A woman has issued a warning after losing close to £8K (AU$15K) in an online job scam which claimed she could make money by reviewing products. <br /><br />Jessica Adelman, 28, was looking for a remote job in August last year after she faced financial troubles with her own business. <br /><br />Searching online, she found a company advertising for a job, which consisted of reviewing products for online retailers to earn commissions.<br /><br />According to Jessica, the company appeared legitimate - it had a professional-looking website and paid for Google ads. <br /><br />So she decided to apply. <br /><br />Jessica, from Queensland, Australia, said: "It was the first job that came up when I searched for online jobs and it was a sponsored ad on Google.''<br /><br />Once she applied, she was immediately contacted by the company and was told her application had been successful. <br /><br />When she started reviewing products - using a website set up by the scammers - she was asked to make a payment before she could withdraw her commission.<br /><br />At first Jessica was dubious but made the payment anyway - £36 (AU$70) - and to her surprise she received £113 (AU$220) for the reviews.<br /> <br />Jessica said: "I know people who get for reviews before so I didn't think it was that bad.<br /><br />"I was added to a WhatsApp group full of people having normal conversations - talking about the tasks and things."<br /><br />In total, Jessica had made £150 (AU$300) for her reviews in just 20 minutes, so she wasn't alarmed by the fact that she was asked to make payments. <br /><br />She said: "My friends have been paid to leave reviews before and it was for shoes, kitchenware and other objects.<br /><br />"I can understand why a big company would pay for a service like this and maybe it seems dodgy because they want to keep it secret."<br /><br />At the time, Jessica was going through some financial difficulties with her own jewelry business Duverah and wanted to make more money.<br /><br />She decided to review more expensive products that would pay up to £1040 (AU$2000) but required larger payments.<br /><br />She was asked to pay £3,8K (AU$ 7.5k) to review those products.<br /><br />Jessica said: "All the products were very high-end from brands like Bvlgari or Tiffany's.<br /><br />"What was weird was that the guy [the scammer] told me to wait because I was just starting. He pushed me not to do it. <br /><br />"I thought if this was a scam there would definitely not be so much resistance."<br /><br />She decided to go ahead and made two payments of £3,8K (AU$ 7.5k) to review more products. <br /><br />But when she got to the last product and was asked to pay another £3,8K (AU$7.5k), she became anxious.<br /><br />Jessica said: "When I got to the last product a thing came up asking for another seven grand.<br /><br />"I said: 'This isn't going to happen.'"<br /><br />She immediately stopped and reported the website to Australia's National Anti-Scam Centre (ACCC).<br /><br />The scammer she was in contact with began to message and call her repeatedly and continued for several weeks in an attempted to draw her back in. <br /><br />She said: "He started calling me repeatedly to ask if I was going to do more work. He even asked if I wanted him to lend me money."<br /><br />Thankfully, Jessica had a significant amount of savings but the scam held her business back for six months. <br /><br />She said: "I wasn't going to starve but it did put a halt on the growth of my business.<br /><br />"The embarrassment was just overwhelming. <br /><br />"I'm pretty strong so I don't think there would be a long-term effect but initially it was a problem for me.<br /><br />"I didn't even want to make this video because it's super embarrassing, but I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
