I’ve heard variations on this type of scam before. However, a new version of this one took on
new significance when it nearly affected a family member. My daughter contacted me last week about a
part-time job offer she’d received via the Internet. She asked me to look it over and see if it was legitimate. Naturally, since my daughter was doing the
asking, I was more than happy to oblige.
After an hour of research, what I found was so disturbing I called her
immediately and told her not to take the job, and not to contact the company in
any way whatsoever.
Many people these days are trying to recover financially
from being fired or laid off from a job, salary cuts, investment losses, and
the like. Working from home is becoming
more and more possible with phone and Internet access. Especially for those who are unable or
unwilling to leave home to work, an opportunity like this might seem like a
godsend. Instead, it could get a person
in a whole lot of legal trouble. I’m
sharing this information so that you too can be aware of this scam and avoid
being taken in by it.
The Premise
My daughter had received an email from a company saying
they’d found her resume on a popular national job-search Web site. After reviewing her credentials, they were
pleased to report she qualified for a part-time Financial Manager position with
the organization. The company said it
was “a leader in wholesale produce distribution" and needed people to work with
“transaction operations, customer service".
All it would require was a valid email address, a phone to receive
calls, and three to four hours a week after hours (evenings and weekends) for
“communication". Here was the basic
process.
- Accept
payments from partners mailed to the employee’s home address.
- Notify
manager of payments received.
- Cash
checks and/or money orders at the employee’s bank, following the
instructions provided by the manager.
- Resend
the money to clients using services such as Western Union, PayPal,
Moneygram, or wire transfer.
For these services, the employee receives a small
commission. Income earning potential is
limited only by the amount of time the employee wishes to invest in the job.
Problem: Job Source
Before I even began my research, there were a few things
that bothered me. First was how my
daughter received the email to begin with.
The offer came because the company found her resume on CareerBuilder.com. Companies like CareerBuilder and Monster
succeed in part because organizations are allowed to view their resume database
and post ads for open positions. They
don’t have effective ways of weeding out unscrupulous “employers" who are out
to scam unsuspecting applicants. Even
if they could, it would make little difference. The individuals involved simply change their company name and
start the process all over again.
Problem: Company Location
I did a Google search on the company that sent the job
offer. It turns out they’re located in
Macedonia. (Anyone want to take a guess
as to where in the United States THAT is?)
I realize that outsourcing jobs from the US to foreign countries is
still a touchy subject for many, but why on earth would a company located
overseas want US workers when they could get people from their own countries to
work at a much cheaper rate? I got even
more suspicious when I noticed one of the requirements for employment was being
a US citizen and being 21 years of age or older. What do adult US citizens have that is so important that a
foreign country will pay a higher commission to get them to work?
Problem: Funds Transfers
Maybe it’s access to money.
More research into the company and its practices turned up the fact that
the funds being sent to employees are in the form of fraudulent cashiers’
checks and money orders. In other
words, they’re counterfeit. And that
answered another question I’d had about the entire process. If I were buying products from a company,
I’d send my payment directly to the company, not to a third party for cashing.
The individual receiving the funds takes the counterfeit
check to his bank and cashes it. The
bank will send the check back to the originating bank for receipt of
funds. When that bank refuses to pay on
the check because it’s counterfeit, the individual will find his account
charged for the amount of the check.
Cash more than a few of these checks and the funds on a personal bank
account will quickly dwindle to nothing.
If overdraft protection has been enabled on the account, negative
balances on the account could run into the thousands. And of course, the unsuspecting individual will be responsible
for paying those charges.
Employee Liability
The good news is that if someone doesn’t have much money in
a bank account, there’s a limit to the number of counterfeit checks that can be
covered. The bad news is that the owner
of the bank account could find himself arrested on felony charges if either
bank involved in the transaction decides to prosecute. Meanwhile, the crooks who started the whole
process are enjoying the poor employee’s money while starting all over again with a new batch of innocent people who wanted nothing more than to make a few extra bucks working from home.
Not Such a Good Deal
Before you accept any job offer of this type, do your
research. Verify that the company is
legitimate. Be suspicious of any job
offer that requires you to accept money from one source and direct it to
another. Also be suspect of any job
that requires you to front your own money in exchange for a larger return down
the road. Finally, if you have fallen
victim to a scam of this type, immediately contact your local law enforcement
division and fill them in on all the details.
In a case like this, the old adage “If it sounds too good to
be true, it probably is" couldn’t be more appropriate.
Additional sources for this article include U.S. Newswire
and Real-Home-Employement.com.
