Hong Kong students struggle to spot real jobs among bogus ones amid rise in scams
- University students say they are getting too many messages on social media offering fast cash jobs with no prior experience or higher education needed
Third-year university student Samra Zulfaqar kept getting messages on social media from “recruiters” claiming she could make HK$700 (US$90) an hour by tutoring at a Hong Kong primary school.
Some of the messages promised high salaries, work from home and required no experience or higher education – which all sounded too good to be true for the exchange student from New Zealand’s University of Auckland.
“Sometimes I receive these messages three times a month or even three times a week,” the 20-year-old said. “I received so many of them that I eventually blocked all of these users. Now I don’t receive such scam messages any more.”
The number of incidents also represented a 60 per cent increase from the 217 cases logged in April.
Lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong warned students to be cautious when looking at job listings that promised high salaries but required no experience.