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.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

NameNameXX@gmail.com (global auto agency)

I reported a series of scam spams using this kind of Gmail contact address in September 2007. Well, they're back. At a guess, I'd say that some guy has specialised in creating Gmail accounts, and is selling them on the black market to scammers. (Yes, there is an underground economy in this sort of thing!) Consequently, this may or may not be the same scammer as previously, but it's a money mule scam either way.

I'm not going to bother reporting every minor variation on the email address this time, since there were an awful lot of them last time.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false)]
Date: 1 Feb 2008 XX:XX UTC
Subject: 40% of people of your age city, are not satisfied with their monthly profits. We can change it.
To: [redacted]

Hi,
Our surveys show that 23% of people of your city are not satisfied with their weekly earnings and wish to make more. That is why we would like to offer you an opportunity of part-time work. To earn 121-407 AUD a week you have to spend 2-4 hours a week.
You need a contact telephone cellphone, a computer and email. If you are reading these lines, it means you have everything you need to start working.
The employment lasts till the end of the month; I have 28% vacancies in your locality so far.
You will have to help our clients. It is a simple job, which requires attentiveness and accuracy. I provide training and everything you need for the job.
Investments from you are not required.
Who are we? We are a big global auto agency. We work only with luxury cars - BMW, Bentley, Audi, and others. If you choose to become our employee you will receive a 5% discount on the purchase of a auto from our office as an additional bonus and we will help you to obtain a credit, if necessary.
We will be glad to supply you with any extra information.

To speed up our message, please send me an email to: CeliaHuberRL@gmail.com

Looking forward to your reply,

Jean E.

No comments: