A mother desperate for work to pay for her ailing husband’s care was tricked into handing over her life savings in a very elaborate employment scam.
Nikki, 53, who lives in Brisbane, was already in deep financial trouble before a man named ‘Alvis’ targeted her on LinkedIn, offered her online marketing work and bilked her out of $15,000.
The ‘hard-working’ mother also cares for her husband, 62, who is in the later stages of dementia and has multiple other medical conditions. Nikki had to work from home to be with him and desperately needed money to pay his medical bills.
She listed herself as looking for work on LinkedIn and was contacted by Alvis, who offered her small projects she could do from home.
To gain her trust, Alvis shared stolen images in online chats, including photos of a woman and child he claimed were his wife and children.
Nikki (pictured) was already in dire financial trouble before a man named ‘Alvis’ targeted her via LinkedIn with an offer of online marketing work before bilking her out of $15,000
Alvis told Nikki that she had to deposit money into a bank account to receive her online projects and that she would be paid well later
He also ‘co-opted’ the company name and logo of a real digital marketing agency, US-based Dune 7, to appear legitimate.
But the real Dune 7 was not connected to Alvis and Nikki did no work for that company. Dune 7 is attempting to take legal action against the scammer.
Nikki worked for the scammer, to whom she paid $15,000 to receive tasks.
He later began courting her romantically before asking for another $10,000 to resolve “issues” that were holding up the previous payment.
Nikki refused to pay it and Alvis responded by flying into a rage. She was forced to block him online.
Her sister Elizabeth said that when Nikki realized she had forked out thousands of dollars to do work she would never get paid for, she “crumbled.”
“As you can imagine, in addition to the devastating financial implications, she is incredibly humiliated to have fallen for this scam,” Elizabeth wrote on an online fundraising page.
Unable to pay her own rent, Nikki had to borrow money from her elderly mother to avoid being evicted.
‘She was a prime target for these people… who were desperate for work. A financial situation that was deteriorating weekly… with no way out in sight,” Elizabeth explained.
Alvis began “training” Nikki online, then paid her $263 for one job.
But he then told her that for many higher-paying tasks, called “accelerated travel,” she had to pay a fee to get the work.
Alvis assured her that once she paid to receive the job, she would earn huge commissions in return, so she began transferring money to a work account he had set up for her.
“After completing the 38 trips you can withdraw the charged money along with your commissions,” he told her in a chat message.
“So you have to spend money to make money?” she replied.
All of Nikki’s communication with Alvis took place in instant chat messages.
The tasks to complete started coming in so quickly that she had to make multiple deposits to keep up. But she received no payment for the completed work.
Thinking there were delays in processing payments, Nikki continued to make deposits and emptied her bank account to keep up with the new jobs.
She then took out a $6,000 bank loan, believing much more would come out of it because of the promised high commissions.
By the time she deposited more money to receive new duties, she was $15,000 short and the reality of the heartbreaking situation began to dawn.
Her sister Elizabeth said that when Nikki realized she had forked out thousands of money to do work for a con artist who would never pay her, she “crumbled.”
Nikki, who did not want to give her last name for fear of retaliation from the scammers, eventually confessed to her sister Elizabeth about her losses.
When Elizabeth searched online and discovered the scam had happened to others, her sister was devastated.
‘I sat with Nikki as she detailed the events of the past few weeks and I saw her face crumble as, as she told me out loud, she realized that what she had been told by the ’employer’ was simply not feasible. ..or really.’
“I showed her an article in the newspaper about a similar scam and when she read it and recognized the similarities between her experiences, the bottom fell out of her world as she realized she had indeed been scammed.”
Elizabeth directed one GoFundMe to try to help Nikki recoup some of her losses.
Nikki “worked hard for everything she had and never asked for anything in return,” Elizabeth said.
“Anyone who knows Nikki has seen that she would give the shirt off her back if you needed it.
‘She feels absolutely lost and is struggling both emotionally and financially.
“All the money raised will first go towards paying our mother back, then towards paying back the loan and then towards setting aside some money to support her husband.”
Daily Mail Australia approached LinkedIn and Dune 7 for comment.