Brain Handles

My father sent me a link to a California Bar Journal article about check scams targeting lawyers.

Unlike the ones targeting average folks, these have been for 6 figure amounts and use wire transfers rather than Western Union, but the premise is the same. The scammer contacts a lawyer, saying they need a representative in the U.S. to help them collect a debt. A contract is signed, then the knowledge that a lawyer in the U.S. was hired seems to have scared the debtor into paying up and the lawyer receives a cashier's check for the amount. They deposit the check in their client trust account, deduct their agreed-upon fee, and wire the rest to the client. But the check is bogus.

It's the same thing being done to job seekers like you, but with bigger numbers.

I know it's hard to feel bad for lawyers. I'm not asking you to. I'm posting this for the people who have posted comments or written to me privately to say they got taken in and they feel so stupid. I'm posting to show that even lawyers who deal with exactly this type of situation have been taken in by these forged check scams. I'm not going to say not to feel bad, because if you're out 3 or 5 grand, you're going to feel pretty bad. Just don't feel stupid for being taken in. It was an expensive mistake, but it was a mistake that people who are a lot better trained to avoid it than you have made too. Do what you need to make sure you don't make it again, but don't beat yourself up.

Best of luck to you all.

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.

Tags: job scams

Just got the following slipping through my spam filters. I'll post the text and then we'll look at the big red flags that show it's a scam.

From: kippar chinpan >2vivarais.transactions@century21france.fr<
Subject: Admininstrative Officer Required - 1500/week

We are a Germany company, we are doing business all over the Europe, our main activities are real estate investments and digital currencies exchanges.
As a result of expading our business in North American region, our company must keep up with our American customers accepting the most popular payments in the United States: Paypal. We are currently seeking an dependable and enthusiastic US representative to handle the transactions.
Being located in Germany, a transfer via Paypal system sent here can take up to 14 days to arrive, therefore we need a US representative with an US paypal account who able to accept the payments from our US customers.
This will significantly improve our business, that's why we can pay 5% from every transfer processed.
Almost anyone is accepted, but a verified paypal account is required, an account where you will be receiving the transfers.
If you are interested to find more about this position, let me know at: martin_rohwerder@live.com

Thank you,
Martin Rohwerder
Dibag Industries AG

Big red flag #1: The person who ostensibly sent the mail, Kippar Chinpan, is not the person who signed the mail, Martin Rohwerder.

Big Red Flag #2: The company the mail was ostensibly sent from, Century 21 France, is not the same as the company that's supposedly recruiting you, Dibag Industries AG.

Big Red Flag #3: If they have such a huge internet presence as to send you all these PayPal transactions to process for them, why are they using a free/throwaway e-mail account from live.com?

Big Red Flag #4: "Almost anyone is accepted"... for a $75,000 a year job? And why are they spamming people for it? If they were legit, you'd think friends and relatives of their employees who were in the U.S. would be knocking down their doors for the jobs. People would be competing for such easy money. Furthermore, to make $1500 a week on 5% commissions, you'd have to be processing $1.5 million a year in payments for them. They're just going to start funnelling $125,000 a month to "almost anyone" and trust that it will be handled properly?

Last Big Red Flag: Their complaint is: "being located in Germany, a transfer via Paypal system sent here can take up to 14 days to arrive, therefore we need a US representative." So they're going to pay you 5% plus the Western Union fees to get their money 14 days earlier. Two weeks at 100% interest is only 3.86%. If they had an investment guaranteed to double their money in a year, it would still be cheaper to wait 2 weeks than pay you 5% plus pay Western Union fees.

You've probably heard of "phishing," where scam artists try to trick people into divulging their PayPal login and password. This is the second stage. Once they have all those passwords, they can't just transfer all the money into their own verified PayPal accounts. They'll be caught.

They need dupes. They get people to register for this "job" and then send them payments from the compromised accounts. The dupe receives the payment, cashes it out quickly and sends it off. A day or two later, when the fraud victim notices the money PayPal took out of his account, he contacts PayPal and complains. You have no proof that there was any legitimate business transaction with this person and PayPal returns his money, withdrawing it from your account.

When you complain to your new "employer" so you can get the money returned... good luck ever finding them again.

No legitimate business abroad needs average shmoes in the U.S., Canada, or Australia to process payments for them. There are banks and financial services firms that handle this kind of thing when it's needed and charge lower rates. The only companies offering these jobs are criminals looking to use you as a dupe in their PayPal or check cashing scam. And unlike an identity theft victim who gets their money back in many cases, you actively participated in the scam, so you're on the hook to pay back every penny you sent to these scam artists.

The scam artists make money, Western Union makes money, you get screwed.

Best of luck. Stay sharp.

Tags: job scams

Looks like the check fraudsters ran out of dupes and are trying to recruit a fresh batch of new ones. Just got the following e-mail...

RECEIVED-FROM: [78.169.10.42] (helo=yuksel5) by XXXXXXXX with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1KE5xK-0002Wt-6Z; Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:17:23 -0700
FROM: qknrw@bluecoilspring.com
SUBJECT: RE: your resume
We have considered your resume and we are glad to offer you a position to work from home as it will suit you best of all in our opinion. The work will not require any investments on your part. All you need for its successful performance is a computer with Internet connection as we communicate by e-mail, and you will also need a printer and a few free hours a day. To begin working with us you will have to sign an employment agreement. Your average income per month may amount to 1500$ or even more.

If you are interested in our offer please write us a letter and we will give you more detailed information.

Contact e-mail address: mmmharrison@gmail.com

P.S. This job is available only for those living within US territory.

Best regards.

Of course, the first big red flag is that it's "from" a nonsense string (qknrw) at a legitimate domain, but they ask me to reply to a free e-mail service like gmail, not back to that domain. If this is a legitimate offer of employment from bluecoilspring.com, why aren't they asking me to mail them back at bluecoilspring.com?

If you look in the headers, you also find that the HELO (which is the identifier that the sending mail server sends) is not for bluecoilspring.com, but for "yuksel5", and if you check out the IP address over at DNSStuff.com, that address can be traced to somewhere in Turkey.

Obviously, the biggest red flag is that someone's spamming you and offering a complete stranger $18,000 or more a year for easy work that only takes a few free hours a day.

Don't fall for it, don't reply, and if you did reply, do not cash any checks for them!

Best of luck to you all.

Tags: job scams