She thought she found an easy side gig – then they asked to pay her in crypto

It sounded like a simple and well-paying side gig. 

All Ms Jaslin Sim had to do as a “hotel rater” was to make a few clicks on a ratings platform to earn US$30 (S$40) per rating. 

After being retrenched in early 2024, the 31-year-old tech professional spent a year searching for a new job. She went through over a hundred applications and countless rejections. 

Ms Sim, who is single, decided she needed a part-time gig to keep herself and her ageing parents – both in their 60s – afloat while she searched for her next full-time role.

As she was trawling online job site Monster Jobs one July 2024 evening, the “hotel rater” listing caught her eye. 

A quick search on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s (Acra) portal confirmed the company was registered in Singapore, and Ms Sim proceeded to submit her resume.

“The job was easy and paid well, just what I was looking for,” says Ms Sim. She could also do it from the convenience of her home.

Several days later, Ms Sim was contacted on WhatsApp by “Ashlyn” using a local number. “Ashlyn” claimed to be a company representative.  

What followed was a 30-minute flurry of messages. “Ashlyn” walked Ms Sim through the role and sent her step-by-step screenshots of how to use the ratings platform.

“I thought it strange that the interview and onboarding was done so casually over chat (messages),” Ms Sim recalls. 

Still, she followed the instructions. Then the catch: Payment would be in cryptocurrency. To receive it, Ms Sim would have to set up a crypto wallet.

Ms Sim balked. “I wanted cash. I wasn’t comfortable with crypto.” 

Once she said so, “Ashlyn” pelted her with messages over several hours, dismissing her concerns and pushing her to complete her onboarding. 

Ms Sim was alarmed: “If it was such a good job, why was she forcing me to do it?”

She looked up “hotel rating job scam” online. Ms Sim found forum posts by netizens sharing similar experiences, and warning others against being duped.

That’s when she suspected that scammers were likely impersonating a legitimate company to carry out the scam. Ms Sim proceeded to block “Ashlyn” on WhatsApp.

Too good to be true

Job scams is one of the top five scam types by total losses in the first half of 2025, according to the police’s mid-year scam and cybercrime brief. 

Job scams cost victims in Singapore $59 million in total losses.  

Police Superintendent Matthew Choo explains that job scam victims are enticed by the prospect of high financial returns for simple, low-effort tasks. 

The tasks can be conveniently done at home or anywhere on a mobile device, allowing individuals to earn extra income while keeping their full-time jobs, adds Police Superintendent Choo, who is assistant director of the Scam Public Education Office.

The initial tasks often appear to be “simple and straightforward with minimal risk involved”, he says. As a result, victims may overlook red flags such as having to pay upfront to secure a job or having to use their own money, bank accounts or Singpass credentials to complete tasks as part of the job. 

Victims may also receive small initial payments in return for their efforts, which further assures them that the job is legit, says Police Superintendent Choo.

When do victims realise they have been scammed? “Victims fail to receive the promised returns, (and) often, the scammers (become) uncontactable,” says Police Superintendent Choo. 

He adds that scammers use cryptocurrency likely due to its “limited traceability”. Cryptocurrency transactions are also irreversible. This makes asset recovery “virtually impossible”, explains Police Superintendent Choo.

Ms Sim, who was unaware of such scam tactics, believes she would have fallen prey if not for her reluctance to use cryptocurrency.

She has since secured a full-time role at a government agency. Offering a stark warning to others, Ms Sim says: “If the effort-to-reward ratio looks off, something is wrong. There’s really no such thing as easy money.”

This is part of a series titled “

Act against scams