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, August 21, 2008

"Regional Representative" job with rambler.ru contact address

This is a typical money mule scam targeting Australians, but it's very thin on identification. The "company" is not identified (not that there is one), and the only form of contact offered is a very long and random email address in the "rambler.ru" domain (which I suspect is just another free webmail system). These techniques appear to serve two purposes: to evade spam filters, and to make it hard to search for information on sites like mine. Seriously, what would you search on to find this page? Congratulations to you if you found it anyhow.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false)]
Date: 2008/8/21 UTC
Subject: Start today.
To: [redacted (privacy)]


Our highly recognized brand is going through a growth phase at the moment and therefore
needs an experienced financial field manager to support and facilitate this growth.

*POSITION: Regional Representative
*POSITIONS AVAILABLE: [varies]
*COUNTRY: Australia
*SALARY: 1xxx-2xxx USD [varies]
*TRIAL PERIOD: ONE MONTH
*OCCUPATION: 1-3 hours a day
*EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE: Bachelor's degree is desired. MBA is a plus. Some
additional experience working with finances would be helpful but not required.
SKILLS:  Fluent English. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret financial
reports and data. Must have an extensive knowledge of Microsoft Excel/Word. You
must also be able to operate Internet Banking.
----
*HOW TO APPLY: Please apply to [random name]  by email [various]@rambler.ru We will get back
to you within 5 working days.

If you do not want to receive further communications from simply us ignore this message
and your address will be deleted from our mailing list within 48 hours period.

[capitalised fingerprint text redacted]

No comments: