Job and Recruiting Scams:
Payment Officer Scam
Susan Art World, London, Britain
Susan Harrison
Have you received an email from Susan Harrison of "Susan Art World" in London, Britain (or ANYWHERE else) offering you
a job as a "representative in America", "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 "Susan Harrison"
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", "Susan Harrison" 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: Susan Harrison [ susu197777@yahoo.se
]
OFFICE
21 Landover road plum stead
SE18 3ST London
Reply e-mail for further correspondence
Hello,
Good day to you, my name is Susan Harrison, I am an
artist , and the owner of Susan Art World .I live and work in London with my two
kids, 2 cats, one dog and the love of my life my husband James Harrison. It is
definitely a full house.
I have been into artwork since childhood. That gives me
years of experience. I majored in Art in high school and took a few colleges Art
courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color
pencils. I have recently added designing, ancient antiquities and creative
artworks on the computer. I have been selling my art for the last
3 years and I have had my work featured on trading
cards, prints and in magazines. I have sold some of my art works to some private
companies in United States of America.
But I do face some difficulties when it comes to
Payment, because all my customers in America always offer to pay me with U.S
POSTAL MONEY ORDERS, and I find it very difficult to cash the U.S POSTAL MONEY
ORDERS in London, This is because the British Government does not permit the
usage of U.S POSTAL MONEY ORDERS in Britain.
Right now, I'm searching for a representative in United
States that will be able to cash the MONEY ORDERS in America and wire the
available funds to me in Britain.
Who to trust are my problems. I֯e series of
arrangements with the FBI in Washington, in attempt for anyone to make away with
my funds; definitely the laws will catch-up with him, and he will definitely
face the consequences.
You are entitled to 15% commission for any transaction
(that is for any money order cashed).This transaction is risk free and legal
from the American Government.
Please get back to me with all Information listed below
(1) Full Name
(2) Full Contact Address
(3) Phone Number
(4) Age
(5) Sex
Once again this transaction is 100% risk free and legal
from the United States Government and the British Government, so feel free about
this transaction and get back to me with the required information's to enable us
proceed. Thanks for going through this proposal.
My warmest Regards and thanks for your anticipated
assistant,
Susan Harrison-Justain.
Director of SUS ART WORLD INC,
London, United Kingdom .
OFFICE PHONE............ +447045768141
Susan Harrison
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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