An Auckland mother is $159,000 in the red and faces difficult conversations with her friends, after borrowing money to spend on a scam and claiming the cash was for a house purchase.

Now the woman and her husband are working overtime to pay people back, she鈥檚 since skipped a school fee for one child and cancelled another鈥檚 basketball registration to save money.

It鈥檚 all been caused by an elaborate hotel-review scam, the mother is the second victim to approach the聽贬别谤补濒诲听to admit they鈥檇 fallen for the hoax.

Last month, the聽贬别谤补濒诲听聽who鈥檇 lost $42,000 through the scam - putting his parents and landlord in debt.

The student worked three jobs, every weekend in January in a bid to earn back his losses and repay those he鈥檇 lent from.

The mother is the second victim to approach the Herald to admit they鈥檇 fallen for the hoax. Photo / 123rf

Reading about his predicament, an Auckland woman - working as a nurse in a local hospital - realised she鈥檇 fallen for the exact same scam and was herself knee-deep in loans.

For the woman, whom the聽贬别谤补濒诲听will name Donna*, it began in December when she received an advertisement for an online review job through Meta (formerly Facebook).

Keen on a work-from-home gig with the recent birth of her youngest child, Donna took up the opportunity.

The scam was posing as an actual company - a well-known software brand - in Australia.

In a similar fashion to the Christchurch student, Donna was given training over the phone on how to carry out the reviews and, during the process, would be required to pay bookings.

The bookings were sold to Donna as investments. The more she invested into bookings, the more she would earn in bonuses on top of the amount she鈥檇 pay.

As the bookings came thick and fast, initially starting at $100 but slowly increasing in cost, Donna was eventually paying up to $30,000 of her own money for each booking.

At one stage, she withdrew $2000 from her bonuses account - which convinced her the scam was legitimate.

However, the amount Donna was owed in bonuses at that point was $8400. When she tried to withdraw the rest, she was told that wasn鈥檛 possible as she was 鈥渙nly at the junior level鈥�.

The mother was given training over the phone on how to carry out the reviews and, during the process, would be required to pay bookings. Photo / Supplied

To reach the 鈥渟enior level鈥�, she would have to complete another 20 reviews.

Donna began to realise the extent to which her finances would be stretched, emptying her fortnightly salary before then maxing out four credit cards.

Her husband鈥檚 earnings were next to be invested, taken from their joint account with his permission.

The booking costs continued to climb, there was no perceived light at the end of her dark financial tunnel as Donna wasn鈥檛 close to completing all her necessary reviews to withdraw her invested money.

So, the mother of multiple children turned to family and friends for aid.

Her brother and three close friends were told the money would be going towards her online job, they trusted she would pay back what they gave her.

Seven other friends, however, were told by the woman that their money was going towards a new house that Donna told them she planning to purchase.

In total, the eleven unwitting investors lent Donna a sum of more than $115,000.

And even still, she鈥檚 yet to complete her required number of reviews as booking costs continue to come - with her fake company demanding another $28,500 from her to continue.

The mother admitted the family has been financially burdened by the scam mistake. Photo / Supplied

The financial picture of their family home is getting desperate. Her eldest attends a private school, the mother skipped the payment of her most recent school fees.

鈥淚 told them we鈥檙e suffering financial hardships,鈥� said Donna.

鈥淭o my friends, I said this was our situation and they said 鈥榦kay, take your time and there鈥檚 no rush鈥�. So we鈥檙e working hard to pay them back.鈥�

Donna said despite most understanding her predicament, a few of her friends have shown they鈥檙e unhappy with not being paid back yet.

One of her kids plays basketball for a local club, however, she鈥檚 had to pull the plug on their sport in order to save further money to pay off their debts.

鈥淚鈥檓 just so burdened now, I don鈥檛 know what to do. The whole family has suffered,鈥� she said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been lots of stress. We were never going to make millions from this online job, but thinking back - I could have paid off all my credit cards鈥� [pre-existing fees] if I hadn鈥檛 taken this job.鈥�

She wants to share her story in order to prevent others from falling into the same scam that she鈥檇 been pulled into.

鈥淩esearch your jobs when people offer them to you, research and don鈥檛 just jump in,鈥� said Donna.

鈥淎nd never borrow money for these kinds of jobs. We put ourselves into this.鈥�