re offered high pay for easy work. Another major red flag is if you’re asked to send money in order to earn money.

Popa advises that you should research the company carefully and protect your personal information.

“We are aware that scammers have been using the TikTok or TikTok Shop name to entice victims. This typically involves scammers directing individuals to download a ‘beta’ version of TikTok or TikTok Shop,” the social media platform said in an online statement.

“These messages are scams. TikTok and its partners do not operate in this manner.”

Burgos said he wanted to share his story to warn others and prevent this from happening again.

“I just want to make sure no one else has to feel what I’m feeling and lose their hard-earned money,” said Burgos.

TikTok says to “think twice” before downloading applications from unofficial websites.