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Recently here on the blog, we have seen a lot of very serious scam posts. However, I will like you to know that baiting the scammers can be a fun thing as well..
Today I have a blast from the past to share with you – please click through and read this blog post from October 2007 –
A Journey Along The Road To Stopping Online Scammers
I might consider doing this again – it has been a while since I’ve done much fun scambaiting stuff. ;)
There was another scam job posting today for Cekicy Group Pty Ltd and thus many people have arrived here searching for that company name.
This job is a work from home scam. You can read more about this kind of scam via SCAMwatch and more specifically fake cheque – check or bank draft – scams via my own post – Snoskred made 5 million dollars online this year!.
I listed some of the reasons why this job is a scam on yesterdays post which you can read here – Three more job scams – Cekicy Group PTY LTD, Healthfirst, Real Online Jobs. Also I have these posts re Manheimy PTY LTD and More About Manheimy Pty LTD..
I also have postings regarding the Car Wrap Scam which is very popular at the moment. Companies names like Rockstar and Pepsico are being used in an effort to legitimize these scams.
There was also this connectedsky scam. I did a more thorough breakdown of the connectedsky scam here.
The team at Jobseeker have been in contact re yesterdays post and have advised they will be making this issue a high priority. For anyone at other websites who might be reading this, it is important to know the following fact –
Once you put some hurdles in their way, scammers will stop using your site as a place to advertise their scams. Other sites have been there and done this. However if you do not act quickly and decisively, these scammers will spread the word to their scammer friends and you will be inundated with scammer postings.
You can contact me via email – or comment on this post. I strongly suggest you to do this if you have any questions. You do not have to use your real name but I do ask that you use a real email address so that I can reply to your question personally via email.
If you arrived here searching for companies or text in these scam job postings, it is important to know – you are not the only one who arrived here this way and you are not alone.
Here are three more job scams – please note my reason for posting them is purely so that anyone searching for the company names can get this page in the search results and know right away the job is a scam. On average, over 100 people arrive at my website daily, having searched for names, text, email addresses, or phone numbers which are listed here..
Often times, this is the only site which contains these names *and* the fact that their job is a scam. Update – A lot of people are arriving here searching for Cekicy – cekicy pty ltd – Cekicy Group Pty Ltd which has posted yet another scam listing today.
I hope my regular readers do not mind these posts when they are posted – if they do, please remember that these posts are stopping people from being scammed by criminals. :)
Entry-Level Office Administrator Wanted – Earning $1000.00-$2500.00 per week.
Cekicy Group Pty Ltd
About the Role:
We have several openings available in this area earning $1000.00-$2500.00 per week.
We are seeking a candidate to fill join our team as an Office Administrator. You will be looking after inbound and outbound telephone calls, data entry and organising files both electronically and manually. You must be well spoken a you will be taking and looking after bookings. If you’re highly organised, we want you!
Minimum Qualifications:
High School diploma or GED.
1 year of clerical/data entry experience in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrate attention to detail with excellent data entry, communication (interpersonal, telephone) and organization skills.
Ability to prioritize projects within a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment using tact and discretion.
Basic database usage.
Team player with good communication, data entry, organization and follow-through skills.
Ability to write and type grammatically correct database entries in English.
Intermediate Microsoft Word and Excel skills.
Experience using a corporate email system.
Basic Microsoft PowerPoint.
Candidate will be paid $50-$70 Per hour commensurate with experience and education.
A quick rundown –
1. Entry level anything does not earn $1000 a week in Australia and certainly would never earn $2500.
2. You must be well spoken a you <-- a you? 3. High School diploma or GED <-- neither of these things are what you get in Australia. GED is from the US.
4. Candidate will be paid $50-$70 Per hour <-- the only time I have earned $50 an hour was triple time on a Sunday or public holiday pay. There simply is no job in Australia which is entry level that pays this kind of money.
Data Entry Clerks Positions Available
Healthfirst
Preparing all sorts of source documents, identification and interpretation of data to be entered. Compiling, sorting and verifying data accuracy
. Minimum Qualifications:
High School diploma or GED.
1 year of clerical/data entry experience in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrate attention to detail with excellent data entry, communication (interpersonal, telephone) and organization skills.
Ability to prioritize projects within a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment using tact and discretion.
Basic database usage.
Team player with good communication, data entry, organization and follow-through skills.
Ability to write and type grammatically correct database entries in English.
Intermediate Microsoft Word and Excel skills.
Experience using a corporate email system.
Basic Microsoft PowerPoint.
Candidate will be paid $50-$70 Per hour commensurate with experience and education.
This job ad minimum qualifications section is almost identical to the first one, just with a different job role, and a different company name.
Full Time Data Entry – Earn $50/Per Hour +
Real Online Jobs
We have several openings available in this area earning $1000.00-$2500.00 per week. We are seeking only honest, self-motivated people with a desire to work in the typing and data entry field.
This job requires you to have the ability to operate a keyboard or other data entry device to enter data into computer. Inputs alphabetic and numeric information from credit card applications onto an automated credit processing system, other clerical duties as required.
We are seeking only honest, self-motivated people with a desire to work in the typing and data entry field. Preferred applicants should be at least 18 years old with Internet access. Little experience is needed.
The ideal applicant will be well presented, highly organised and friendly, with excellent communication skills.
Daily duties will include but not be limited to: § Account management § Data entry § General admin duties Applicants must also have: § Accurate data entry skills § Proficiency in MS Office programs
This position is high paying and you will be paid WEEKLY via direct deposit, cheque, paypal or company provided debit card.
Jobseeker has a serious problem here, and I just want to give them a heads up and some hopefully useful feedback – job sites need to be a very proactive in order to stamp out these scammers. :(
I’ve been reporting these fake jobs when I see them. It takes quite some time to get a reply – usually more than 4 days. In general these job postings remain open for too long. In order to frustrate the scammers, scam job postings need to be removed within 12 hours. In order to stop the scammers, these job postings should not be posted at all.
I’m not confident that Jobseeker understand that people WILL get scammed out of money thanks to their site posting these scam jobs. I would love to be reassured on this point.
Seek.com.au has been here and done this before, and they have an excellent warning on their site which you can read here – SEEK safely. It costs significant $$ to post an ad on Seek. And it *should* cost money to post a job ad anywhere. Legit employers will pay the $$. Fake employers will vanish.
Even when Jobseeker kill off a scam job posting so that nobody can apply for it, all the text still appears and they DO NOT put up a scam warning up for people. Here is an example.
I would strongly recommend to Jobseeker that they leave the company name and job title and replace the rest of the text with a scam warning. If they are not sure how to word this, they can ask me for help and I will draft something up for them.
By the time these scam job listings are removed, people will have applied – and I hope Jobseeker contacts those people who have applied with an email scam warning as well! This is hugely important and needs to be done.
I am also concerned that Jobseeker do not appear to have a scam warning anywhere on their website. I certainly cannot find one. If one is there, enlighten me as to where it is. It should be easy for everyone to see.
Please fix these things, and then I will sing your praises, Jobseeker.
Update – The team at Jobseeker have been in contact and have advised they will be making this issue a high priority. For anyone at other sites who might be reading this, it is important to know the following fact –
Once you put some hurdles in their way, scammers will stop using your site as a place to advertise their scams. Other sites have been there and done this. However if you do not act quickly and decisively, these scammers will spread the word to their scammer friends and you’ll be inundated.
Scam Advice – Scam Warning Signs
Quick Scam Notice Re Manheimy PTY LTD
More About Manheimy PTY LTD
Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year!
Snoskred on Fake Check Scams and Scambaiting
Is this email a scam? Ask the Scam-O-Matic
Scamwarners
Scam Victims United
Fraud Aid
SCAMwatch – Work from home scams
You can contact me via email – or comment on this post. I especially encourage you to do this if you have any questions.
If you arrived here searching for companies or text in these scam job postings, it is important to know – you are not the only one who arrived here this way and you are not alone.
Every morning, the first email account I check is the one associated with my Contact page. And this morning, among the regular multitude of I am being scammed what do I do now emails, I was presented with a doozy of an email.. It went like this –
I was lured into this Rockstar money scam, they sent me two checks for $2,300 each and I cashed the checks, I did not deposit them, they then asked to send 1,900 through money gram and I did and now I don’t know what to do! I’m scared! My parents will kill me when they find out! I’m only 16!
I replied right away asking the person to contact Moneygram and see if the money has been collected yet – if it has not, they can cancel the transfer and then they could potentially get the money back.
However, anyone who has watched some Judge Judy in their lifetime knows that a minor cannot enter into a contract. So in order to be able to advise this person I really need more info, eg how did they cash the checks, and how did they send the money via moneygram?
In any case, this young person is going to have to tell their parents. As difficult as that might seem, the parents are actually the people best placed to assist – they will likely have knowledge of the local laws and will know who to speak to in order to try and sort all this out.
Their child has been scammed, and they will be likely to react as a lion does, roaring and on the attack – not towards the child but towards the people who have scammed their child, and also the people who have assisted the scammers in this instance – the check cashing place, and the Moneygram office which allowed a minor to send money.
I do not know how a check cashing place cashes a check when being shown the ID of a person under 18. When they cashed the check their details would have been noted and/or their ID was photocopied. The check cashing place will be the first to find out the check is fraudulent and will probably involve the police, which is something both the young person and the parents will want to avoid.
So my best advice to this young person is to talk to their parents ASAP. Then let the parents take over – the parents may wish to seek legal advice regarding the best way to handle this situation. If the parents make good the money to the check cashing place or come to some kind of settlement with them, it may be possible to avoid the police being involved.
The Rockstar scam is an example of the Car Wrap scam – where the scammers want people to wrap their vehicles in advertising. I’m presently involved in scam baiting one of these scammers who had the hide to post their scam on a local community group that I am a member of. I’m going to post the initial email here in case anyone else is being scammed by these people –
Hello,
Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery, thus turning it into a mobile billboard. This can be achieved by simply painting the vehicle surface, but it is becoming more common today to use large vinyl sheets as decals. These can be removed with relative ease, making it much less expensive to change from one advertisement to another. Vehicles with large, flat surfaces, such as buses and light-rail carriages, are fairly easy to work with, though smaller cars with curved surfaces can also be wrapped in this manner. Wrap advertising is available to anybody irrespective of the vehicle you drive.
We are currently seeking to employ individuals in the United States of America. How would you like to make money by simply driving your car or banner wrapped for PepsiCo. Drink®
How it works?
Here’s the basic premise of the “paid to drive” concept: PepsiCo. Drink® seek residents in the United States who are professional drivers to go about their normal routine as they usually do, only with a big advert for “PepsiCo. Drink®” plastered on your car. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as “auto wraps,”that almost seem to be painted on the vehicle, and which will cover any portion of your car’s exterior surface.Don’t Have a Car?
If you don’t have a car, you can also participate if you have a bike.What does the company get out of this type of ad strategy?
Lots of exposure and awareness. The auto wraps tend to be colorful, eye-catching and attract lots of attention. Plus, it’s a form of advertising with a captive audience,meaning people who are stuck in traffic can’t avoid seeing the wrapped car alongside them. This program will last for 3 months and the minimum you can participate is a month.What is the Contract Duration?
Once the wrap has been installed, minimum term is 4 weeks and maximum is 12 weeks.Would the wrap/decal damage the paint of my car?
The decal doesn’t damage the paint of car and will be removed by our representative once the contract expire. We will be responsible for installation and removal of the wrap.You will be compensated with $300.00 per week which is essentially a “rental”payment for letting our company use the space and no fee is required from you. PepsiCo. Drink® shall provide experts that would handle the advert placing on your car. You will receive an upfront payment of $300.00 in form of a check via courier service for accepting to carry this advert on your car.
It is very easy and simple no application fees required. Get back with the following details if you are interested in this offer.
Applicant information:
Name :
Full Street Address(not PO BOX) :
APT #:
City,State,Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Age:We shall be contacting you as soon as we receive this information.
Best Regards,
Roger Smith
Hiring Manager,
PepsiCo®
pepsi6973@gmail.com
A quick note of apology to my regular readers – my apologies for the recent postings in regards to scams. I know these may be somewhat boring to read.
These particular scams are huge at the moment and each and every day, hundreds of people find my website by searching for text contained in these emails or by searching for email addresses, names and contact numbers used by these scammers. For example, if you search on Google for one of the companies I posted about recently, this is what you get –
This is super awesome because it means anyone searching for that company will know it is a scam once they click through and read my post about it.
Many people view just that one page which gave them the search result, and then vanish without commenting or contacting me. So if you got here searching for Pepsico, please do not leave without contacting me or commenting below. You are not alone in being scammed, so let the others arriving here know they are not alone, too.
Thank you so much to the person who sent me more details. Since I posted about this the other day, a large amount of people have arrived here after searching for Manheimy PTY LTD reviews or company details or has anyone worked for Manheimy and even is Manheimy a scam..
As mentioned the other day, this Manheimy PTY LTD job is a scam.
There is a real and legitimate company named Manheim – the scammers sometimes will use a real company name just slightly changed.
They are using the email address – realonlinejobs@gmail.com
——————————————————————-
Hi,
An online Home Based Worker position requires that you have a reliable computer with constant Internet access and capabilities, a valid E-mail account, basic Internet knowledge, and minimal typing skills.
You must also be able to conduct yourself in a professional manner. This includes having excellent grammar and spelling when communicating with clients via E-mail.
In addition to the above requirements, you MUST be able to follow /instructions closely and completely! You will do all contact via E-mail, so you will not be required to call anyone at anytime. This allows you to work whichever hours are most convenient for you (days, night, or weekends). You will be processing applications, as well as
filling out forms in specific company databases (this tends to be tedious at times, so please be sure that you have the patience to do so before proceeding.
This is why you will need to have basic Internet knowledge, though the training provided will give you step-by-step instructions on how to perform these tasks properly.
There are no “down-times” with this position, so you will have a constant flow of work to complete. THIS IS NOT A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME, so if that is what you are looking for please do not pursue this opportunity. You will be paid $50 for each application completed.
The amount of money you make each week is entirely up to you, and how much time and effort you are willing to put in with this position. The average person makes $2500-$12000 each week.
When you have been accepted as a Home Based employee, you are considered an Independent Contractor.
This means that your taxes will not be taken out; therefore, you will not be provided with any tax forms. THIS IS ENTIRELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. The training provided will go more in depth about what to do with your taxes.
You will receive your pay through PayPal or whichever online payment portal you choose. When an application is completed, $50 will be credited to your PayPal account, which can be withdrawn into your bank account at your leisure. You can read about the security policies https://paypal.com.
There is a one-time 60-days money back guarantee.fee for the training package in case you do not like the job. This also includes all the administration processing fees and training costs. We offer professional online support for as long as you may need us.
This is a one-time fee, and there will be no other charges to you. However, the fee must be received before you can gain access to the “Training Materials.
We must accept this fee to cover training costs, processing fees, as well as to ensure that only serious applicants apply. This is a /non-refundable fee, so be sure that you understand what you are doing before sending in your payment for the training Guides.
This fee will not be waived for anyone, and cannot be deducted from /your first pay. This is because if you do not process applications, you will not have a first pay, and we will have already taken the time to set you up, and train you. Once your payment is received, you will be given immediate access to your training Guides.
You will need a word processing program in order to perform this position successfully (MS Word, Works, Notepad, etc.) Once you have received the training materials, you can START working from home TODAY.
Most applicants typically complete the training within 24 hours or /less. However, you can do this at your leisure.
Keep in mind that the sooner you go through the training materials, the sooner you will START earning money. I will be able to be /contacted via E-mail at anytime after you have received your training materials to help you, or answer any questions you may have.
If you are serious about this position, meet all the requirements, and are responsible enough to work from home, then please contact me via E-mail and I will inform you of the cost of the training packet, and how to set up a PayPal account to send the fee (if you do not already have an account).
You seem like an excellent candidate for this position, and I hope that I hear from you again so I can get you STARTED right away!
Sincerely,
Ms Adrienne D. Evans
Human Resources
——————————————————————-
So, 2500 a week divided by 50 – you would have to process 50 applications. 12000 a week divided by 50 – you would have to process 240 applications. Seems legit, NOT!
Plus, in this very email – the fee you pay has a money back guarantee – and then it is not refundable. Hmm.
In this case it seems like they are looking for people to pay them a fee in order to be “trained” – This is an excellent way to get a small amount of money from a large amount of people, and once a victim financially invests in a scam like this, they are much less likely to walk away from it.
My one hope with this scam is, not too many people will pay this upfront fee.
They could also be looking to get your credit card details by sending you to a fake Paypal website. NEVER click on a Paypal link sent to you via email. Always type paypal.com into your location bar in your browser. In fact never click on a link sent to you in your email. Always type in the website yourself. :)
It is also possible that they may send fake checks to people in order to cover this “fee”. They might say that a client owes them money and could the job applicant process the check through their bank account.
Checks are also known as cheques or bank drafts, depending where you live, but we will call them checks for ease of calling them just one thing.
The check will at first clear. That is because the info on the check is legit, likely stolen from a company who put their details online. Later, and it could be up to a year later, the details will be found to be stolen and the company will ask the bank to reverse that check, and the scam victim will suddenly be without that money.
If you want to see some fake checks, visit this post – Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year! – for more info on internet scams, see this post – Internet Safety & Scams – What You Need To Know.
Keep in mind the golden rule –
I may update this post with further emails when I receive them. :)
If you are in contact with this company, stop emailing them. If they will not stop emailing you, try sending them this – just copy and paste it from here –
—————————
I am now aware that this is not a legitimate job and that you are trying to scam me.
Do not email me anymore – I have reported your emails to the local police and I will send any further emails directly to them. Do not mail me anything – I will not accept any deliveries that you send to me.
Leave me alone!
—————————
Be aware they may pass your email address onto other scammers, so you may see other scams coming to you via your inbox. There are so many different and varied scams, there is no way I can warn you about all the possibilities.
Just remember that golden rule above, and hit delete. If you think something might be legit, you can forward it on to me at snoskred {at} gmail {dot} com and I will check into it for you. If you receive too many scams, it might be worth changing your email account.
DO NOT BANK IT.
Please contact me in the event that this occurs, and I will advise you further. If possible I will ask you to send me a photo of the check so I can try and warn the company or people named on it, and I will contact the bank involved as well.
Did you arrive here searching for Manheimy PTY LTD? Can you tell us how you found this company, or how they found you? Do you have any other emails from them?
I receive an email every day from Jobseeker, which is an Australian job search website. Todays email contained this position for Manheimy PTY LTD –
On clicking through this is what I saw – however the job has already been removed from Jobseeker. Yes, this job is a scam! FYI nobody pays $50 an hour for admin work. It would be lovely if they did, but nobody does.
This would more than likely be another fake cheque scam job, as seen here – Snoskred made 5 million dollars online this year! – the only reason I am posting about it is because people will be searching for this company and not finding anything that tells them it is a scam.
So let me be the first one to tell you –
If anyone arrives here via searching for Manheimy PTY LTD and you happen to have a contact email for these scammers, please use my contact form and give me the email address so I can bait them, kthx. :)
Someone did contact me and I wrote another post – More About Manheimy PTY LTD
Also, I have updated my post – Snoskred made 5 million dollars online this year! – so if you want to know how NOT to make money online, you should have a read of that post. :)
people have arrived here searching for – is connected sky business assistant job a scam?
Many people will not be scammed thanks to that post.. :)
Thank you to the brave person who emailed me about this – it takes great bravery to speak up about these things, because so many people make assumptions about scam victims. They are being scammed by criminals. That is the only assumption we need to make about them.
That person emailed me yesterday asking
That is a really good question. Here is my answer.
Because I deeply believe that nobody should be scammed.
I can’t always stop people from being scammed, but the least I can do is put the word out there and hope that people find my site before they bank the check.
I also believe the banks should take their share of responsibility with these fake check scams.
Banks have everything they need to figure out the check is fraudulent, yet they choose not to figure it out, and they often tell customers “the check has cleared” – and take zero responsibility when it “unclears”.
Customers trust their bank and rely on the advice they are given – that the check is real, and that is has cleared.
People assume if the check “clears” it must be fine, because they believe that banks have done some homework as a part of this clearing process and the bank has checked to see if the account exists and if the funds are there.
What people do not know is –
If the banks were the ones to lose the money, you betcha they’d stop allowing checks at all – or they would do their homework and make sure the check was real. Banks have hidden clauses in the terms and conditions that you as a customer agreed to which mean if a check is found to be stolen or fraudulent, then the funds go back to the bank and YOU the customer loses out on those funds.
However those terms and conditions and the fact that banks will not take any financial responsibility for clearing a check and then unclearing it means that banks are essentially partners in this crime and they are enabling the scammers to get away with this.
I have seen people get a letter in writing from the bank to state that the check has cleared and the funds are available, and even that does nothing for them once the check unclears.
I received an email today from someone in the USA who had found my fake check article and wanted to know if they were being scammed. As soon as they told me what was going on, I knew the answer was yes. Luckily, they had not received the check yet, and they will not be depositing it when they do. This scammer will be hearing from me as a surprise, instead..
I asked the scam victim to forward on the emails to me, so that I could post them here – this way any other potential victims can find these details and know right away that it is a scam.
From: DONALD CRAIG {diesel@mail.wowway.com} (1)
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 2:50 PM
Subject: PART TIME JOB OFFER
To: (2)If you are organized and honest, you can make three hundred dollars
($350) (3) a week, as a business assistant.Reply for more details .Please all replies should be forwarded to donaldcraig18820@gmail.com
And please include your phone number.
Thanks
Donald Craig
So, let us take a quick look at the clues here which point to this being a scam.
1. Donald Craig is emailing from one address (diesel@mail.wowway.com) and asking people to reply to a different address (donaldcraig18820@gmail.com) – Scammers do this because there is a very good chance the email address they are spamming people from will be closed down.
2. There is no name or email address in the To field. This gives the sign it is being blasted to multiple email accounts at the same time.
3. You can make three hundred dollars ($350) <-- one of these is not the same as the other. :) The person replied to the email with a brief note saying they were interested and they would like to know more. They received this reply -
From: Donald Criag (1) <donaldcraig18820@gmail.com>
Hello {NAME},
Thank you for your reply.
Here is a brief overview of who we are and what we do. We are a Europe (2) based company, offering business consultancy services to numerous clients across the globe like auditing, accounting, investment counsels and particularly offshore incorporation services. You can read more about us below:
Snoskred deleted the link as these sites can sometimes contain malware and simply will say Connected Sky is the name of the website.
With an increase in our customers from different parts of the globe, the expansion of the company has made it essential in recent times to employ part-time representatives (reps) in different geographic locations where we render service. The current expansion is what has created job opportunities like this for people like you.
We currently have 12 agents i.e. certified accountants in the United States AND CANADA (3) working for the company. These agents periodically require materials like envelopes, files and stamps to carry out their daily job.
They shall email you whenever they need these materials and also state precisely which type of materials and the quantity they shall need.Your job as a ‘rep’ is to contact the supplier through email to make orders for the materials requested for and also state the quantity that should be mailed to the agents address through post. (A standard supplier has been contracted to be making available these materials)
An agent can only order for materials once a week.
It has become quite untidy having 12 different agents, contacting different suppliers at different times for materials. It has not brought about accurate accountability for (ConnectedSky). We are employing you so all agents place their order with one person- You, and the supplier gets the orders placed, from that same person- You.
Having an employee like this in place would bring about precise accountability for the company, as we get to know what is been ordered and what is been supplied, and plus it saves us time. You shall be keeping a record of what an agent orders, and also a record of what you ask the supplier to provide. (Of course the logs have to match, as you are expected to ask from the supplier only what the agents’ demand).Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (ConnectedSky) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!.
Salary/wages payment: $350 weekly will be paid to you in form of cheque.
Just like we said, it is a flexible online/ ’work from home’ job compatible even with undergraduates as it does not require having a college degree, so long as you are computer literate, you have an email and you can keep records.
Agents will only contact you for materials during the weekdays.
We will always email you guidelines and instructions to follow in getting your job done perfectly when you start working.
If you still care to proceed with the job, get back to us with your information listed below then we can proceed from there.
1, NAME: (4)
2, CONTACT ADDRESS,
3,CITY,
4,STATE,
5,ZIPCODE:
6, MOBILE:
7, AGE:
8, SEX:
9, EMAIL ADDRESSPlease all replies should be forwarded to (5)
And please include your phone number and all replies should be forwarded to this email
And you can reach me on this number 7072603466
I will be waiting to hear from you soon.
Regards,
DONALD CRAIG
So what clues have we been provided in this email?
1. Donald Criag – most people know how to spell their own name. If it is mis-spelled, chances are, this is not their real name.
2. Europe is not a country. Real companies would say they are based in COUNTRY not CONTINENT. EG We are based in Germany.
3. Capital letters as a surprise out of nowhere are a dead giveaway.
4. The part with 1, NAME: – if you ever receive an email that asks you to supply details in that kind of format, you can be certain that it is a scam. No legit employer would ever ask for your details in this manner.
5. Please all replies should be forwarded to blank? Forget to put something in there, did you, scammer?
If you go to the supplied website, it looks legit until you do some googling and then you discover that other sites out there have the exact same text.
Taking lines of text from this email and searching for them can be quite interesting. For example this line –
Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (ConnectedSky) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!
comes back with these results – and you’ll quickly note the brackets contain many and varied company names within the exact same sentence –
Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (sovereigngroup Ltd) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!
Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (HI Audit Kyriacou & Partners) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!
Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (Global Consultants) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!
Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by C&N to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO! – in this case there are no brackets, this scammer is likely the one who wrote the “script” to begin with.
Scammers work on a script. When one of their gang finds the script to be successful, they will pass it on to other gang members who will use it – just changing their name, email address, phone numbers and the company name.
Hello {name},
Thank you for the reply.
Your Details have been taken down and passed over to the admin. They have processed and reviewed your application so you can begin work immediately.
Please be informed that you will be working as the company’s representative in your location. Nothing hectic, as your recruit manager I’ll be giving you guidance every step of the way and attending to your every question until you get the complete hang of it.
Secondly, at this juncture I need to know through which channel, would you prefer receiving your salary- via check or via direct deposit?
We usually recommend paying via check, and I advise you select that also. As a straightforward and transparency principle, this way we can keep the working relationship as open and as simple as possible. (It is also via cheque (1) payments that the company shall fund you the money needed for ordering materials, which you shall pay to the supplier).
Note that your first salary shall be prepaid, (2) which means that your salary shall be included in the first check you receive and you will be paid as you start. Your salary after that shall be paid weekly, on Fridays.
Lastly, let me know if you can get started this week?
And please include your phone number and all replies should be forwarded to this email
And you can reach me on this number 7072603466 (3)
I will be waiting to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Donald Craig
1. Note the two different spellings of check & cheque. It is spelled cheque in my own country but most of the scam victims I speak with are in the USA. I’ve often struggled to make sure I spell it as check myself and I am not trying to scam anyone. :)
2. They are going to give you money for doing nothing? Prepaid salary is not something legitimate jobs do.
3. Why is the phone number on the web site for Cyprus, and this one is for the USA? Both numbers divert to Nigeria, via a redirection service, by the way.
Hello {name},
I got the response from the admin department earlier today and all your details with the company have been entered on there.
Please be notified that the company would be sending you a cheque to the residential address which you provided for you to purchase the necessary materials that our agents have been placing orders for.
The company shall also include in the cheque, your first salary of $350.
Note that your other salaries after this shall be paid at the end of the week- on Fridays.
The cheque shall be forwarded to you via courier and which begins this week Tuesday
Feel free to ask any questions and kindly stay close to your email, as I shall be mailing you at intervals.
Please all replies should be forwarded to (1)
And please include your phone number (2)
DONALD CRAIG
1. Again no email address to forward replies to.
2. You have already provided your phone number, a couple of emails ago.
Hello {name},
Check (1) for the supplier has been mailed out to your address you shall receive it this week Tuesday which is tomorrow.
The Cheque (1) is from one of our clients who is making part payment for auditing and account review services rendered by us. (2) You shall deduct your salary of $350 and pay the supplier the remaining funds.
As soon as you receive the Check, go straight to your bank and deposit the cheque at your bank. You’ll need to enquire from the bank when the funds would be available for withdrawal in 24 hours.
Here is the tracking number UPS.COM {number}
Use it to monitor exactly what time the package would arrive at your address.
Note that the funds would be available for withdrawal or 24/48 hours after you have deposited it into your bank account.
kindly send me me a reply or text me so i will be able to know when the funds would be available so i can get the name and location of the supplier and send them to you.
After you must have received the funds, keep your salary in your bank account (which is $350)
You can text me or call me on my this number (707) 676-3105 (4) to update me on the step after you have gotten back to me with reply from the bank
Would be waiting to hear from you soon.
Regards
DONALD CRAIG
1. Again the check/cheque misspelling.
2. So now you are receiving a payment for the company and processing that via your bank account. Money laundering, anyone?
3. “kindly” is a word the Nigerians use a lot, along with “I will like to” “update me urgently” “compliments of the season” “modalities” and a few other catchphrases.
4. 7072603466 was the number previously given. Now we have a new number? And note it is written differently as well. (707) 676-3105
It was at this point that the scam victim became suspicious and did some googling – and they found my website as a result and sent me an email reaching out for assistance. Thank the deities, they will not be scammed. But for every one person who reaches out, there are thousands of people who do get scammed.
The scammers are constantly coming up with new scams – here is one which talks about wrapping your car in advertising to be paid a weekly amount via cheque and when you read through the comments there you will see hundreds of people who fell for it..
Banks need to stop allowing checks / cheques / bank drafts. Full stop, end of story. There is no reason in these days of electronic funds transfer for this form of payment to be used. Allowing it simply allows the scammers to get away with these scams – especially when the bank is often a willing participant, telling people checks have cleared when they can bounce up to a year later!
Until then, you have to protect yourself, and here is the best advice I have seen on this subject – though I have added a rule #7 just to make things perfectly clear.
Bitter Bastard said it best in their reply here –
“Rules to follow” to avoid most fake jobs:
1) Job asks you to use your personal bank account and/or open a new one.
2) Job asks you to print/mail/cash a check or money order.
3) Job asks you to use Western Union or moneygram in any capacity.
4) Job asks you to accept packages and re-ship them on to anyone.
5) Job asks you to pay visas, travel fees via Western Union or moneygram.
6) Job asks you to sign up for a credit reporting or identity verification site.
7. Job asks you to deposit a check into your personal account.
Avoiding all jobs that mention any of the above listed ‘red flags’ and you will miss nearly all fake jobs. Only scammers ask you to do any of the above. No. Exceptions. Ever. For any reason.
Did you find this post searching for something like “is connectedsky business assistant job a scam” – the answer to that question is yes – this is a scam. There is no job. You will be sent a fraudulent check, and they want you to send them money because your bank will clear the check at first.
but you still have the money and have not sent it anywhere – PUT THAT MONEY BACK IN YOUR BANK RIGHT NOW. Do not send any money via Western Union or Moneygram.
And you have sent the money via Western Union or Moneygram, then you may wish to seek legal advice. I strongly suggest that you do so as a matter of urgency, because..
In the USA, scam victims can be arrested for banking a fraudulent check.
Even the FTC in the US gives out incorrect information re check scams – they say “The bottom line is that until the bank confirms that the funds from the check have been deposited into your account, you are responsible for any funds you withdraw against that check.”
even if the bank confirms the funds have been deposited, the bank can undo the transaction at any time when they discover the check was stolen or fraudulent – even up to a year after they “cleared” it. But you did not know this, and nobody ever tells anyone this.
If you are not willing to seek legal advice, the only advice I can personally provide to you is to print out all the emails you received and the emails you sent, print out that page from the Federal Trade Commission and keep it somewhere safe for if/when the police eventually turn up on your doorstep.
and I want to make this very clear –
You will have to pay this money back to the bank eventually. The sooner you make arrangements to do this, the better.
If you have been in contact with these scammers, telling others about your experience, so that they can know they are not alone.
Every single day, several people are finding this post by searching for the text, email addresses, phone numbers, or company name contained within this post. If you are one of these people, please comment to let us know what you searched for and what led you here.
If you need further advice, please leave a comment on this post, or use the contact form to get in touch with me.
These spammers just keep getting.. more weird. :)
Today I received a comment from “leaky faucet pompano beach seafood festival” It said, and I quote –
Having said that, there’s way more required inside plumbing business which has resulted
in numerous kinds of plumbing profession paths that folks can pursue as expert plumbers.
These types of couplings are a great asset and can really help, get
the job done. This article looks at the importance
of choosing the right plumbing courses.
Well thanks, leaky faucet, for sharing this important information with us. Though I am still confused what it has to do with pompano beach and/or a seafood festival!
Some of you would know that I’ve been involved with AKMuckraker and The Mudflats since September, 2008. We’ve been through a lot in the past few years, many stressful situations which we have worked through together as well as the rest of The Mudflats Admin & Moderation team. I consider her to be a good friend.
AKMuckraker (Jeanne Devon) and her good friends Ken Morris and Frank Bailey (A former aide to Governor Palin) have collaborated together on a book. It was released yesterday in the USA.
Also released yesterday were several “tweets” from Rebecca Mansour, a current aide of Sarah Palin.
Though whether she is still an aide remains to be seen – Palin has a habit of throwing people under the bus for much less than Mansour is guilty of.
During the time I have worked with AKMuckraker, there have been times when she has shared confidences with me. Never in a million years would I think to share those with anyone else, not even the admin & mod team, without her express permission. Certainly not with someone I’ve never met whether or not I trusted them.
When someone tells me something and tells me to keep it in the vault, with me, it is LOCKED IN THAT DARNED VAULT and it isn’t coming out until that person tells me otherwise.
Mansour betrayed Sarah and her family, and thoroughly deserves to be thrown under the bus. When someone trusts you and allows you to be a part of their “inner circle” you have a responsibility to keep your mouth firmly zipped..
Even worse – if this is what she was saying to someone she never met, what the heck is she saying to people she knows?
Apparently the person who was tweeting with her had 122 tweets from her which he was willing to sell. The people he ended up giving them to (nobody would buy them) have not shared all of them but you can view the ones they did share here and here.
My personal favourites with the irony in bold –
19:23:35: Listen: I tell you things I wouldn’t tell anyone tho I have press hounding me for the info I tell you. I trust you even tho I’ve never met u
19:28:55: Nothing we can do when someone behaves stupidly.
Ain’t that the truth!