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 Mrs Susan Anderson of "Agricultural Research Institute" in birmingahm, sheldon, UK (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "Payment 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!
Agricultural Research Institute
address:2297 coventry road
state:birmingahm
city: sheldon
country:UK
Co Down BT26 6DR
Hello there,
I am willing to offer you a Job in which you will be my Payment Rep.
I just took time to make this explanatory enough so you could understand what the job entails,before I go further I thought I'd inform you of both who you would be working for and what you would be doing.
You can call me Susan Anderson, 43 years of age, 3 kids, a lovely girl and 2 boys, and the love of my life, my husband. I am a somewhat a multitalented woman and I do quite alot of travelling and get to meet quite a lot of people who need my services.
I work with a research/consultancy firm which offers knowledge on developmental biology, embryology paleontology and pretty much anything from zoology to plant life,I am fully residing in Ireland even though I get to do alot of travelling though.
Presently, I have just been granted a funding to head a research project in the tropical regions of West Africa regarding rare and vulnerable plant species and this would be commencing very soon.
However my fundings were by my American counterparts which sent me the bunch of payments mostly in US based Money Orders or Cashier Checks. Getting an accountant in the States or opening an account would have been my best choice but I have a deadline to meet and taking any of those choices would cost me time and a whole lot of other requirements I am not ready to deal with as I would be travelling alot in the meantime.
So presently, assuming you would be able to deal with cash, I would be willing to employ you on contract and commission basis to be my Payment Representative ,this way I could issue and make these payment out to you, you could then cash them easily,withdraw 10% of the total amount on these Payments as your commission and then send the rest back to me through Western Union wire transfer.Bear it in mind that we would be dealing with quite a handful of cash and you could be making up to $5000 just working with me in a short period of time.You do not have to worry about tax returns or the patroit act since you should be keeping all records of how and when you sent the cash back to me so you do not have to worry about anything.
I need to also know if I can TRUST you as the job I am offering you is based strictly on TRUST.If my offer is accepted to you and you would like to take up the job,then kinldy get back to me with the following info,,,,,,,,,,,,,
1...Your FULL NAME just the way you would like it to appear on the payment
2...Your Address where you would be
receiving payments safely
3....Your Cell Phone number in order to ease the communication gap between us
4....Marital Status
5...Occupation
6...Age
7...Email Address
Kindly get back to me with the above info so that we can get started ASAP.
I hope to have a mutual business with you.
Hope to hear from you soon.
God Bless
P.S: ALL REPLIES SHOULD BE SENT TO: xmasseason0@yahoo.com
Thanks
Mrs Susan Anderson
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