Job and Recruiting Scams:
Payment Officer Scam
"Compliments of the day."
Philip Walton Fine Furnishers Ltd, United Kingdom
Philip Walton
Have you received an email from Philip Walton of "Philip Walton Fine Furnishers Ltd" in United Kingdom (or ANYWHERE else) offering you
a job as a "Receive payment from Clients", "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 "Philip Walton"
back and asking:
- What is your company's physical address and phone number?
- Where is your company registered / licensed 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", "Philip Walton" 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.
Any highlighted
passages in the actual scam email below are to draw your attention to clues (the
highlighting itself was not present in the original email).
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!
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 08:09:57 -0800
From:
solution559a@netscape.com
To:
solution559a@netscape.com
Subject: SHOW INTEREST
Hello,
Compliments of the day. I am here to bring to your
notice a Job Offer which I know will be of great interest to you. My name is Mr.
Philip Walton I am the Owner/CEO Managing Director of Philip Walton Fine
Furnishers Ltd. We offer one of the widest selections of quality natural and
soft furnishing,Oriental rugs, and fitted carpets in today’s market. And, when
you buy a Philip Walton products, you can feel reassured that you are buying a
product from a company with an outstanding reputation for quality, design and
price.And I it has really expanded that I sell overseas now.
We are searching for an actively involved in or is
looking for an online business opportunity or looking for a part time job to
compliment current earnings. Someone who can help us establish a medium of
getting our funds from our customers in the Canada/America and Europe as well as
making payments through you to us and earn 10% of every payment made through you
to us subject to your satisfaction to assist us, you will be given the
opportunity to negotiate your mode of which we will be paying for your services
as our representative.You may write if you are interested.
JOB DESCRIPTION
1. Receive payment from Clients
2. Cash Payments
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on
Payment processed.
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to
any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to (Payment is to be
forwarded by Western union transfer).
It wouldn't cost u
any CHARGES, you are to receive
payments which will be sent to you via or FedEx courier services from my
customers, which would come in form of a MO/Certified Cashier's Check
in US
PAYMENT then you are to cash it and send the cash to me via Western Union
Transfer , all transfer fees should be deducted from the capital you are sending
so you have nothing to lose. If you are interested in our offer Pls write back
ASAP so that I can tell you more and forward you the Employment Form... Send
your replies to(philipwaltonfinefurnishers@hotmail.com)
Please send your resume if you have one so that I can
let you know more details as regards the job.
IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED DO NOT BOTHER WRITING BACK..
Thank you very much for your anticipated co-operation.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ALL RESPONSES
SHOULD BE SENT TO (PHILIPWALTONFINEFURNISHERS@HOTMAIL.COM)
THIS IS FOR PROMPT RESPONSES AS IT WILL NOT BE SEEN IN
ANY OTHER EMAIL ADDRESS
NOTE: you can also check out our website at
www.philipwalton.co.uk for more informations
very respectfully
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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