An internet scam cost a local man thousands of dollars and almost cost him his job.The victim, who asked not to be named, said he was a phone call away from quitting to take his dream job a job he learned at the last moment did not exist.“Nothing was legitimate,” he said. “I think everybody has a good heart at the end of the day, but these people are ruthless. Everything they said was a lie.”He said the incident began with a message on popular social networking site Facebook about a job opportunity in Malaysia.While the victim was already employed at the time, he said he was frustrated by his job and a new career seemed like a way to get ahead.“I wasn't happy with my current employment, so I was interested,” he said. “I liked their offer, so I asked for a contract.“Once I did that, things were a bit sketchy. There were some typos, some unnecessarily bolded words. It didn't feel proper, but they were from Malaysia. Being that I'm not from there, I didn't know if this is how things are there.“My hope and desire made me blind to these things. I wanted it to be true so bad I put all logic to the side.”As talks continued, the scammers asked for the victim to send them money via Western Union, claiming they needed the money so they could make his travel arraignments.He wired the money, but no plane tickets ever arrived. Instead, the scammers said there had been a problem and asked for more money.“He kept telling me everything was all right, and when I get there, they were going to reimburse me as soon as I landed,” the victim said.After sending away thousands of dollars, the victim said he finally realised the entire job offer was a scam when he was sent a picture ID, supposedly to be used in Malaysia, that was clearly a fake.“Once that happened, I immediately stopped contact,” he said. “I was blown away that I got involved. I consider myself a realist in a lot of ways. Some of the things were obvious, but it's hard times for a lot of people.”He said he considered himself fortunate to learn about the scam before losing even more money, and before giving up his existing job.“I almost did quit,” he said. “It could have actually happened. I was one phone call away, but thank God I didn't.”He said he hoped his experience will help to keep others from falling into the same trap.“Facebook is a blessing and a curse. We have to be mindful of how much information people can get,” he said. “They knew what I liked, what field I was in, what my interests were and based on that, they can offer you what you want.”A spokesman for the Bermuda Police Service Financial Crime Unit said the public should be on the watch for internet scams.Other scams have become increasingly common on the Island, with scammers targeting online classified sites such as E-Moo, offering to buy items and requesting banking information.“Be suspicious of unsolicited e-mails from free e-mail accounts, especially those which contain grammatical errors and contain poor spelling,” the spokesman said.He also advised the public not to give away personal information, or allow your personal bank account to be used as a vehicle to accept and forward funds into other accounts.“This is a common feature among many ‘work from home' schemes,” he said. “But respondents may unwittingly be committing money laundering offences.”