As an international university student, Rafe* was juggling his studies with the pressure of trying to find part-time work to support himself financially.
Despite filling in countless applications, he felt like he was hitting a brick wall, so when a promising contact appeared through a large WhatsApp group for international students at his university, he felt a glimmer of hope.
The person he was speaking to presented themselves as a recruiter, and on the surface of it, things looked legitimate as they used professional language and even had a website.
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“I was applying for numerous part-time gigs at the time, including in hospitality and retail, but was unable to convert any,” he said. “That made me a bit desperate, so I kept pursuing it. At first glance, there weren’t many red flags, since they had a website as well.”
