This job scam just got through my spam filters. I'll post the e-mail and then we'll go into the red flags of the scam.
From: Elias Knox<alejandritz@yahoo.es>
Good morning,
My name is Sergey Markov. I am a manager of Magic PC Company.
Our company are reselling goods in Russia (Notebooks, digital cameras and etc)
Often our clients prefer buy goods directly from US stores it more cheap then
buy in Local russian shops. But most USA shops and stores not ship orders oversears.
So we are offerring mail forwarding service for our clients.
Quantity of orders from USA stores grows every day. So we need more partners in USA
for order processing.
We would like to offer the perspective partnership to you. We propose a vacancy of the
regional agent. The average salary will be about $2000-4500 monthly.Correspondence manager regional agent
Job description: - Mail Forwarding
Requirements:
- Home Computer with e-mail account and ability to check your e-mail
box at least twice a day;
- Adults only accepted (we cannot hire underage people);
- Contact phone
- Ability to handle packages weight up to 20 pounds(get them to the post office).If you interested in this partnership please email me : sergey.markov@live.com
Then I will email you all information about this vacancyBest regards
Sergey Markov
First big red flag is that the "from" name on the e-mail isn't the same as the person in the e-mail. Furthermore, he claims to be in Russia, but the "from" address is at Yahoo.es (Spain). But he asks you to reply to him at a live.com address. This is one of the easiest and most common dead giveaways of a scam. The from address has nothing to do with the address you've been instructed to reply to, and the reply address is at a free mail service like hotmal, gmail, or live.com.
Second big red flag is that they want you to forward packages to Russia. This is usually used to help them obtain stolen goods. They get an auction seller on eBay or a store to send you a product which they've usually paid for with a hacked PayPal account. You forward the package. A week or two later, when the payment gets reversed and the defrauded store or auction seller goes to the cops, the only address they have is yours. The cops come to talk to you.
And even though you're just an unwitting dupe, you're an accomplice to a felony, plus you're guilty of receiving stolen property. You might not get prosecuted.
Third big red flag. The figure of $4,500 monthly is $54,000 a year. Who is going to pay you $54,000 a year to be a part-time mail clerk? What legitimate company pays that kind of money for a few trips to the UPS store a day? As the old saying goes, "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."
I know a lot of you are hurting. I know that these job offers sound like the answer to a prayer. But there are a lot of people with no shred of decency who see you, in this hour of your need, as a sheep just ready to be fleeced. Got a sick child, dying parent, disabling injury? They'll still rob you and use you to help them rob others.
I'm sorry to dash the hopes of those of you who were wanting this to be real. But if you went searching to check them out, you knew deep down that something just wasn't quite right. Didn't you?
Best of luck to you all.
Entries (RSS)