I started working for AcademicPU 2 weeks ago on Friday July 10. My employer is Sandra Keller, and I kept in contact with her through Telegram. At first, it was pretty normal. I was told to make a power point presentation on why Ontario is worth visiting. 4 days go by, and after I submit my first assignment, I am told that I will be transferred $1950 to my account and that I need to go to a location to transfer $1900 of that money to someone else (I got to keep the $50 as gas expense). I was already given the money, so I wasn’t too suspicious at the time. I was given directions and drove out to this random plaza and was told to call Sandra when I got there. When I called her, she told me to go into this shwarma place. When I did, there was a Bitcoin ATM machine beside me. She told me to take that $1900 that was transferred to me and insert that cash into the machine, to convert it to bitcoin. It wasn’t my money to begin with, so I did so after some questioning and hesitation. I asked why I had to do it and why it had to be bitcoin, and she said that they are paying off a hotel for European students who are staying there, and their banking system was down at the time. After completing the transaction. I made my way back home. As im driving back, I get a call from her and she asks me if I can do it one more time, and thats when I told her that I cannot do that because I feel uncomfortable doing so. I told her that it is my right as a Canadian employee to deny any task that makes me feel uncomfortable, and she agreed and backed off. The next few days go by and I am working on my next assignment, and I messaged her(out of curiosity) what the name of that hotel was that the European students were staying at. She has not responded to me since (been a few days at this point), even though I see her online on telegram. She wont even pick up her phone. It seems that she is cutting off her communication with me. I doubt I will get paid any money for the work that I put in. The AcademicPU website is still under maintenance, but at least it shows the phone number (Sandra normally picks up when you call that number).
This is definitely a scam. I have the same experience. She’s using telegram for communication. Don’t give your personal information.
Don’t fall for this. Please report this fake website https://academicpu.ca/ to Canadian Fraud Center – https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
I have been working for a week, now they ask my banking info supposedly to send money to pay a hotel for students. When I ask why they don’t pay the hotel directly online they stated the hotel machine is not working. Till then supposedly I was reporting to a so call Sandra Keller on telegram. Now she disappeared!
This same thing happened to me. I asked for a website from them and they told me it was being worked on and would be up in a week. It’s been far more than a week and no website or information on google for this company.
Definitely a scam if you ask me.
Type of a scam Employment
I received a job offer from AcademicPU saying that they had found my resume online. They offered me a job even though I did not have any experience. The description of the role was also very vague.
I also did some background research on the company and found nothing.
So, I think this is completely a scam.
When I replied to ask more information about the role and the company, they sent me some contracts to fill that I did not do because they asked for personal information such as my driver’s license.