Ontario woman seeking part-time work 'living in a nightmare' after losing $395,000 to job scam

An Ontario woman looking for a part-time job is devastated after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to an employment scam.

An Ontario woman looking for a part-time job is devastated after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to an employment scam.

"It's very difficult right now, and I feel like I'm living a nightmare," said a Toronto woman, who asked CTV News Toronto to refer to her as Imran.

Imran said she was looking to make some extra money and found a part-time job on social media that claimed she could make up to $400 an hour.

The supposed job entailed working with software and optimizing apps, but Imran said she was told to put down some of her money first to prove she was a real person, not a bot.

Initially, she said she paid $700 toward the company's platform and watched the amount grow to about $1,700. Imran said she could withdraw some of the money, so she thought it was a legitimate company.

But, Imran said it became almost impossible to withdraw funds from the platform over time.

"To get the money out, you need to put in more to finish the set of applications. When I would finish, I found out they were stalling the withdrawals," said Imran.