Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Job and Recruiting Scams:
Payment Officer Scam
CAPS Solutions Ltd, England & Wales
from "Regional Manager"
Have you received an email from the "Regional Manager" of "CAPS Solutions Ltd" in England & Wales (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "Online Representative Clerk", "Payment Officer", "local agent" or "local representative" in which you "receive payments", deduct your "Processing fee", deposit the checks and then wire most of the money to an overseas "company"?
There may be a real and legitimate company called "CAPS Solutions"; the scammers often use the name of real businesses to make the scam more believable. Of course, the company of this name has NOTHING to do with the scam; anyone can make and send an email that uses another's name.
But of course, the email and the fake offer it represents are an AFF / Money transfer Scam. The scammer will send you counterfeit checks which you are supposed to deposit, take out some percentage (typically, 10%) for your work, and then MoneyGram or Western Union wire the remaining 90%. Notice that although you receive checks, they won't let you forward a check to them, only Western Union or Money Gram. There's a reason for this: Western Union and MoneyGrams are cashed immediately and are untraceable and irretrievable. Bank checks can take 1 or 2 weeks to clear!
Of course, since the check is fake, it will bounce a week or so later after you deposit it. But you have already moneygram'ed the scammers the 90% of the amount, and that is transacted almost instantly. So you now owe the bank for the full amount. You may also face criminal charges for passing counterfeit checks. See this page for a step-by-step explanation of how the scam unfolds.
In the email below, there are some many red flags, we can't imagine any way it could be legitimate. But you can try emailing "Regional Manager" back and asking:
Try cutting and pasting those questions and emailing them back to the person offering the "job", "Regional Manager" in this case and see how he responds. We'll bet it will be with hostility, like:
"Why are you asking me these questions? We are offering you a legitimate job, but you are treating us like we are scammers! If you are not interested we can find someone else; it is YOUR loss!"
Which, of course, is how a scammer caught with questions that expose his scam, will reply!
Do you have a resume posted online? We'd like to hear from you about your experiences recruiting emails that turned out to be scams or misleading - click here to write us.
Notice the passages we have highlighted in the actual scam email below. They illustrate some of the additional clues that it is a scam, such as the email comes from a free email account (such as Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Aim.com, Gmail, cox.net, etc.). Wouldn't you expect a company to have its own website and email address (after all, it only costs about $200/year; every reputable company has its own website these days!) And don't be surprised if the scammers do put the names of real companies, real websites and events in their scams; it doesn't mean anything at all!
Notice that the reply to address is a free gmail account NOT the company domain! Obviously the scammer does not work at CAPS Solutuions!
Date: 12 Mar 2008 00:39:34 +0000
Subject: GET BACK TO ME QUICKLY
From: CAPS Solutions Ltd < prospective-distant-staff@caps.com >
Reply-To: prospectdistancejobresume@gmail.com
Attention:
We are in search for an Online Representative Clerk with attractive take home pay. Salary, $45 per hour for five hours a day, five days a week. No Selling or Marketing, No registration or signup fee. Simply Work from home.
Responsibilities:
*Mailing out checks to customers and staffs *Making out and Receiving payments *Attending contract seminars on the company's behalf. Any other related duties as may be reasonably assigned by your controller.
Skills:
*Computer literate in Microsoft Office
*Experienced in working with money
*Extensive experience in dealing with the public
NB: Compensation and monthly allowance are been allocated to staffs that puts in there best abilities when performing their duties. If interested, please provide us with the following information:
* Your Full Name
* Full Address
* Date of Birth and Nationality
* Marital Status and Occupation
* Telephone, Fax and Email
Thanks as we anticipate your reply to the controller through this email contact:
Best regards
Regional Manager
CAPS Solutions Ltd
Registration Number: 3760128
Registration Date: 27 April 1999
Place of Registration: England & Wales
VAT Number: GB 787 4307 91
There are a variety of sleazy scams that look, at first glance, like legitimate job offers. Before you write back to them, pause a moment and read about the scams below!
Some of the more common job scams are