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.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Traveltowork Ltd.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that there is an original "Traveltowork Ltd" which these scammers have impersonated. This report has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to say about the original entity -- it is strictly a warning in relation to scammers who have COPIED the original under false pretenses. If you have come here in order to form any kind of opinion about the original "Traveltowork Ltd", then YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Based on similarities, this appears to be a new name for the scam previously known as AlphaMarkets/ SaxoForex/UKFX. Judging by past comments on this blog, these scammers are pretty good at getting victims. It's a money mule scam: they transfer stolen money to you (but you don't know it's stolen), and they get you to transfer it to them via Western Union. This is money laundering, folks, and it will get you in trouble.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: noreply[@]site.careerbuilder.com <noreply[@]site.careerbuilder.com>
Date: 15-Jun-2007 05:44
Subject: CareerBuilder.com Job Matches: Our company offers a specific position.
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Traveltowork Ltd.
20 Eden Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Tel/Fax: +44(070)928-93476 (Our office hours are 10am - 4pm)
         +1(608)646-4649

Our HR department has recently reviewed your info and forwarded it to me. I'd like to introduce you to Traveltowork and it's open positions.

Traveltowork Ltd. customer service department is currently hiring 15 U.S. residents to provide it's new branch with qualified personnel.
14.06.2007 We have already accepted several suitable resumes and hired 5 persons. Thus, only 10 vacancies are left.
The private client support team is responsible for following up client enquiries, helping the clients to save money on foreign currency transactions,
administration and execution of company plans, policies and procedures.
If you're a customer service fanatic, and enjoy working in a challenging and rewarding environment, please see below for our current list of opportunities.

    Position: Customer service officer.
    Location: USA (all states).
    Relevant work experience: Will be an advantage.
    Education level: College degree will be an advantage.

Should you accept this job offer, per company policy you'll be eligible to receive the following:

  * Salary: Annual gross starting salary of $32,500, paid in monthly installments by your choice of check or direct deposit.
  * Performance Bonuses: Up to three percent of your annual gross salary, paid bi-monthly by your choice of check or direct deposit.
  * Benefits: Standard, Traveltowork Ltd. - provided benefits for employees (one month after beginning your hire date), including the following:

          * 401(k) retirement account.
          * Health, dental, life and disability insurance.
          * Sick leave.
          * Vacation and personal days.

Please forward your full resume, contact information and questions to HR dept. e-mail: vacancy@travel2work.org
You will be contacted within 1-4 business days.

Should you have any questions regarding this letter, our offer of employment or anything else, please write me an e-mail.
We are excited to have you join our organization and look forward to working with you.


Best regards,
Alma O'Doherty
Employment Manager
Traveltowork Ltd.

6 comments:

Spotter said...

Domain ID:D18385885-LRMS
Domain Name:TRAVEL2WORK.INFO <-- scam
Created On:11-Jun-2007 11:29:17 UTC <-- new
Last Updated On:11-Jun-2007 17:35:42 UTC
Expiration Date:11-Jun-2008 11:29:17 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Direct Information Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com (R159-LRMS)
Registrant ID:PP-SP-001
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:Privacyprotect.org
Name Server:NS1.MIRHOSTING.COM
Name Server:NS2.MIRHOSTING.COM

Spotter said...

Domain ID:D148075081-LROR
Domain Name:TRAVEL2WORK.ORG <-- scam
Created On:11-Jun-2007 11:29:17 UTC <-- new
Last Updated On:18-Jun-2007 19:44:56 UTC
Expiration Date:11-Jun-2008 11:29:17 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Directi Internet Solutions d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.Com (R27-LROR)
Registrant ID:PP-SP-001
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:Privacyprotect.org
Name Server:NS1.MIRHOSTING.COM
Name Server:NS2.MIRHOSTING.COM

James said...

Dear Bloggers,
Our company Traveltowork, owners of the domains www.traveltowork.com.au, traveltowork.co.uk, etc has recently had our domain name ripped off. Someone in China has taken our .us domain and has copied our site content on it.

This email that you are referring to is a scam of some sort so please avoid it. If anyone has suggestions on how to get the .US domain registrar to close this site down Id be very interested to hear as the hosting company that previously hosted their website kicked them out however they dont have a problem finding more hosting options.

We are doing our best to get them shut down but havent had much success finding the relevant authority to shut this .us domain down.



Regards

Traveltowork Team
Ph: +353 1 679 3255

Anonymous said...

Be aware I recently got a job offer from a company calling themselves Hakko Financial Ltd. During my research I could not find any scam notifications under that name but in review of other opportunities I found that Travel To Work Ltd. was listed and that company name is in the contract they sent me. This company's website is listed with a BBB Reliability Seal and has a seperate site for staff personnel. It seems legit.

Has anyone out there ever heard of or work for in the past or currently employed?

Spotter said...

If you can't find any information about the name, good or bad, take that as a BAD SIGN. Scammers make up new names all the time, so "new name" means high probability of "scam". In any case, scams are better recognised by the work involved. If they want you to forward money or goods overseas, you're being employed by theives who are getting you to handle stolen goods. If, on the other hand, they want you to send money overseas (to anyone) before you get the job, it's advance fee fraud.

Basically, sending anything somewhere outside the reach of your local police force is a recipe for abuse.

Anonymous said...

Dear Bloggers
We have been successful in having this domain www.travel2work.org closed down now.

While Traveltowork Lts is indeed a real company with offices in Ireland and worldwide, this scammer seemed to copy our webpages and put them on a similar domain calling www.travel2work.org.

Unfortunately booking your .org doesnt even seem to be a solution to these scammers as the domain they took was only similar to our domain

Regards

Traveltowork Team
12-14 College Green
Dublin 2, Ireland
Ph: +353 1 679 3255