Scammers lurk wherever money’s involved, even in the job market for those looking for employment. And while it’s hard to imagine, one California woman fell for one of the most obvious scams in the book when an impersonator pretending to work for Facebook told her to give them her entire life savings, a total of $176,000. The 60-year-old had just completed a contract working for a software company and was searching for a new employer when Meta hired her, or someone she thought was working for Facebook.
According to ABC7 News, the woman was told by her “training mentor” during the onboarding process to wire transfer her $176,000 into a crypto account, a huge red flag. Yet, the hopeful employee overlooked the handwriting on the wall and transferred her savings away, never to be seen again. The remote job’s hook was that she would be spending only a few hours a day putting up Facebook ads to train AI. Since she thought everything looked legitimate to her, the senior woman went with it.
“It’s terrifying… because I had a good job for most of my career… and one stupid mistake and it’s gone…” the victim told ABC7 News. $176,000, even in California, is a huge amount of money to have in savings, especially in this economy. To have it all swiped away over applying for a job is tragic, but many online commenters are feeling a bit doubtful of the software worker’s story. After all, who would ever transfer or pay any sort of money while being onboarded for a new job?
“People do stupid things when they’re desperate and jobless. The job market is brutal and it’s easy to put your guard down,” says one Redditor. Multiple other users chimed in, sharing their own stories of how they, too, were almost scammed when they were desperately looking for work. “That’s true, but it’s surprising that someone with $176,000 in savings would be that desperate,” argues one individual. “To lose this much is just 100% their fault,” agrees another.
Hopefully, none of the woman’s family was affected by this massive financial loss, as that would make everything even worse than it already is.
