The angle on this one is different than ones I've seen before. They want to pay you for proofreading services. And the rates they're offering are actually a little lower than a random check of per-word pricing from a couple of random proofreading services I looked up. But there's our first big flag. There are LOTS of people out there offering this service and would be glad to offer a volume discount.
Here's the mail:
From: "Mr. Swenson" <teeq@acryglas.com>
Hello!We offer a part time job on your computer.
Job Description:
We will provide you with the texts for our employees with the important information and you will correct the texts 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 for every 1Kb of the corrected text. You will get paid at the END of each month. Every month your salary will be different as it depends on your activity.Example: If you correct about 5Kb of texts per day you will get over $1000.00 at the end of the month.
Requirements:
-Location: USA
-Age: 20+
-Home computer, e-mail address and Microsoft Word
-ResponsibilityTo apply for job please send us the following information to:
dating.uniongroup@gmail.com__________
FULL NAME: HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:----------
As soon as we revise your aplication we will contact you within 24 hours.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.
Awaiting for your application.With respect Dating Euro Union
Now here are the red flags...
- The "from" address is not only different than the one they ask you to reply to, but comes from a domain (acryglas.com) that has absolutely nothing to do with the business they're claiming to be (Dating Euro Union).
- There are any number of companies offering this service so they could get a one-stop solution with one bill and no employees to manage. Even if they save a small amount on the rate this way, any real business can run the numbers and see this wouldn't be cost-effective.
- This came in to an e-mail address that hasn't been actively used since the 90's meaning that they got it off a purchased spam list. If they're purchasing lists of e-mail addresses and spamming this out, that makes them suspect.
- I'm sorry, but copy editing and proofreading require skill, talent, and education. You're not qualified for it merely because you're a native English speaker. A good editor is worth a ton of money.
Most likely, the scam is that they'll ask for your bank account and bank routing numbers so they can wire transfer or direct deposit your monthly salary. Next thing you know, they've used the information to forge a wire transfer out of your account and you're cleaned out.
As inviting as it seems, this has all the hallmarks of a criminal scam. Do not reply to it, do not give these people your personal information, and do not give them any banking information.
Best of luck to you all.
Entries (RSS)
Thanks!
Got this today, you were the FIRST on the google list!!!
I got this email too. Funny how the internet can be used for both good and evil.
haha, cheers mate. just got this mail....
Got this mailed to me a few times over the past week dont know how they got my email but im self employed and satisfied with my work so i would,nt have replyed anyway
Just got this one today as well....in Canada here - lucky for me they want people in the USA only
I figured it was bad because they use the same format as the "INTERNET LOTTO WINNER!!! Yee haw, ur email address just won $2,000,000,000!!!... If you read below, what they want back from you it's EXACTLY the same as what the Dating Euro people want.
FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:
The only difference is that they added "Education, and Available hours".
One of the first things I always do is check the email address from where the message came from and compare it to the email address provided on the "reply-to" field.
Also, after the @... like ur_email@hotmail.com
Go and type whatever comes after the @, unless it's dedicated for a webmail, these "ends" are domain names and usually have a website. Oh, of course, you can always Google it, but don't trust the first link that come up!.. I'm sure you know better than that.
Also got spam email like that for many times.So, my suggestion just create one personal email, keep private no publications. Only for our trusted friends. And create one email, for publications.
thanks alot for the info! got it today!
thanks for the info! I got it today too! We've got to look out for each other from these bottom-dwelling rip-off artists out there! Keep up the good work guys!
My letter started with the generic salutation "Dear job seeker", similar to a phishing letter. That's what tipped me off. In any case, thanks for confirming my gut feeling.
Thanks. I almost got caught up in this. Unemployed for a year, then underemployed... my finances are a mess. This started as an "editing" position, but then they offered me a job doing wire transfers. Since this involved tapping into the personal information in my bank account, the alarms went off. So glad I found your site before going any further. I'm safe thanks to you!
Just got this one again, this time with the name Iris Meeks as the sender and datingcompany.crow@gmail.com as the reply address in the body of the mail. Almost reposted it, but the text is otherwise exactly the same. I'm surprised it got through the spam filters, but it did.
These jerks are relentless.
- Greg
THANK YOU THANK YOU for saving me time and worry.
I GOT THIS TODAY- BUT MINE IS FROM
Madeline Slaughter (wopvg@book-dealers.com)
Thanks to people like you, many of us are not being ripped off. I also got a really good fake paypal e-mail the other day.. took me to an identical site- only difference was the address in the bar was not paypal.com. Be careful, all!!
I got this a few days after I submitted my resume on Monster.com looking for an online job! thanks for letting me know about this group.
Thanks so much - I am traveling abroad this fall and wondering if this might be an easy way to make some spending $$ on the go... Fortunately I googled the company to see what it was all about and this page popped up. Thanks again!!
Just as above, I googled "Dating Euro Union" and this page popped fist in line! I got this scamletter yesterday, knew it was bogus BS ... Good rule of thumb: If it sounds to good too be true ... it IS too good to be true!
Same here also, addys were different
sender: cyjflbatnln@bmwleasing.com.
A search on this addy took me to an ad page for leasing companies/services that was sponsored by "godaddy.com"
Reply: hrdating.glaine@gmail.com.
When I tried "hrdating.glain" in addy bar ... it led to nowhere, nothing was found. Then I googled "hrdating" and it actually turned up a dating sight. An UK site called "hrdating" ... amazingly enough! lol
The senders name was: Bobbie Marquez (?)
I figure the dude/chick used this site for the email addy they usually give you for contacts, so he is a registered user. Did a site search for "Bobbie Marquez" of course, nothing turned up. They only offered a "user name" search and oddly to me, they do this for non-members? Dunno, just found that a little lax.
Anyways... I ramble ...
Thanks for the heads-up and all.
Peace & Love,
~M
Glad I researched and found yor site......It's too bad it's a scam...I sent the first draft in to them....But, upon thinking on it, i figured they would have to ask for my ss number to send a 1099....... (most ads are a scam, but I keep hoping to find work online.)
I found out, that i kind of like this editing and corrections type of work....think I will research it on freelance sites....
Mine email was from Jerry Lihgten from euro dating union...
datingcompany.lihten@gmail.com...
Just rec'd the email you bolgged and deleted it.
Just got my invitation to work this morning! How excited I was! NOT!
just got this e-mail...glad i looked it up!!! thanks!
Got this email yesterday and was tempted to check it out but was wary b/c they wanted address and phone, so I Googled it up and found this. Thanks for letting people know.
Got an email from the same email address this was the email I received.
Malinda Winston
Unfortunately we were not able to deliver postal package you sent on August the 1st in time
because the recipient’s address is not correct.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office
Your FEDEX.com
then there is an attachment which I did not dared to open. Stupid scammers!!!
I just set up my own proofreading website a couple of weeks ago and then suddenly last week this email came in. I figured it was a scam since they give a gmail address for you to reply to and the email just sounded too dodgy. I checked the email it was sent from and it was a different address. I didn't reply. Then today I got a second email, the same as the first but with a different gmail address to reply to and with it being sent from a different person and different email address. That's when I decided to come and see if the scam was written about online - and lo and behold, I found this page giving me confirmation. Thanks!
I received something similar, replied with "Tell me more",
and the following is what they sent me next (from a different email address,
so they jump from one to another to stay one step ahead of being shut down).
Other than my email, I replied with all false info, including a fake phone number with too few digits,
so I will update you all when/if the next reply comes.
These are the kind of people I like to mess with. I go sign THEIR email address up for all kinds of other SPAM. If they send me text to correct, I will send it back in worse shape, etc. If/when they eventually ask for a bank account number I will seriously mess with them, and lure them to some federal honeypots. Depending upon where they are physically located, they might get arrested.
-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Blagg @ Dating Group [mailto:terryblagg.dgcoord@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 3:47 PM
To: ----------
Subject: Re: corrections texts
Dear Rick,
If it will be interesting to you, here some words about me and about the
company. I work in this company about 2 years. Began with lower post now I
am engaged in a personnel set, training of employees. As well as you I like
to go shopping and do purchases, I try to go more at leisure what not to sit
up at office at the computer.
As to about the company:
Our main offices are in Russia, Ukraine, Poland. We work with various dating
the companies.
Company helps to deliver flowers, gifts, tickets and other to people which
are in other country. So for example if the American wishes to marry the
girl from Russia that thanks to us it can send money for the ticket what it
has arrived to it. But that the girl would not deceive him it addresses to
us we call up to the girl we check its co-ordinates and we inform it. This
little about our company.
Our company works with such companies as:
http://www.dating.ru
http://www.dating.de
http://www.dating.be
Further we will send you texts which you should correct. Work not difficult,
it is simple our company there is in Belgium instead of in USA, and
consequently English not our native language. But we a have a lot of clients
from usa and we wish to communicate with them competently. 1kb it is a
little you will see when receive the text. Yes we pay 7$ each kilobyte of
the text.
Payment is made in a month after the work beginning. We do payment from
Western Union or Money Gram.As at sending the commission nearby 30$
undertakes and it is not favourable to us to pay after each text.
If wish to start job, fill registration form:
FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:
Sincerely,
Terry Blagg
Dating Group
http://www.dating.ru
yeah, I got this email from a classified ad posted on a reliable website, only to find it a scam. I thought there were REAL legitimate online jobs out there, but I guess not. Ugh.
Thanks for the post.... things got really shady when I translated dating.ru from Russian into English and quickly discovered the mail order bride thing. Everything everyone said above is true... they send you the same texts, different email addresses every time. Shady. Shady. Shady.
Oh, and its a spam scam!
Ugh..I should have checked this first. Desperate for some extra money, I sent in my resume. Afterwards, I clicked on the links they provided, and they were in Russian. I wasn't sure how I was going to edit texts in Russian, but hey, if they thought I was good enough then it's not a problem.
Then came my first assignment. They want to pay me $35 for this?
ear Mr.Proctor,
We have got your application about new vacancy.
We have analized our partnership and decided:
From 03.02.2008 to June 2008 you provived yourself as a respectful employee.
You have been always in a contact with us, always did your job in the right way,
accepted payments of our clients fast and cashed them good.
We are sure that dureing this time you have understood all sence of our business.
We keep important such employees like you and we offer you to become an official
manager of our company in your region.
It will be nesaccary for us to sign a contract with you, which we will send you in a few days for learning.
Our specialist will come to you to help you to open an office and will deposit a financial support to you for organization of everything about it.
Today our manager will contact you by phone for interview.
Sinverely
Dating Team
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Ted,
The samples of the page designe that you presented were examined by our specialists.
We prefer the second one. The only thing left is to improve the ad banners.
We are having negotiations with new advertising company and at the end of the week the list of the baaners will be formed.
After that we will finish the page designe.
The previous banners and their placement won't be changed.
Our web-designer will develop the new banners and this will help us to make all the process faster.
He has already prepared the samples for examination and you will receive them for placement soon.
Our support receives the letters from our clients where they write that they receive messages with the attached links.
After that our clients find themselves on the harmful pages.
We have to work that problem out. It'a very important to protect our clients.
We are waiting for your answer on this item.
Best regards
Dating Team
__________________________________________________________________
Hello Lykthe,
We have got your letter about payment was accepted.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
You got $8,500.00 from Adams.
We have contacted with Adams and with the payment receiver, and found out that there was not any fraud in this deal.
Now You should do the following:
1. Please cash the amount today.
2. $425( 5% of the amount ) you should keep for yourself as your 5% commission.
3. $8,025.00 you send through MoneyGram to the following receiver:
First name: Nikita
Last name: Tovkatchew
Country: Russia
City: Saint-Petersburg
(Transfer Fees should be taken from sent money: $8,025.00 - transfer fees.)
Once you do it, please inform us about the sent amount and mtcn number.
Please do this job dureing first half of the day.
Hope on your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Dating Team
P.S.: The next salary date is coming in a few days. Last time you said that it's not convinuence for you to accept your salary to your bank account. Now, please, inform us the way you would like to get your salary.
__________________________________________________________________
Hello Vernon
The leaders of our company decided to set the news block on our site.
The most important news of the world will be posted there online. We offer to locate it in the left side of the authentification page.
That's why we need to renew the page designe. We have been cooperating for a long time and we find you the relible person. So tomorrow we will be wating for your sugestions.
We are at the negotiations with one of the largest media-agencies. So we will may need your help in technical organisation soon.
We ask you to work out all the details. maybe you will need our help in it.
We are waiting for your answer.
Best regards,
Dating Team
__________________________________________________________________
Dear Joe,
Thank you very much for nice job you have done with our company dureing this period.
You asked about vocation for 2 weeks. Our company decided to give you a holiday from nearest Monday.
The day after tomorrow you will get your vacancy salary and a gift from our company and
it will be $1150(salary) + $500 a gift.
Please remember to come to work on time.
Also you asked us about if you can get your relatives to this job - yes.
We will call you after vocation and will discuss this question.
Thank you
Dating Grou
__________________________________________________________________
Obviously fiction.
I accidentally sent these people my resume. My husband has been searching for jobs online through Career Builder and these people contacted him, so I figured they were okay, DUMB! I sent them my resume, now they are mailing me work (Ha-Ha). Don't think I'll be doing any work for them. Good thing I saw these articles! I'm not too sure I'm comfortable with them having my address and phone numbers, either.
These are their e-mails...
Good day. How are you? Do you have a resume? Can you please send it
to us? You can E-mail it here euro.dating.group@icmail.net or/and edu@np.by.
If we consider you for this position i will E-mail you all details
and information regarding this position.
What we will need to know about you;
****
The state where you reside:
Your residential address:
Home/mobile phone number:
Your work experience:
How many day per week you can work:
Time when you are available:
****
If you do not have resume please let us know these details.
Thank you and have a nice day.
P.S
NO "UPFRONT" PAYMENTS ARE REQUIRED FOR START.
You can use one of this email addresses for further communications
(edu@np.by , euro.dating.group@icmail.net).
--
Best Regards,
Olaf Kleinzerman,
Management Department,
TEL: +37-253-250-360,
WEB-SITE: http://www.dating.ru,
EMAIL #1: deu@Safe-mail.net,
EMAIL #2: edu@np.by,
EMAIL #3: euro.dating.group@icmail.ne
Good day,
Thank you for your inquiry. You are suitable for the job. We will send you the first
texts for correction today or tomorrow. Please revise these texts at the SAME DAY and
send them back to us as we have to mail them to our clients and employees.
Be in touch every day as we need to be sure of you and we rely on our long-term
cooperation.
* Check your e-mail every day
*You will be activated and will start getting texts for correcting from the nearest
business
day (Mon-Fri).
*You will get your salary EVERY MONTH at the SAME DATE you have been activated.
*Amount of the salary will depends on the amount of Kilobytes of the texts you have
corrected
during the month.
*1Kb=$7.00
* Corrected texts must be sent here only: deu@Safe-mail.net and copy to:
euro.dating.group@icmail.net
About taxes: We send you the 1099 at the end of each year. Thank you.
P.S
If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask them. Send us an
e-mail or give us a call
I got the same exact "corrections" as Dorothy did, along with this email:
Dear Donna,
Please edit the attached file.
It's 4Kb - $28.00 on your account in our company.
Please make the correction TODAY and send it back.
Sincerely,
Dating Group
http://www.dating.ru
Here's the "text" they wanted me to "correct",
**********************************************************
Dear Mr.Proctor,
We have got your application about new vacancy.
We have analized our partnership and decided:
From 09.1.2008 to 10.6.2008 you provived yourself as a respectful employee.
You have been always in a contact with us, always did your job in the right way,
accepted payments of our clients fast and cashed them good.
We are sure that dureing this time you have understood all sence of our business.
We keep important such employees like you and we offer you to become an official
manager of our company in your region.
It will be nesaccary for us to sign a contract with you, which we will send you in a few days for learning.
Our specialist will come to you to help you to open an office and will deposit a financial support to you for organization of everything about it.
Today our manager will contact you by phone for interview.
Sinverely
Dating Team
Dear Ted,
The samples of the page designe that you presented were examined by our specialists.
We prefer the second one. The only thing left is to improve the ad banners.
We are having negotiations with new advertising company and at the end of the week the list of the baaners will be formed.
After that we will finish the page designe.
The previous banners and their placement won't be changed.
Our web-designer will develop the new banners and this will help us to make all the process faster.
He has already prepared the samples for examination and you will receive them for placement soon.
Our support Dating.ru receives the letters from our clients where they write that they receive messages with the attached links.
After that our clients find themselves on the harmful pages.
We have to work that problem out. It'a very important to protect our clients.
We are waiting for your answer on this item.
Best regards
Dating Team
Hello Lykthe,
We have got your letter about payment was accepted.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
You got $8,500.00 from Adams.
We have contacted with Adams and with the payment receiver, and found out that there was not any fraud in this deal.
Now You should do the following:
1. Please cash the amount today.
2. $425( 5% of the amount ) you should keep for yourself as your 5% commission.
3. $8,075.00 you send through MoneyGram to the following receiver:
First name: Nikita
Last name: Tovkatchew
Country: Russia
City: Saint-Petersburg
(Transfer Fees should be taken from sent money: $8,075.00 - transfer fees.)
Once you do it, please inform us about the sent amount and mtcn number.
Please do this job dureing first half of the day.
Hope on your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Dating Team
P.S.: The next salary date is coming in a few days. Last time you said that it's not convinuence for you to accept your salary to your bank account. Now, please, inform us the way you would like to get your salary.
Hello Vernon,
Thank you for the prompt answer. We examined all the samples of the pages that you presented. We like them much )). We discussed them and chose the first sample.
You will have to upgrade it a bit as we decided to add the financial section with last information from the stock market. Also we want to see the currency ratings program. We think our clients will like it. We offer to locate this info in the bottom of the page. We will send you the link today so you could see the way it works.
Now some words about the technical side.
We read your recommendations and realised that this block can't work 100% automatically. We will have to control it all the time. we will have to find the specialist to control it. It would be grate if you could to do it. We are ready to make some changes in your contract. You are very important for us. Please let us know if you are ready to do it.
Best regards,
Dating Team
*********************************************************
Hahaha it's actually pretty funny, similar to the text found on the "http://www.engrish.com" website.
Thanks for the heads up on this one. The website being in Russia was my first red flag.
Donna
Has this actually worked for anyone to make money? Legally, I mean? If everyone here did one month of proofreading and then the company asked for bank info to pay, at which time everyone here did not give bank info, that makes for a lot of free proofreading, right? Who in the USA would help you get paid? The Dept of Labor? I don't want to be involved in a money scam, but I also don't want to work for free for every company for a month to find out later it is a money scam. There is a foreign dating website at dating.ru that could be making legit money. Thanks, everyone, for submitting.
Looks like these people are now spamming out the proofreading gig under Ran-De-Vou Co.. I Googled it and found this blog post about Ran-De-Vou. In the comments, one of the readers posted a follow-up letter she got when she replied that's similar to the one Rick got in September, claiming association with Dating.ru.
I am not a native English speaker, but again I received the same message. Additionally, I never got a job offer like that. It's obviously a spam.
Here's the rest of the story, as the late Paul Harvey used to say.
After a week, they tell you that they no longer need you as a proofreader, but that they have a new position for you, processing payments from their US clients. They ask you to open a checking account and their customer makes a deposit into it. You keep 5%, and wire the rest to Russia. The scam is that the money they deposit was stolen (by a forged check or other means), so you are transferring stolen money out of the country. Dangerous and illegal.
RUN AWAY from this one!
I fell for the editing part, but when the open a checking account part entered the picture -- I RAN!
[...] 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 [...]
this same scam is now operating under "Worldwide Wedding Agency".
The scam is still alive and kicking in 2010.
I went through the whole process, edit texts for a week, then they want me to accept payments and send them money via Western Union.
I even got a check and deposited it and then told them I would not send them any money and would not do business with them. This after reading the numerous blogs about it.
Company name is International Dating Co. and Global Marriage Agency.
Meanwhile, I have a balance in my account and alerted my bank who told me that they can't do anything until the check bounces.
So the money sits in my account and I have heard NOTHING from the scammers.
I guess the money will disappear when the bank gets notification that the funds don't exist.
BE CAREFUL everyone, this looks too good to be true and is a SCAM!!!!
Meanwhile they´re operatiing with : dating.ru. The sender`s email adresse is the same for returning the text. So they´re learning every time. Only the text has not changed yet, it`s the same as above mentioned.
Hmmmmm. I'm really not sure what to do here. I have been editing the emails by dating.ru for a week now and fell into the 'money transfer' trap, yes I actually asked them for it.
I'm kinda thinking "so what if it's illegal, how the hell are the authorities gonna find out" but at the same time "Sh!t, I really shouldn't take part in this".
It can after all provide an additional revenue for my family in a time when it's quite hard simply to survive but then there could be serious implications for me and my family! Could I just play dumb if found out??? I don't know.