DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Before realizing that she had been scammed, 20-year-old Maryam al-Alewi, a resident of the Syrian government-held city of Abu Kamal, in the east Deir ez-Zor countryside, thought that she had found an online, work-from-home job.
While surfing Facebook groups, she found a post requesting a girl for an online marketing job.
The young girl did not hesitate to message the post’s creator, which was limited to promoting clothes, cosmetics, and some electronic machines, with a fixed monthly salary of 100,000 Syrian pounds (SYP).
Al-Alewi stated that the idea of online marketing was an opportunity for her to spend time and make a financial income.
By the end of the month, and after a month of posting on groups and paying internet bills, she was shocked to find herself blocked on WhatsApp messenger.
She realized that she was working for a marketer who tried to ease her workload by deceiving girls into promoting products that she was marketing.
Meanwhile, as a result of the variant websites that require girls to work as marketers for products on social media websites in general and on Facebook in specific, a number of girls, who were searching for jobs, from Deir ez-Zor were motivated to contact those websites without knowing about the fraud issue.
No fees
For fear of being embarrassed by their families and being held accountable for contacting strangers via the internet, or being deprived of their cell phones, many girls keep their experience with scams and fraud a secret.
Before practicing online marketing and being subjected to fraud, al-Alewi intended to learn cosmetology and open a salon, but her father and two brothers refused the idea under the pretext that it is shameful for a girl to work when she has brothers.
Government-held areas in the Deir ez-Zor countryside are predominantly tribal areas, and some families, according to customs and traditions, prevent girls from working in shops run by men or working in government departments. Sometimes, this extremism may reach the point of depriving girls of education.
In order to help her in having an online marketing job, Yara al-Ba’aj contacted a girl marketing products on a Facebook group for Deir ez-Zor residents.
The owner of the account, who was named “Iter al-Narjis” (Narcissus perfume), was a marketer from the Syrian capital Damascus, and worked for trading centers there. “She secures customers from different cities to promote her goods and sells them via shipping in exchange for a monthly income,” al-Ba’aj said.
The promoter offered the work to al-Ba’aj in exchange for a monthly 50,000 SYP, which would be transferred by the end of each month through remittances companies in Deir ez-Zor. Convinced by this, al-Ba’aj began her work.
However, at the end of the month, the marketer stopped sending pictures to be promoted on groups, and told al-Ba’aj that the company had declared bankruptcy, which made it difficult to send monthly fees.
As result of the young girl insistence, a few days later, the promoter blocked her.
No pursuit
Ahmad al-Zaher (a pseudonym), a member of the government criminal security department, stated that if reports regarding deception and electronic fraud are filed, they only present the name of those accused of embezzling money to the judiciary on charges of theft and fraud.
However, if a report was filed without proof of remittances, “we cannot do anything, because in this case we deal with people with pseudonyms and fictitious names, and the work may be limited to trying to lure them in in order to arrest them,” he added.
Nisrin al-Ahmed (a pseudonym), a young girl from Deir ez-Zor, contacted a person who pretended to be Director of the Marketing Department in a private company in Hama in order to work in online marketing after she saw his posts.
Additionally, he told her that he would prepare a work contract between her and the company for six months.
Al-Ahmed stated that the young man asked her to send an annual fee and insurance of 60,000 SYP that she would carry out the promotion processes to the fullest, and if she did not commit to work, the amount would be deducted, and that she had the right to claim her money at the end of the contract.
The young girl sent the amount after she borrowed it from a friend.
48 hours later, and under the pretext of preparing official papers and registering them in the company, he blocked her on all websites and apps, leaving her down 60,000 SYP and full of regret.