Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
There are affiliate links on this page.
Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Translate this page to any language by choosing a language in the box below.
Have you received an email from Marc Benson of "RAC Company" in address unknown (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "Representative/Book keeper", "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.
In the email below, there are some many red flags, we can't imagine any way it could be legitimate. But you can try emailing "Marc Benson" back and asking:
Try cutting and pasting those questions and emailing them back to the person offering the "job", "Marc Benson" in this case and see how he responds. We'll bet it will be with hostility, like:
"Why are you asking me these questions? We are offering you a legitimate job, but you are treating us like we are scammers! If you are not interested we can find someone else; it is YOUR loss!"
Which, of course, is how a scammer caught with questions that expose his scam, will reply!
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 illustrate 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!
From: Mr. Marc Benson [ marc11benson@hotmail.com ]
Date: April 3, 2008
Subject: Job Position For You!!
Congratulations to you,
I have been directed to bring to you in offer of work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly? We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company, RAC COMPANY.
We need someone to work for the company as a Representative/Book keeper in USA, UK CANADA (and its ENVIRONS)and in EUROPE. This is in view of our not having an office recently in the USA, UK CANADA (and its ENVIRONS).You don't need to have an Office,and this certainly wont disturb any form of work you have going at the moment. Our integrated yarn and fabric manufacturing operations use state-of-the-art textile equipment from the world's leading suppliers. Order processing,production monitoring and process flow are seamlessly integrated through a company-wide computer network.
* The average monthly income is about 4000.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day
Your tasks are:
1. Receive payment from Customers
2. Cash Payment at your Bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed 4.Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer) or any 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 18 transactions on 3500.00 USD gives you $6300.00 USD Plus your basic monthly salary is 1000.00 USD Total: 7300.00 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 have them cashed in your bank or other Cashing services.Deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the company via western union money transferor money gramme money transfer We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position.This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing anotherjob, you'll get good income and regular job.
But this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our requirements 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 RAC COMPANY,kindly email us and let us know about what your interest is.You are advised to send the following requirements below to get started with this job offer:-
APPLICATION FORM
FIRST NAME-
LAST NAME-
ADDRESS
CITY-
STATE-
ZIP CODE-
COUNTRY-
PHONE NUMBER (S)
GENDER-
MARITAL STATUS-
AGE-
NATIONALITY-
ATTESTATION
According to how you have been briefed earlier by a qualified representative of this establishment. You are required and mandated to receive payment on behalf of the above mentioned firm. You are to deduct 10% of all funds processed on a particular order and forward the balance payment via Western Union Money Transfer to any of RAC COMPANY regional warehouses that will be given to you later. You will notify the company a week ahead if eventually you want to discontinue this job so as to terminate all payment coming your way to avoid conflict.
I await your urgent response.
Marc Benson
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