Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from Silas Cowie of "Olympic Metal & Fabrics Ltd" in Lagos, Nigeria (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "representative", "Payment Officer", "local agent" or "local representative" in which you "receive payments", deduct your "Processing fee", deposit the checks and then wire most of the money to an overseas "company"?
It is an AFF / Money transfer Scam. They'll send you counterfeit checks which you are supposed to deposit, take out some percentage (typically, 10%) for your work, and then MoneyGram or Western Union wire the remaining 90%. Notice that although you receive checks, they won't let you forward a check to them, only Western Union or Money Gram. There's a reason for this: Western Union and MoneyGrams are cashed immediately and are untraceable and irretrievable. Bank checks can take 1 or 2 weeks to clear!
Of course, since the check is fake, it will bounce a week or so later after you deposit it. But you have already moneygram'ed the scammers the 90% of the amount, and that is transacted almost instantly. So you now owe the bank for the full amount. You may also face criminal charges for passing counterfeit checks. See this page for a step-by-step explanation of how the scam unfolds.
Do you have a resume posted online? We'd like to hear from you about your experiences recruiting emails that turned out to be scams or misleading - click here to write us.
Notice the passages we have highlighted in the actual scam email below. They point out some of the additional clues that it is a scam, such as the email comes from a free email account (such as Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Aim.com, Gmail, cox.net, etc.). Wouldn't you expect a company to have its own website and email address (after all, it only costs about $200/year; every reputable company has its own website these days!) And don't be surprised if the scammers do put the names of real companies, real websites and events in their scams; it doesn't mean anything at all!
Subject: Job Offer
From: "Olympic Metal & Fabrics Ltd" < silascowie2007@yahoo.fr >
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:07:33 +0100 (CET)Dear Sir/Madam,
My Name is Mr. Silas Cowie Account Manager of Olympic Metal & Fabrics Ltd, our company is currently looking for a representative in United States and Canada who will help us establish a new distributing network to get to our clients that bought goods from us and collect their outstanding bills which they owe company. This Job is a part time job for you, to find out more about the job please reply me back vian email.
Terms And Condition:
1. To receive payments from the Clients.
2. Cash the Payments at your bank.
3. Deduct 11%, which will be your percentage/pay for your services to us.
4. Forward balance after deduction of your percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be directed to send the funds to us.
Please if you are interested forward to us your following details:
1. Full Names: ................
2. Contact address: ...........
3. Telephone/mobile and fax number:........
4. Gender/Age:.........
5. Occupation: ........
NB: Please kindly respond to the following email for more info:
Email: silascowie2020@yahoo.fr
Thanks and we await your sooner response.
Mr. Silas Cowie,
Account Manager,
Olympic Metal & Fabrics Ltd.
43 Manchester Road
Kearsley
Bolton BL4 8QQ
United Kingdom.
There are a variety of sleazy scams that look, at first glance, like legitimate job offers. Before you write back to them, pause a moment and read about the scams below!
Some of the more common job scams are