Woman Exposes Internship Scam After Being Hired As 'Influencer Manager'

In the shared Instagram video, Bhomi revealed that, despite signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the firm, she never received the promised stipend of Rs 15,000 for a month of remote work

An Instagram user has recounted her experience of being scammed by a fraudulent company she discovered through Internshala, a platform designed to help college students find internships. Bhomi accepted an internship as an influencer manager, responsible for overseeing social media influencers promoting an upcoming event organised by the company. However, the job quickly turned into a troubling situation.

In the shared Instagram video, Bhomi revealed that, despite signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the company, she never received the promised stipend of Rs 15,000 for a month of remote work. She described how her initial excitement diminished when she discovered that the so-called 'influencers' were actually individuals with private Instagram accounts and only a few hundred followers.

Her concerns grew when the promised stipend did not align with the amount of work required. The situation worsened when a manager, who had also been hired through the same platform, revealed that the company was requesting a registration fee—a common indicator of a scam, which made Bhomi question whether any event was actually taking place at all.

“The manager mentioned in the video was also hired as an intern and was confused and kept in the dark just like me,” she wrote.

However, Bhoomi was determined to get to the bottom of the situation. She investigated the company’s address and GST number, but they did not exist. When she confronted the company owner, her inquiries were met with silence, and she was eventually blocked.

In her video caption, Bhomi clarified that Internshala was not to blame, noting, “Internshala is in no way responsible, they tried to help me alot when the owner was unresponsive.” She also mentioned that the company has been blacklisted from Internshala, preventing them from posting any further opportunities on the platform.

Bhomi's experience struck a chord with other young job seekers facing challenges in the online job market. One Instagram user wrote, “So we've all got scammed for at least once in our life???”