SCAM ALERT: Craigslist and Monster Scam Using Nigerian Scam Technique
It seems as if there are more scams than legitimate deals/jobs on Craigslist.. this one is no different. It preys on a persons desire to make money and work from home and it will definitely take you for all your money and leave you with a headache and literally no recourse. It is a deviation of the Nigerian scam that most people have heard of but it uses the job market to prey on a different type of person.. a person who is wanting to work and get paid but sees an offer almost too good to pass up…
Occasionally I’ll get an email from “a recruiter” and I’m pretty sure it comes from Craigslist and Monster and it seems pretty legit, for a while. I’ll paste the example in a bit but before I get to it, realize that this comes from you responding to a job posting (usually sales) on Craigslist or just having your resume on Monster.com. It’s not unsolicited.. you’ve made the effort to reach out to these scammers and they’re just responding to your inquiry and will feed off your desire for a job.
SIGNS THAT THIS JOB POSTING IS A SCAM
The emails they send will be fairly nicely formatted, salary range, job requirements, education, etc. The few things you’ll notice that are somewhat sketchy are the following
THEIR WEBSITE ISN’T FUNCTIONAL
the domain name is usually forwarded to google apps, you’ll try to reach their website and see a 404: error and a google logo. It’s because they’ve just recently registered their domain and pointed it towards google apps (free) so they can have email addresses for free (which is how they contact you).
THEY CAN’T SPELL AND USE GRAMMAR PROPERLY
there will be spelling mistakes fairly spread throughout the email. It will seem a tad “unprofessional”.. because it is… You’ll notice that they are really really really excited to have you on their payroll.
THEY ASK TO USE YOU AS A MIDDLE-MAN FOR MONEY
this is a big reason you should not even think twice about deleting this email.. they ask you to cash their checks or be a payment gateway for them. They will say how they are not established in the USA yet and therefore can not make a US bank account to accept money from all their clients in the US (which is not true). They say they don’t want to accept wire transfers because it takes 14 days (another not true statement) and would rather have you accept payments, keep a percentage, and send the rest to them.This usually turns out to be a bad idea since the money coming TO YOU are bogus wire transfers or non-existent. You’ll send them 10% and then they’ll say they’re wiring you cash and it never arrives, and you’ve lost some money. Even worse, you’ll receive these fake wires, send them their cut, and then the bank asks you to compensate them for the entire 100% that you received.. big big loss.
THEY WILL ASK YOU TO FORWARD YOUR APPLICATION TO A DIFFERENT EMAIL ADDRESS
The one email I received recently from a scam company gave the real company’s website as where you should apply for a job, but also suggested you forward it to another address,.. an email address that was very similar to the original, legit company.. but would of course go to a third party scammer.
I’ll post the email I receive now, and please make sure to spread this to your friends to ensure that everyone is well aware of what is going on here. You’ll notice that most of the warning signs I’ve listed above are present here. The spelling mistakes, bad domain, forwarding email to a 3rd party email address, etc.
Dear Applicant,
Would you like to work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly?
We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company, THE PURE GREEK WATER COMPANY. We need someone to work for the company as a Payments Coordinator Representative in the US. This is in view of our not having an office presently in the US. You don’t need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form of work you have going at the moment.
Pure Greek Water is a professional Greek enterprise integrated with production and marketing of water dispenser, water purifier, and RO machine, garment steamer. It owns a high quality team of quality & technology management and quality assurance as well as vast marketing network and one strong marketing team; possesses advanced testing equipments, production equipments and production lines.
* The average monthly income is about 4000.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day
About the job:
We have sales representatives all over the world to distribute our products. You know, that it’s not easy to start a business in a new market (being the US). There are hundreds of competitors, close direct contacts between suppliers and customers and other difficulties, which impede our sales promotion. We have decided to deliver the products upfront, it’s very risky but it should push up sales on with an average
25 percent. Thus we need to get payments for our products as soon as it possible. Unfortunately we are unable to open Bank Accounts in the United States without first registering the company name. Presently with the amount of Orders we have, we cannot put them on hold and risk loosing the customers out rightly.
Secondly, we cannot cash these payments from the US soon enough, as international bank transfers take about 14 working days for cash to be made Available. We lose about 75,000 USD of net income each month because we Have money Transfer delays.
Your task is to coordinate payments from our customers and Help us with the payment process. You are not involved in any sales. Our Sales Representatives make direct contact for sales of products. Once orders are received and sorted we deliver the products (usually through FEDEX).
After the order is delivered, you will receive the payment from our customer. Exclusively, our customers are guided to Bank Wire Transfer the payment. Pure Greek Water does not accept checks as payment method.
We have decided to open this new job position for solving this problem.
YOUR TASKS WOULD BE:
1. Receive payments from Customers
2. withdraw the Received Amounts at your Bank 3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed 4. Forward the remaining amount after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to.(Payment is to be forwarded by Western Union Money Transfer).
Local Money transfers take barely hours, so it will give us a possibility to get customer’s payment almost immediately.
For example you’ve got 3000.00 USD
You take your income: 300.00 USD
Send to us: 2700.00 USD
First month you will have 15-20 transactions on 3000.00-4000.00 USD so you may calculate your income.
For example 10 transactions on 3500.00 USD gives you 3500.00 USD Plus your basis monthly salary is 1000.00 USD
Total: 4500.00 USD per month
After establishing a close co-operation with us you’ll be able to operate with larger orders and you’ll be able to earn more. Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can withdraw them at your bank.
Deduct your Percent and forward the remaining amount to the company via western union money transfer. We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position, taking only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot of free time doing another job, you’ll get good income and regular job.
IS THIS LEGAL?
Yes it is. As a matter of fact, our legal department checked all legal provisions to ensure if there is any domestic or international law against businesses or deals in this manner and also money laundry acts, also it complies with USA Patriot Act Section 314(b)
But this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our requirements, a diligent worker, very consistent and will be an earnest assistant. We are glad to Offer this job position to you. If you feel that you are a serious and earnest worker and you want to work for Pure Greek Water, please visit the link below and complete our online interview for further evaluation.
puregreekwater.com/job.php
A swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.
Thanks For Your Total Understanding.
—————————-
Kosta Panos,
Staffing and Recruiting Dept,
Regional Manager,
Pure Greek Water
Email: humanresources@pure-greekwater.com
NOTE******* Interested applicants should ensure response is forwarded to the email below: humanresources@pure-greekwater.com