Online scam targets newcomers, says Winnipeg man who lost nearly $5K

A recent Red River College grad, originally from Hong Kong, is out nearly $5,000 after falling victim to an elaborate online job scam.

"I'm emotionally hurt because when I know people here are so friendly, and then [someone] uses your trust to scam you, that hurt me so much," said Bart Cheng.

Cheng recently finished the business administration program at the college and thought he was accepting an administrative assistant's job with a construction company that was setting up shop in Winnipeg.

Cheng says he found the job on the Workopolis job posting site in May. The ad was for a position at an unnamed company, which he contacted through email. A phone interview followed shortly after.

The man who contacted him said he was with a company called Kiwi Construction based in Halifax.

Cheng was later sent a job offer letter, which he accepted, and given some initial job tasks to help with the setup of the new offices that would be located in downtown Winnipeg.

He was asked to research hotel costs for an upcoming business trip as well as deposit a cheque from what he was told was a local affiliate, and was given the name of a Winnipeg company.

Cheng says he researched that company and found they were a legitimate business in Winnipeg. He also called Kiwi Construction after finding their number in an online posting.

Everything seemed normal, so he went ahead and deposited the cheque. After the cheque was deposited in his personal account, Cheng was instructed to wire the money to another company in South Africa that would be sending him office supplies and a laptop computer.

Cheng was told he would meet with someone from a property agency downtown on June 4, where he would be given more information about the company's new location. When Cheng went for the meeting no one showed up.

Cheng was suspicious and went back to the same address the following day.

"And I see another victim of the scam. We started to talk and we found that both of us received the same emails and were in the same situation. So then I already know it's a scam," said Cheng.

The other person was also sent the same cheque for $4860.

The two went to police immediately. Cheng tried to stop the money transfer but it was too late. The cheque bounced and Cheng is now out the money. The phone numbers he used to contact the company are no longer in service.

Cheng says he fell for the scam because they used legitimate businesses to make it appear as though the job was real. He also feels that the scam targets newcomers to Canada who are eager to find work and  aren't familiar with Canadian business practices.

"Somehow we are so desperate and so eager to find a job...I wanted to believe that this was true rather than a scam," he said.

The Winnipeg company whose name and logo was used on the fake cheques, says they are aware of the scam and that they have had around four to five people in Winnipeg come to them with concerns, as well as someone from Calgary.

The company's CFO, says it has no affiliation with Kiwi Construction or any job posting being advertised as such. He said the company has reached out to both RCMP and WPS.

The Winnipeg Police say they are investigating this incident but say that people should always be skeptical when it comes to exchanging information online, especially when that exchange involves the transfer of money.

"Whether we are talking about a cheque or any type of e-transfer of money and then we're asked to process that money further by forwarding it through say, a Western Union, or any other type of money transfer [service], that should be our first red flag," said Constable Jason Michalychen.

Cheng wants others to be more cautious when trusting people online. He says that jobs posted by unnamed companies should not be trusted.

"The job seeker cannot do some research before he sends personal information," he said.

While Cheng says he thought he did his research, police say scammers are getting better at disguising themselves.

"We have to realize that individuals involved in fraud are always trying to one-up. They are always trying to stay ahead of members of the public, and certainly [ahead of] the messaging that police and other members of law enforcement are putting out there."