Job and Recruiting Scams:
Payment Officer Scam
FINANCE INVESTMENT CO LTD, ??? No address given
Mr. Scott Ono
Have you received an email from Mr. Scott Ono of "FINANCE INVESTMENT CO LTD" in ??? No address given (or ANYWHERE else) offering you
a job as a "Financial Manager", "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"?
It is an AFF / Money transfer Scam.
They'll 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 "Mr. Scott Ono"
back and asking:
- What is your company's physical address and phone number?
- Where is your company registered / license and what is the
business license number?
- Does your company have a web site? If so, what is the url?
- What is the business email address for the company? (the email address
you supplied for reply is a
free, non-business email account - gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc., not a
commercial email account)
- What is the value to the company of people like me receiving
payments (checks, wires, etc.), cashing them and forwarding the money?
- Why aren’t the payment deposited directly into your own banking
account, as any major bank can receive checks and wires drawn on any legitimate bank
anywhere in the world, in any currency?
Try cutting and pasting those questions and emailing
them back to the person offering the "job", "Mr. Scott Ono" 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!
from: FINANCE INVESTMENT CO LTD <guvh678@gmail.com>
reply-to"Mr. Scott Ono" <mr.scottono@gmail.com>,
date: Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 4:46 AM
subject: Re: call support applicant
Dear Jaclyn,
Sorry that so long did not answer.
I looked through your resume and think that it matches
position completely. Unfortunately phone call support position isn't available
anymore, but we can suggest you well compensated part time job. This part time
job can be combined with any full time job.
New Vacancy in our Company: "Financial Manager"
1. You accept cheques (checks) from our clients.
- You accept cheques (checks) on your home mail box and
cash them.
Every month you will get $1800 salary + 3 commissions.
You will get commissions immediately after every cashing.
It takes 4-6 days to receive a cheque.
2. You accept Wire/ACH Transfers ON your bank checking
account.
Every month you will get $2400 salary + 3 commissions.
You will get commissions immediately after cashing.
It takes 1-4 days to recieve a Wire/ACH Transfer.
You may have additional questions that will help you to
make a choice.
You should inform us about the choice during 24 hours.
FINANCE INVESTMENT CO LTD
mr.scottono@gmail.com
Mr. Scott Ono
Other Jobs Scams
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
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