No perm offers yet, but I'm keeping my head above water and have one interview scheduled with another likely to be scheduled. And both of those positions are interesting roles with cool companies. Really hope one turns into an offer.

How are you? I represent Dealmax LTD Personnel Dept. and I'm responsible for
headhunting among the candidates for the open positions with our
organization. We have read with interest your information disclosed at
Career Builder site detailing your relevant work experience and
qualifications and want to offer you a well-paid part-time job opportunity.
We believe you can be considered as a successful candidate for the vacancy.
If you are interested in our company and in more information on this
position, feel free to contact the HR.

Thank you for your consideration and have a nice day.

Aside from the standard "if it seems to be too good to be true, it is" and the standard caution against unsolicited recruitment offers from Hotmail accounts (this one came from Hermione Z. Jefferson - ven4456medema@hotmail.com), the biggest red flag is their return address.

The reply address was Recruitment@DealmaxLtd.com. The domain DealmaxLtd.com was registered on February 2, 2011. Yes, just 5 days ago. If you've got dirty laundry older than the company's domain, that's a HUGE red flag.

Be careful of these folks.

Dear Sir/Madam,

1st Delivery Inc. offers an opportunity to apply for a full/part time position of Delivery Service Assistant for the United States citizens and legal aliens (Note: Previous experience in the delivery service is not required).

1st Delivery Inc. is a premier global provider of delivery service solutions, specializing in the international delivery solutions, with the long-term commitment history.

1st Delivery Inc. provides time-critical delivery services for clients from more than 80 countries world-wide. Our flexible and reliable transportation scheme and demonstrated expertise in providing time-critical deliveries for over 10 years positions us to provide top quality delivery service, with superior on-time performance.

Job Purpose:

Delivery Service Assistant provides a middle-man delivery assistance between 1st Delivery Inc. clientele and commercial stores that do not offer delivery service of the purchased products to certain regions of the world therefore forcing the customers from such regions to refer to our International delivery service to have the purchased products delivered to their doorsteps.

The position has a high demand of discipline and requires a reliable service provider capable of operating at the highest levels of quality and consistency, with a perfect sense of time management.

General Duties:
- Receiving delivery packages shipped to the residence address.
- Upon the reception, conducting an inspection of the content to verify the undamaged condition.
- Repackaging the content of the deliveries into new outer covers.
- Processing the deliveries further to the clients through the local Post Office.

(Note: 1st Delivery Inc. covers all of the expenses that occur during the delivery process)

Position Offers:

- Full/part time employment opportunity (Note: Full time position is available for apply only after the 2 month trial period has been completed)
- Annual salary of 25.000 USD
- Ability to work home based, remotely from our Headquarters
- Certified professional training
- Great work atmosphere with potential for career growth
- Free health insurance, matching 401(k)

(Note: Certified professional training programs and the employee health insurance plan is available after the 2 month trial period)

Position Requirements:

- United States citizenship or legal alien status with a valid permission to work in the United States
- High school diploma (AA/BS degree is a plus)
- Ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously within a strict time frame
- Perfect time management skills
- Must be self-motivated
- Time commitment and efforts: up to 8 hours a week, 1-10 packages handled weekly.
- Professional attitude
- Good English oral and writing communication skills
- Basic PC application skills
- Previous internet experience (highly preferred)

To apply or to learn more about the vacant position contact the Human Resources Department by replying to this e-mail : heidivess83@gmail.com . Your request will be forwarded directly to a Recruitment Officer.

[lots of blank space clipped]

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Okay, the first big red flag... Who contacts you out of the blue, offering you what amounts to $60 dollars an hour ($25,000 a year for 8 hours a week of work) to be a shipping clerk?

Second, package forwarding is a well-known scam. Many companies and people running auctions on eBay will not ship to certain overseas countries because too many of the orders are fraudulent. So when you sign up for this job, the fraudsters buy items while pretending to be you, using stolen credit cards and forged checks. They have the items shipped to you in the U.S., so the sellers will trust the order more, then instruct you to ship the products to them in Eastern Europe or somewhere in Africa.

A couple of weeks later, you're pissing and moaning about not being reimbursed for your shipping costs when the cops knock on your door and want to discuss all the fraudulent purchases you've been making.

Third, if they mail you from one free webmail service (in this case Hotmail) and ask you to reply to another free webmail service (in this case Gmail), they're usually using throwaway accounts that they know will get shut down when the scam is discovered. If they've been in business for over 10 years, where's their web site and why isn't the recruiter using an address at that site?

Last, should you really trust a job offer that begins "Dear Sir/Madam"?

So, to review: Job offer thats too good to be true, job that follows a classic scam pattern, contact people using free webmail addresses all over the map, form letter contact. You can draw your own conclusion.

I know how hard it is to be out of work and desperate. I was that way at the beginning of the year. I'd been out of work going on 15 months and my unemployment was on the verge of running out before I finally got a legit 7-month contract position with a well-known megacorporation. It paid $10 an hour less than my last contract, but after 15 months of unemployment, I had to take anything I could get.

That kind of feeling may be causing you to give serious consideration to these scam jobs that keep getting mailed out, it may be causing you to try to rationalize things and find an excuse to go forward with the job even though it's jangling every last warning bell. Don't let desperation make you become a victim of these scammers. Keep your wits about you. Good luck.

IF YOU ALREADY GOT INVOLVED WITH ONE OF THE FAKE JOBS THESE KINDS OF E-MAILS RECRUIT FOR, CALL THE POLICE. THEY WILL HELP YOU.

I'm an excellent cook. That's got nothing to do with training, but after reading 1,500 cover letters, I hope you'll find it's different than the same old opening. It also means I'm not only confident in my job-related skills, but I can sweeten the pot with some awesome dishes at office potlucks.

While it's been a while since I was on stage, I emceed the open mic at a major Los Angeles comedy club in the late 1980s, and in the 90s I presented online marketing seminars to business groups around Los Angeles. I am comfortable and natural speaking in front of large groups on a variety of topics.

I also have extensive writing experience, experience with documentation and courseware development, and solid web development and content management experience.

I've attached my resume and I believe you'll find that my broad range of experience and skills makes your task of finding the right person for this job that much easier.

From:Enid Friend <[they used MY e-mail address as the From address]>
Received: from [93.122.135.24] (helo=abbotsford.k12.wi.us)
Subject: Position Opening

Hello

Prime Group has a new vacancy opened in your region.
Please read this email and see if you will be a good match for this available position!
Prime Group Inc. is a world-famous company founded in Eastern Europe with branches throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

Two to three hours a day in the leisure of your home performing your duties over the Internet is sufficient for this position.
We provide one month paid training period. During your training you receive online training and phone support.
At the end of the evaluation period supervisor will make the final decision to extend job offer or not.

"You can't skip a beat" in this industry! Completing tasks in timely manner is of the most importance to us and our clients.
Monthly salary for this position starts at $2000, plus 5% commission for every task that you complete.
All the banking fees will be covered by the company.

Main Duties:
- Processing payments from our customers (wire transfers)
- Ensure the efficiency and completion of financial transactions
- Keep accurate record for the performed transactions.

NOTE: This is not a sales position.
My goal is to spark your interest. In the present economy, our position offers training,
support and a pay scale comparable to entry level position requiring 40 hours per week.
I hope you will explore, compare, and then contact me with your questions.

Please feel free to ask me any questions at Enid@webcompany-es.net
(fill in the form below with your updated contact information and attach to your message).

=======================FORM======================
First name:
Last name:
Country of residence:
Contact phone:
Preferred call time:
=======================FORM======================

Best regards.
Enid Friend
Prime Group

First sign this is a scam... what legitimate company is going to so obviously forge the From e-mail address? Imagine you had the e-mail address of "dave@myemail.com" and you receive an e-mail at that address from "Enid Friend <dave@myemail.com>." Unless they actually hacked your system and sent you the mail from your own account (which would be reason enough not to trust them), they faked the return address (known as forging headers).

If you dig deeper into the full headers (most of which are normally hidden), it looks like this was sent from a computer at a school in Wisconsin ("abbotsford.k12.wi.us"), most likely because someone there got it infected with a virus that let a criminal take it over and make it send this for them.

The second sign is that they describe a job duty as "processing payments from our customers (wire transfers)." This is a VERY well known scam. They'll send you forged checks or payments from hacked PayPal accounts, have you cash them out, then take 5% of the money and send the rest of the money via Western Union to them overseas. A few days later when the forgery/hack is discovered, you're the one who deposited the bad check and took the money or accepted the bogus payment. You're the one who takes the fall and your overseas "employer" gets away.

The payment processing scam is very well known and has been going on a long time. A real, legitimate overseas business can get a real, legitimate American bank to handle stateside payment processing for them. When I worked for a company based in England, they had a dollar-denominated account at Chase Manhattan Bank for that.

The third sign... $2000 a month plus 5% commission on all transactions processed for them, for two to three hours a day of work. Based on the average that one month is 4 1/3 weeks, you're working between 43 and 65 hours a month. So you've got a base salary of $30.75 to $46.50 an hour plus 5% on transactions. Each $3,000 a week in transaction bumps you up by $10-$15 an hour. And some stranger has just come along and dropped this in your lap. Sound too good to be true? Then it most likely is.

Look, I've been out of work a long time. I know how desperate you can feel. But these warning signs are too blatant to ignore. If you haven't applied, don't. If you have, and these people have contacted you, call the police (via their main number in the phone book, NOT by 911) and ask them how to handle disentangling yourself, because the people who sent this e-mail are criminals.

Good luck to you and God bless.

From: Arline Hazel <bhufruau5579@hotmail.com>
Subject: ProLineGames_J0B (700).

Company name: ProLineGames ltd.
Job title: Project Coordinator
Position type: Part-Time/Virtual office
Location: US only

Company overview
Company ProLineGames was founded in 2002.

Our company offers solutions for organization of on-line tournaments and launch of on-line tournaments. The company owns excellent resource base and highly qualified personnel ready to solve tasks of any level of difficulty.

Also ProLineGames ltd. focuses particular attention at conduction of off-line tournaments, because there could be nothing better than the best cyber fighters of the continent gather in one place in order to fight face to face.

Job Description
Quite recently our company introduces a new service for companies hosting own Web projects (MMORPG).
Our service supposes conduction of draws and lotteries with real prizes among the MMORPG users.

ProLineGames ltd. is always looking for skilled and talented individuals to join our company.

Currently we are seeking a part-time Project Coordinator to help the winners of tournaments in receiving information about the award, manage issues with them.

Company's provisions:

1. Flexible working schedule;
2. Commission and Bonus Opportunities;

If you are interested to find more about this position please send your resumes to: marshaproivers@gmail.com

ProLineGames ltd.

The first and most common red flag is the sender/reply mismatch. That's when you get the e-mail from some random person at a free mail service (like Hotmail) and then are asked to reply to a totally different person at another free mail service (like Gmail). If this is a reputable seven-year-old company that specializes in online games, why aren't they sending this from their own domain? I've been contacted by agencies where an assistant sends out the contact e-mail and asks me to reply directly to the recruiter, but both e-mail addresses were from the same domain for a known recruiting company, not throwaway accounts at free mail services. The only job e-mails I've received that do this are scam e-mails.

Second, who comes out of nowhere and offers you a good-paying job opportunity with flexible hours, work-from-home, etc., etc.? Scammers, that's who. As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Generally the scams fall into one of three categories:

• Payment Puppet: They send you forged checks or payments from hacked PayPal accounts. You cash them out and send them to your employer in Europe, Africa, or China by Western Union. A few days/weeks later, the bank or PayPal discovers the forgery/hack, and you're responsible for paying back the money.
• Package Reshipper: They use forged checks, hacked PayPal accounts, and other devious methods to pay for purchases from auction sellers and other vendors. Since most won't ship to Russia, China, or African countries because so many fraudulent orders come from there, the buyers have the packages shipped to you, and you re-ship the packages out of the country to them. When the seller finds out theiy got rooked, they call the cops and give them your name and address. Then the cops want to talk to you about where the merchandise went.
• Identity Theft: As part of the application/screening process, they need all sorts of information about you. You provide it and they use it to take out credit cards in your name, empty your bank account, etc. When all is said and done, your credit is ruined and you're fighting to get your life back.

In some cases, it's a combination of the three.

This looks like it might be a different scam. Helping winners of tournaments receive information about awards sounds like they might want to use you as a spam proxy or as a shill for an advance fee scam.

Advance fee scams most commonly appear in your mailbox as the Nigerian widow who needs your help to move 25 million in her husband's assets out of the country, the lawyer who believes you're the heir of a deceased millionaire, the European lottery you somehow won without ever entering, or the dying millionaire who wants your help distributing money to charity. The thing they all have in common is that if you bite, they'll run into some trouble disbursing the funds and need you to put up some money to pay a service fee, pay a bribe, whatever, to get the money released.

I'd reply to find out more about the job, but I dont for two reasons:

• I never reply to spam.
• These people are CRIMINALS. I'd prefer to keep my distance.

My advice is to toss out this e-mail. Don't play detective, don't think you'll have some fun trying to scam the scammers. Again, these people are CRIMINALS. If you want to report it, you can send it to your local cops, but since the scammers are out of the country, usually the best that could happen is that the authorities might run a sting and take down a domestic accomplice.

I know times are hard and jobs seem scarce. I'm job hunting too. But if you fall for a scam, whatever pain you're in now will be multiplied. Stay safe and God bless.

Whether or not I mention a sales background on my resume, whether or not I express an interest in sales, Farmer's can be relied upon, like Clockwork, to send me a recruiting e-mail.

"Based on my initial review of your resume, I believe you may be an excellent fit for our Career Opportunity in sales..." Like how he capitalizes "career opportunity"? At least it's not in all caps. Still, what about my resume made him believe I'd be an excellent fit? I've e-mailed that question to the sender and I'll let you know what he says... if he responds.

From: Lori Sofia <thhyddea3964@hotmail.com>
Subject: Business Consultant needed. (856)
To: patelkunalr.myjobs@gmail.com

Hello.

JCC Inc. is an international company, specializing in management consulting.
We offer a full complex of consulting services to help our clients to start or improve new business. That is why request in JCC Inc. services is growing all the time.

We are looking now for a highly motivated and experienced Management Consultant to work with global company and to represent its interests.

Main responsibilities:

- Settle the legal issues
- Managing the Company’s funds
- Locate the facilities
- Carry out market research
- HR consulting
- Oversee operations
- Support the Company’s strategic goals by formulating and implementing a program for business development within the region etc.

Benefits: high base salary; health Insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, holidays; company car;
training and development programs; bonuses.

If you are interested in this offer, please e-mail us to jacobitecrabtreeln@gmail.com, and include your phone number so that we can contact you for an interview.

HR Department
JCC Inc.
HR Officer,
Imma Raiford.

The first and most obvious red flag is the "To:" address. The better scammers actually go to the trouble of running a program that sends out letters to recipients individually, but when your address is not the "To:" address, it means you're not the only recipient. It could have been sent to a large distribution list or a large number of blind carbon copied (BCC) addresses. Basically, you know this letter went out to more people than just you, and it could have been hundreds or even thousands. That's not a guarantee of a scam, but it should make you wary.

The second is the sender/reply mismatch. When you get the note from one address and are asked to respond to another address, you should be concerned. Sometimes this is legitimate, but in those cases, it's usually addresses at the same company domain (for example, an assistant at Volt mails you and asks you to respond to a specfic recruiter at Volt). In this instance the mail is coming from a free mail service, Hotmail, and you're being asked to reply to another free mail service, Gmail. I can't think of one circumstance under which I'd consider a Hotmail/Gmail mismatch legitimate.

Third... "Managing the companys funds." This is almost always indicative of a check cashing scam. They send you forged checks, supposedly from their U.S. customers, which you're supposed to cash at a bank, then send them the funds by Western Union wire transfer (not via the bank). Checks under a certain amount are usually cashed by banks before they're properly cleared, so you get the money and wire it off to Russia or Africa or China, and then a few days later, when the bank discovers the check is forged, you're responsible for paying back the money. The problem is, you don't have the money because you wired it to criminals, and good luck ever getting it back.

Last, the old adage: If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. That probably clicked in your mind, which is why you searched for more information about this company and why you found this page.

The job market sucks. Many of us are unemployed or underemployed. Money is tight. This job sounds awesome with great benefits including health insurance and a company car. It is really easy to wish it was for real. But it's not. It's cruel, heartless, scumbags who are preying on your desperation, happy to take your bad situation and make it worse just so they can make a quick, dishonest buck.

I'm sorry to disappoint you if you were hoping the job was for real, but better you get wise now than get screwed later. Best of luck to you and God bless.

From: Kitty Gay <rurcffah4668@hotmail.com>
Subject: W0RK AT HOME POSITION IN L0GISTIC COMPANY | ID 3673

Logistic company provides delivery services for in different fields of on-line businesses such as: on-line stores, auction sellers etc. We work with more than 35 Sales ?orporationsworldwide. Several american Internet stores find our company the most attractive and reliable to work with as we are always trying to do our best to satisfy our clients.
Lately there was an increase in this sphere of commerce and now we are looking for new staff for the Package Manager position.

We are happy to offer you this career opportunity. It is a remote job and you will be able to get gainings while operating at home.

Position: Package Manager
Job-Type: part-time

For more information please contact our HR department: emp.employeehiring.emp146@gmail.com

Kind Regards
Private company

Okay, the first red flag is the e-mail addresses. When they send you a mail from one free mail service (here it's Hotmail) and ask you to reply to another free mail service (here it's gmail), you should be on your guard. How are they a legitimate company, but they send e-mail from an anonymous Hotmail address and ask you to reply to an anonymous Gmail address? This is VERY common in job scam e-mails, and even if they had some legitimate reason for doing it, the fact that job scammers almost always do it should make you wary.

Second, what company is this? They don't tell you the name? What reason do they have to be secretive when the position isn't sensitive? And why are they spelling logistic with a zero instead of an O in the subject? All of these should make you wary.

Third, two of the most common job scams are check cashing (they send you forged checks to cash and then wire the money out of the country) and package re-shipping. With package re-shipping, they buy stuff off Ebay and other such sites using forged checks, forged money orders, and hacked Paypal accounts. Since most of the sellers won't even accept an order from Eastern Europe, China, or Africa, they get you on the hook for a "job", pretend to be you when buying the merchandise, have it shipped to you, then have you ship it out of the country. When the Paypal payment is reversed or the check bounces, the seller calls the cops and the cops come to your house looking for the merchandise.

The job title of "package manager" makes it sound too much like this is probably a package re-shipping scam. And when you combine it with all the other signs, this letter screams "stay far far away!"

I know it's tough out there. Trust me. I've been underemployed for almost a year. But don't let yourself get caught up in a scam out of desperation. It's easy to want to believe these are real, but they're not, and these people will screw you over exactly because you're vulnerable and desperate. That's why we call them criminal scum.

Best of luck to you all and God bless.

Dear Applicant,

We have an exciting opportunity with our company for: Accounts Payable Manager/Payments Processor in your area with no need of relocation

New concept: Commissions without sales!!
Job Snapshot

Compensation: $85,000 - $95,000 per year
Employee Type: Full-Time Employee
Manages Others: Yes

Job Type:

Accounting - Finance
Admin - Clerical
Customer Service
Desired Education Level: High School
Experience: N/A
Required Travel: NO
Relocation: NO

Requirements

Must be US citizen, resident or green card holder
Must have Microsoft Office Intermediate experience, checking emails 3 times/day.

If you are interested please reply back to be contacted by our Human Resources Department.

Sylvia Riddle
General Manager

Obviously, the first warning sign is who is going to offer you a $95,000 a year job that requires no experience and just a high school diploma? As the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Now, normally, I warn to watch out for them asking you to reply to a free e-mail service like Hotmail.com or Gmail.com. They were smart and ask you to reply to interestedinthejob.com, which looks like it might be legit. BUZZ! It's part of a free e-mail service owned by America Online, called Tunome, where you can get a free e-mail address at one of over 200 domains. With Gmail or Hotmail, it's easy to spot that they're using a free mail service. With this AOL service, you need to probe deeper.

Another major sign is the "financial manager" or "accounts payable manager" job title. This is an old scam. Basically, they say they need your help processing payments from their clients in the United States. They then have local accomplices who send you forged checks (see this WA Attorney General's blog post on one such accomplice they sent to jail last year). You cash the checks, take a commission, and wire the rest off via Western Union to Africa or Eastern Europe. A week or two later, the bank catches the fraud and they and the cops would like to talk to you about where their money is.

Last, if you know how to view the full headers of an e-mail message (with the Thunderbird mail reader, I use the "View Message Source" option), you'll see that Careerbuilder didn't really send the mail on behalf of this "employer". Real e-mails from Careerbuilder originate from Careerbuilder servers. This e-mail originated from Earthlink's SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server.

A lot of these scammers are really lazy and make it fairly easy to spot their scams. Others, like these, put in a little extra effort to make their scams look more legitimate. But if you know what to look for, even these more elaborate fakes still show their cracks.

Good luck to you all.

Also Worth Noting: I got another scam today for the same sort of scam from an "Andrew Hakes" of "IQ Business". Instead of giving me an e-mail address to reply to, he gave me a link to click on to apply at their site.

Now, when they give you a site, the first check to do is a "whois" search on their domain name ("yahoo.com" is Yahoo's domain name). This will give you the domain record. Look at the "created-on" date to see when the domain was registered. Often you'll find the domain is just a few days or a few weeks old, which likely means it was registered specifically for the scam. Often you'll also find out it's pointed to servers in Russia, China, or Africa.

NEVER EVER CLICK THE LINK. Sometimes the spammer/scammer might use a link-cloaker or link-shortener like snipurl.com or tinyurl.com to disguise where the link really goes. Don't click the link to go there to find out the real domain. Most of these domain shortening services have a function that lets you "preview" the link and see where it goes. You can get the domain name from their sites without having to visit the spammer's site.

Why shouldn't you visit the spammer's site? First, the visits are logged, so the spammer/scammer both has your IP address and confirmation that people are clicking the link (which encourages more spamming). Second, the spammer is probably running a bunch of exploit scripts at the site, meaning that if your browser has any unpatched or unprotected weaknesses, you could be infected with any number of viruses and trojans.

I didn't write up the e-mail in its own post because snipurl.com had already deactivated the link the spammer was using. But I felt it was worth posting this warning.

From:Alissa Rugh <allhprugh@hotmail.com>
Subject: Work ads (computer job 2009). Summer season. ID:[removed]

Solid company is currently looking for new employees.

We are offering home based part time work on computer.

Job Description:

We are providing the texts which are to be edited. You revise and correct
the texts for spelling and grammar mistakes as an english speaking person, and send them back to us.

Salary:

We don't have a fixed salary for this vacancy. We will pay you $7.00 per 1Kb of the text which
you revise (you will receive 4-5Kb of texts every day)
The salary is due once a month.

Example: If you correct about 5Kb of texts per day you will get over $1050.00 at the end of the working month.

If you are a US citizen, native English speaker, older than 24, and have PC and access to the Internet, feel free to apply.

We need you to fill in the following application form, and e-mail it to: ronald_hernandez@mail.ru

Full name:
Full Address:
Contact phone number: (available)
Contact E-mail Address:

We will respond within one business day.

We are waiting for your application!

While the translator/editor scam is not nearly as common as the check-cashing and package forwarding scams, it can often turn into the check cashing scam, as well as potentially end up in identity theft and more.

I've received a VERY similar letter to this for the Dating Euro Union, promising about $1,000 a month for correcting around 5k of text a day. You can read the experiences of people who answered them. Some detailed stories start around comment #27.

The fact that the offer is unsolicited and they're in Russia (the reply address with the .ru extension) should make you cautious. The fact that they don't even tell you the name of their company should make you cautious. The fact that they don't address you by name should make you cautious. The fact they're sending the mail from hotmail.com (i.e. free webmail service) and asking you to reply to an entirely different address at another domain, should make you cautious.

I know how hard it is out there. I'm job-hunting too. But it's hard times when the pickings are the most ripe for these scumbags because they prey on desperation. Don't be so desperate (or greedy) you throw caution to the wind.

Be careful out there.

FROM: NEWMAN BENTON <newman9d8a5rul03benton@hotmail.com>
SUBJECT: Your Resume is considered for the job position. ID 3135

Hi.

Exclusive Realty is a European prosperous real estate company. Exclusive Realty offers a whole range of professional services associated with realty. Because of a need to expand targeted group population and to amplify areas for the services that we offer, we are looking for regional Customer Service Manager.

Candidate must be able to support the sales and administrative teams in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

Customer Service Manager Responsibilities.

First of all you are responsible for transactions preparation and distribution; also you must provide promptness of all operations. All orders from customers must be received and processed by you in person or by mail/phone. You must report for each transaction and collect them for monthly reports, and ensure all payments are disbursed in time.

Salary and Benefits:

- You will be paid five percent from each customer's transfer.
- Base salary 2,000-3,000 USD after your trial period expire.
- We reimburse all your work expenses.

So, if you liked our offer and suppose this Job fit you, send your respond to: exclusive.hrdep@gmail.com as soon as possible, because numbers of candidates are limited.

You will be provided by further instructions, after we receive your respond.
Attention: If you wish to speak with our representative directly - a toll free number along with office hours will be provided.

Thank you.

Marina Parinier,
Exclusive Realty.

The first scam warning sign is the mismatched addresses. Notice how they're supposedly sending the mail from a Hotmail account and they're asking you to reply to a Gmail account. This is extremely common in job scam spams. The one you received may have a different set of addresses than the one below, but you'll most likely see two things: 1) the sender is different than the person you're asked to reply to, and 2) the reply address is at a free mail service like Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, etc.

Also note that on my e-mail, the name of the person who owns the sending address is Newman Benton, but the name of the person "signing" the e-mail is Marina Parinier. If Marina is signing it, why isn't she sending it?

The second scam warning is the element of processing payments. Legitimate foreign companies can have payments from U.S. companies processed through U.S. banks and then wired to their foreign accounts or kept on deposit to pay any U.S. bills for a LOT less than the cost of hiring someone off the Internet and paying them a salary, a commission (5% in this case), and the associated transfer fees. The reason they're being so generous is because the payments are bogus. They're forged checks, stolen credit cards, and hacked PayPal accounts. You cash them out, pocket a portion, and then wire the rest off, usually through Western Union. But when the fraud is discovered, the cops come looking for you, and you're responsible for paying back every cent you cashed out. In the meantime, the contact points for your "employer" have stopped working and the only real piece of information you have is the location(s) of the Western Union office(s) where the money was picked up, usually in Africa or Eastern Europe.

This is one of the most common job scams around. The other is package forwarding, where your "employer" buys stuff online with forged/stolen/hacked payments, has it shipped to you so it looks legit (no one trusts buyers in Russia and Africa anymore), then you FedEx it out to them in their home country. When the payments turn out to be bogus and the seller reports fraud, they give your address to the police.

Plain and simple, if someone offers you a job cashing checks or forwarding packages for a foreign company, it's a scam. There are NO legitimate jobs I know of with these duties.

I know how hard it is out there. I've been out of work for months. But don't fall for an offer like this because you want it to be true. No one is going around the Internet handing out easy money to complete strangers, but there are a lot of scammers, swindlers, and outright thieves who are going around and pretending to do it to prey on your desperation.

Good luck to you.

From: Ines ROBERTSON <barnesgebyfy86@gmail.com>
Subject: Work opportunity for you

Greetings,

You have got this message because we came across your curriculum vatae in one of the jobseeker sites.
At the present moment TransBridge Inc. is seeking for the candidates in the the United States, the UK, Australia and all European countries for the post of financial agent.

JOB NATURE: payment processing between our customers sellers and buyers.

WORKING TIME: part-time position with flexible time-schedule.

NOTA BENE: No investments or subscriptions from our candidates! No costs have not to buy anything), experince or specific professional skills are required! Dont be deceived with the suggestions about remote job where you are required pay money to the companies which promise to provide you with the job.
This is the 100% guaranteed legal job!

COMPENSATION: $2,000 and above per month plus commission + bonuses.

QUALIFICATION

* Excellent oral, written, and communicative skills
* Superb managerial skills
* Proficient in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word
* Professional Attitude
* Strong working ethic

REQUIREMENTS
* MUST be money motivated, team player, self-starter
* You must be willing to work in your location, part time or full time
* You must be over 24 years old
* You must have the nationality of the before-mentioned countries
* You should be able to start working immediately

If you got interested in our job offer, please provide us via email with the following information and we'll contact you within two days:

- full name
- address
- regular phone number

To be removed from our destination list please reply REMOVE to this email.

PLEASE, DON'T REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. WE WOULD KINDLY ASK YOU TO SEND YOUR DATA TO THE FOLLOWING EMAIL ADDRESStranbrdg@yahoo.com

Sincerely yours,
TransBrigde Inc.
HR manager
Andrew Kalush

The first red flag, and this happens in almost every job scam I get, is the address and ID of the person sending the message is different than the address and name of the person you're asked to reply to. This is a typical spammer trick, sending the mails from a bunch of different addresses (sometimes completely fake, sometimes hijacked through hacking or malware) to make them harder to filter and trace. On top of that, the address you're supposed to reply to is a free mail service like gmail, yahoo, live.com, or hotmail.com. This is not a guarantee, by itself, that it's a scam, but it's definitely enough to put you on alert that it could be.

The second red flag is "payment processing." This job title, along with ones like "financial manager" or "financial representative," are HUGE red flags that this is most likely a check fraud scam. They recruit you to process payments from their customers in your country, then have you cash checks or cash out PayPal payments and wire the money to them in another country. The only problem is that the checks are forged or the PayPal payments are coming from hacked accounts. The check/payment seems legitimate and you're able to get cash. But then the person who owns the account the check/payment was drawn against notices and files a fraud complaint. Guess who is expected to pay back the money? You are. And you're probably going to have to do some explaining to the police as well.

Another red flag is to look for little things that are wrong. Sometimes it's really bad grammar. Sometimes it's really obvious typos. For some reason, these crooks are too lazy to proofread, so you find errors like them misspelling their own company name in the signature: "TransBrigde Inc. [sic]".

Last, there's the warning my old pappy gave me when I first started job hunting and had to sort the wheat from the chaff in the Help Wanted classifieds (yeah, I'm old enough to remember when we still used the newspaper for job hunting): "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."

Sorry to burst your bubble if you were hoping this was a real opportunity. I'm hurting too and know how you feel. But don't let wishful thinking blind you to solid warning signs. Trans Bridge is a scam. You'll end up poorer and in trouble while making some foreign criminals richer. Take my advice and don't even respond to them. You'll be happier in the long run.

Best of luck to you.

From: Bertram CAROL<carolbertram72381h0x8z@hotmail.com>
Subject: New P0SITI0N. ID 13333

Hello.

Our company is looking for new employee to support goods reshipment.
Requirements are casual: you must be adult & USA resident.

Please contact us via E-mail: Cynthia.Has@gmail.com

Thank you.

First red flag... Sent from a hotmail address, asks you to reply to a gmail address. This isn't a guarantee of a scam, but it's a warning that it could be. When the sender's address is at a different domain than the domain they ask you to reply to, you should be wary.

Second red flag... P0SITI0N. Those aren't Os in that word, they're zeros. Replacing letters with numbers is a common password trick, a hacker culture thing, and a spammer thing when they try to make a word look right to the human eye, but escape spam filters looking for the word. No legitimate company is going to do this in this particular word.

Third red flag... "goods reshipment." This is your guarantee it's a scam. Basically, these scammers buy goods from online stores and auctions with fake credit cards, forged checks, and hacked paypal accounts. They're usually in Russia, China, or an African country like Nigeria. Nobody with a clue accepts online orders from those countries anymore, because the fraud is too rampant. So these crooks sign you up as an intermediary. They "hire" you to forward packages to them. A package arrives, you re-send it out of the country, and they claim they'll pay you for the costs and a monthly salary. Instead, they rip you off, and when the cops investigate the fraudulent purchases, the evidence trail takes them right to your door.

This was one of the crappier quality scam pitches I've received, but it's the first to slip through my spam filters in months, so I thought I'd make sure to note it.

Good luck to all of you.

An additional bit of humor, I was going through the Akismet spam logs (spammy comments, spammy link-backs) and found a splog at post-traumatic-stress-syndrome.info linking back to this post. It's just one of those unintentional bits of funny, but I can see clients like this causing PTSD.