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Crimes of Persuasion

Job Scams

The common Job Scams are targeted at people who are unemployed and desperately seeking job. Basically, there are no "real job" offered by the scammer, and their objective is to earn the initial, administrative fees from you. If you find that you need to "pay first" for whatever reasons to get a job, it is probably a scam. This has been confirmed by at least one of the UK embassy websites warning about similar matters.

Another form of Job Scams is the Money Mule, where you are offered a job to perform illegal money laundering. They promised a job that requires only a few hours/day, work at home and get a great pay. However, what you have been asked to do is basically to collect money from the scammer's other victims (e.g. in lottery scams) and transfer the money to the scammer's account. The Money Mule is discussed in more detail in one of our articles below.

While we try our best to include any instances and articles of job scams here, our collections are not exhaustive.

Here are some tips to spot a Job Scam:
1) You did not apply for the job, but you received an offer via email (or as spam).
We received many of such scam reports. Some of these offers came with detailed job description, while others are tend to keep it short and simple.

2) No experience or resume required.
This will sound too-good-to-be-true. You will be surprised why would anybody need your service when you have no experience, and that they are willing to pay a high price.

3) You are asked to receive a check, bank it, and wire out the money (in cash) to another account.
This is a Fake Check scam. Your bank may clear the check in 3 days. Then you will be asked by the scammer to wire the money to another bank account. Then the bank will contact you several days later to say that the check has bounced, and you have to return all the money and pay the charges for bounced checks.

4) You are asked to pay a fee to get the job.
Please note that a job offer is an agreement to engage your service in return for an agreed remuneration. You are paid to work. Never pay to get a job.

5) You are asked to buy something to get a job.
Never trust companies that ask you to buy something in order to work for them. If you need to pay for a start-up kit, make sure that the company is reputation. Just a test: In order to join Amway, a reputatble MLM company, you need to buy the startup kit? Will you buy this? If you are keen to join Amway as a partner, which we recommend, then you should buy the startup kit. However, if you don't think you would buy the startup kit for Amway, then you should be even more careful about companies (esp. new ones) that does not have any track records. Do not be tricked into believing that "they are just starting up, so there is no track records yet". For new companies, they have to bear the cost of the startup kits to get the initial group of followers.

6) A very high pay that is too good to be true.
It is not easy to get a high paying job. An enployer will evaluate your skills and experience before deciding the price tag. If a job is paying you a salary equivalent to a senior manage, but does not require any specialized skills or experience from you, it is 100%, a scam.

Job Scam Posted on Craigslist

This job scam was reported:

Safety Inc. (Van Nuys) and Santa Clarita, I replied to a job posting on Craigslist and at first called the name/number listed. "Malorie" didn't answer by any company name, just "How can I help you?" which I found suspect.

Job Scam: Fake Minthotel job offer

Subject: job scam
Question: I have got a job offer from mint hotel Manchester. They have told
me to contact the travel agent coleman.crystaltravel@gmail.com. I think its
a scam. The previous email was from albert jones 2011employeesearch.minthotel.com.

FTC: Don't be fooled by job-related scams

Job seeker should not pay to get a job. If you have been cheated by Entertainment Work Inc., this company is reported in this news: The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that it is cracking down on con artists who target the unemployed wit...

Job Scam: Fake NIPPON OIL AND GAS email

This email header is an example of what came from the scammer: 1) The email claimed to be from Malaysia, but it was routed from Bulgaria 2) It claimed to be from info@nippon.com, but its in fact from another email address as shown below. There is ...

Job and Fake Check Scam: Fake Abingdon Cockell Limited

This website is a scam, the domain name abingdoncockell.com dropped some time in 2004, and has probably been scooped up by some scammer in 2008 for use in scam. its unlikely to be related to the original company that is based in the UK. The ...

Job Scam: Fake Media Dimensions Inc. at mediadimension.biz

The real Media Dimensions Inc. is located at mediadimensions.com If you get a job offer from mediadimension.biz, it is a scam. This domain was only registered within a week with full contact privacy: Technical Contact Email: me...

I have been scammed at job site and I need advice...

Original Question: I was stupid enough to pay membership for this supposed job service website and now they have my debit card number and all the info on it, and they also have a good chunk of my social security number. Even if the bank cancel...

Job Scam: Executive Rising Services Pay-for-Job Scam

Two friends found out about this scam where they were asked to pay a total of $205 for a "background check" and training seminar in order to get a "high-paying" job. Eventually, they got their refund back, but would like to warn others about th...

Video Pick: BBC expose Zebra acting & modelling scam

Modelling Scam
Catwalk career or a scam? Watch this documentary report where several scammed victims were interviewed and talked about their story. These scammed victims were made to pay and pay for the portfolio, and more. Well after being exposed on BBC Inside...

Ireland: Reports on Marriage of Convenience Scam

This is quite a news to share with some background information. Latvian police contacted gardai last year after they received reports that young women from the country, who had come here for arranged marriages of convenience to young men from Paki...

South Africa: Money Mule jailed 6 months for helping 419 scammers

Good riddance. It may be tough to prove that you are innocent if you agree to let 419 scammers transfer victims money into your account. So beware of job scams that require you to do such money transfer. Fortunately or not, in this case the money ...

Job Scam: FBI says Beware of Work at Home Scam

Work at Home job scam could be a 1) Fake check scam (gives you check, you transfer cash out) 2) Money mule scam (gives you money from scam, you transfer cash out) 3) Mule to re-transfer goods bought using stolen credit cards. 4) Pay money to get t...

Job Scam: Fake Bestmark Offer is a Fake Check Scam

Watch for recruitment emails from mail2recruiter.com. *Correction* mail2recruiter.com is a free email address provided by another vendor- no name mentioned because we are not going to do any free advertising here. This scammer is impersonating bes...

Job Scam: Fake Ocean Group Company

How does an easy job as a Payment Processing Agent for $3,000 a month sound to you, and all you need is internet access and email. In addition, there are commissions from every payment received, and the salary may be increased up to $4,500 after t...

Mystery Shopper Evaluator 2010 Version

According to our records, this should be a fake check scam. We have not heard about this for some time (probably our site scares them off). If you have an email with the above in the subject header, we don't recommend dealing with them.

Job Scam: http://www.workcircle.co.uk/Nigeria

We saw this on our ad and decided to investigate by visiting the site (we typed in the web address on our browser).


The page has been removed as we write, and the ads could be down soon.

Job Scam: Fake Blue Water Job Offer

It was brought to our attention (hey, we write like a 419ner) that some scammer is using the name of "Bluewater Rubber and Gasket" to solicit employees to help in "money transfers". The official company website has stated that this is a scam.

Is this a scam: Work from Home for Savidy Associates

A visitor received a job offer from "Savidy Associates".

"I have received an email and offer of a part time job from Savidy Associates, a Cyprus based company, completing forms etc, this is from their email:-
"We are Savidy Associates a Cyprus based company we offer our clients (both old and new) overseas and local/foreign offshore companies incorporation services. what we require is you to serve between us and our clients in united kingdom...

Job Scam: 5500 MONTHLY JOB RESPONSE FROM CRAIGSLIST

Becareful about job offers that are too good to be true. $5,500 with little commitment, just to handle "payment from US".

Secret Shopper with the ®

We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area and we would like you to
participate" Secret Shopper® is accepting applications for qualified individuals
to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and rewarding, and you choose when and
where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There
is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need previous experience. After
you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail, fax or
postal mail.

Warning: Fake Check or Money Mule Scam

Hot Scam Specifications:

Scam Type: Fake Check or Money Mule Scam
Fake Names: Mrs.Linda Charles
Offer Type: Job Offer
Scammer Location: Claims to be from Helsinki, Finland, but now based in Malaysia
Scammer Email: Yahoo.Co.UK

Based on the description of the job offer, we sensed that this is going to be a "fake check" scam.