Job scam quick guide: it's a scam if...

  • they want you to collect and forward money in any way (a "money mule" job). You'll wind up engaged in money laundering, personally defrauded via expertly forged cheques, money orders, etc, or defrauding someone else who pays for goods that never arrive.
  • they want you to receive packages and reship them somewhere else. The goods will have been obtained fraudulently, and they're just using you to make the shipping address appear local. You will be aiding fraud.
  • they want up-front payment (either to them or someone else) of any sort for anything before you can get the job. This is advance fee fraud: there is no job -- it's just a big con to extract money from you.
  • they want you to buy any kind of "membership" or "kit" in order to start. Forget it -- it's not a real job at all: they're trying to sell you something, and they're probably making a bunch of other false claims about it if they're pitching it as a "job".
  • it's a job offer, and it's spam. There are LOTS of these scams about, as you can see.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

3sigmacapital.com

Another money mule job, received at a spamtrap address which doesn't get many of these. Targets US residents.

   Domain Name: 3SIGMACAPITAL.COM
   Registrar: ONLINENIC, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.OnlineNIC.com
   Referral URL: http://www.OnlineNIC.com
   Name Server: NS2.DNSHOST4ALL.BIZ
   Name Server: NS1.DNSHOST4ALL.BIZ
   Updated Date: 26-Oct-2006
   Creation Date: 17-Oct-2006
   Expiration Date: 17-Oct-2007

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tyree <[redacted]@ninja.com>
Date: 02-Nov-2006 21:18
Subject: Receivables clerk - part-time position with an int'l investment house
To: [redacted]


Sir/Madam,

I am writing to inquire if you might be interested in part-time employment with our company.

3 Sigma Capital Planning Ltd. (3 Sigma Capital) based in Moscow, Russia is looking for energetic and committed individuals to fill the part-time receivables clerk position in the United States. As a receivables clerk, you will be in charge of processing and facilitating investment funds transfers initiated by our US clients under the supervision of the regional receivables manager. A perfect candidate should be a strong communicator who is also comfortable with numbers and ideally has some previous book-keeping experience. College education or any administrative professional background is a plus.

No relocation is required from a successful candidate. This opening is a great opportunity for those looking for a reasonable trade-off between working hours and compensation, such as senior citizens or self-employed individuals.

3 Sigma Capital is an investment advisor and broker/dealer registered with the Russian Federal Financial Markets Service. Our company offers hedge fund and private equity research, due diligence and investment trust management services to qualified investors and high net worth individuals looking for high returns and quantifiable risks in the emerging markets of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. For more information on our company, please visit us online at http://www.3sigmacapital.com

The receivables clerk position is commission-based, and it will typically take up to 6 hours per week to fulfill your duties. You should be able to perform your duties during regular business hours. Your core responsibility will be to receive the investment funds from our US clients into your designated bank account, reconcile the payments with your supervisor if required and transfer specified funds into our managed investment accounts. You will be in charge of contacting your bank in order to obtain transfer status information, confirmations and account activity reports, as well as handling daily communications with your bank. You will be receiving a 2% commission from the gross amount of each transfer that is remitted into your designated account (for instance, if $10,000 is credited into your account, you will be retaining a commission of $200). Your commission is available immediately, so there is no need to wait for the payroll check in the end of the month.

From the tax aspect, you will be paying your income tax, either as an individual or as a business entity, calculated as a percentage of the commissions received for fulfilling your duties. It should be understood that it is your sole responsibility to report your incomes to the IRS. Being a foreign legal entity, 3 Sigma Capital is not subject to the US tax legislation.

You will be receiving the investment funds from our US clients via secure electronic Wire transfer used by major US banks for funds and securities settlement. This means that no funds will be deposited into your account unless the transaction is reviewed and confirmed both by the remitting and recipient banks. Thus, there is no operational risk on your end. You will never be required to cash a check, make a remittance before the funds are cleared into your account or engage in any other financially risky activity.

In order to qualify for the position, you must be a permanent US resident aged 21 and above. It is recommended that you set up a separate bank account for the receivables service (a list of preferred banks is available); however, you may also use an existing account. Since most communication with your supervisor will be via email/fax/phone, you should have access to these facilities and be available for communication in regular business hours.

You can apply for the position or make an inquiry online at http://www.3sigmacapital.com/?a=4

Please use the following vacancy code in your submission: 3SC1006. Please note that only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

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