Job Scam: Chalon HandMade

This one slipped through Yahoo's spam filters. I'll run the text and then we can discuss why it's bogus...

Subject: Book-keeper Wanted
From: "Michael Chalon"

Dear Sir/Madam,

Would you like to work online from home and get paid weekly ? Chalon- HandMade needs a book-keeper in the state, so I want to know if you will like to work online from home and get paid weekly without leaving or affecting your present job? THIS IS SAFE AND LEGAL. My company produces various clothing materials, batiks, assorted fabrics and traditional costume which we have clients we supply weekly in the states.
My clients make payments for our supplies every week in form of Money Orders which are not readily cash able outside the United States, So we need someone in the States to work as our representative and assist us in processing the payments from our clients and I will pay HIM/HER weekly salary.
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS RECEIVE THIS PAYMENTS FROM OUR CLIENTS IN THE STATES, GET IT CASHED IN YOUR BANK THEN DEDUCT YOUR WEEKLY PAY AND FORWARD THE BALANCE TO THE COMPANY DOWN HERE VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER. Our payments will be issued out in your name and you get them cashed in your bank, deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the company via Western Union Money Transfer. AS SOON AS WE CONFIRM ANY PAYMENT COMING TO YOU, I WILL LET YOU KNOW AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION TO SEND THE FUNDS TO THE COMPANY VIA Western Union Money Transfer.

Prospective finance co-ordinators should forward the following info to my email :
** First & Last Name:
** Physical Address: ( NO P.O Boxes )
** Apt, Suite, Floor #:
** City:
** State:
** Zip Code:
** Cell Phone #: Home Phone #: , Work Phone #
** Sex:
** Age:
** Nationality:
** Current Job:

Kind Regards,

Michael Chalon
Chalon HandMade
www.chalon.com

Now, the first sign that this is bogus is that it's from a UK company with its own web site, but the address of the sender is at the University of Illinois in the U.S.

Normally, if a scam job letter gives you a web address, it's usually under a month old. Chalon.com is over 10 years old, but if you contacted them about a bookeeper job, I'd bet you'd find there was no such position. As a matter of fact, Chalon has its own jobs page where this position isn't mentioned. Occasionally, the scammers give you a link to a real, legitimate web site, hoping you'll still reply to their e-mail instead of inquiring at the site.

But the biggest sign this is bogus is that this is an old scam. No legitimate company needs reps in the U.S. to cash checks for them and then wire them the money via Western Union. Banks can handle this for them at much lower rates. And if they were going to have someone handling tens of thousands for them, don't you think they could use a better method than unsolicited form e-mails to complete strangers to find someone?

The way it works is that you respond, they send you a contract (it's completely bogus, but it makes it seem like you're doing something legit), then eventually they send you a check or two to cash. These checks are forged. They're good enough to get cashed, though, so you take your commission and send your "employer" the rest by Western Union. A week or two later, your bank says the check was forged and it didn't clear. Your "employer" has suddenly disappeared, you're an accomplice to check fraud, and you're on the hook for repaying the bank.

Go ahead and tell these people that you're a struggling single mom and that your kid has cancer, they'll still say you're perfect for the job and send you fake checks. They're not angels with the answer to your prayers. They're inhuman scumbags with no morals who are looking to hurt anyone they can. Don't answer them. If you answered them, ignore further communications from them. Avoid giving them any personal information.

Best of luck to you.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Job Hunting, Miscellaneous Thoughts.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.