UPDATE: Derek Firth of Joined.com has officially responded. See his response below.
UPDATE 2: Based on recent comments and a recent spam, seems these scammers are referring to sites other than Joined.com now. I'd guess that Joined identified them and cut them off, so they just found another affiliate program to exploit. I've taken Joined.com out of the title of the article since it's only historically pertinent to this scam now.
Got this bogus mail just a few minutes ago...
From: Emma Dunwin-Dunwin StaffingHi Greg,
If you are still in the Business Development job market or if you are looking to expand your professional network in the Lynnwood area, here is a great site for job search and career tools.
Regards,
Emma Dunwin
Senior Partner
Dunwin Staffing
I am using Joined for professional networking and more...
Like the BNR-National scam, this e-mail used a purportedly legitimate mail service provider, bettermail.ca, to send the mail and track clicks on the links. Both the words "job search" in the body text and "joined" in the footer were click-tracked links to joined.com.
A check of the headers shows it was sent through Bettermail's servers. Since Bettermail claims they're opt-in only, either Bettermail's lying or these folks forged my opt-in.
But here's the even more damning thing. Dunwin Staffing's domain, dunwinstaffing.com, bounces you straight to Joined.com. Furthermore, if you look up the registration, it's registered by "Domains By Proxy" meaning the owner of dunwinstaffing.com is hiding their true identity.
UPDATE
It would be nice if Joined.com would make an attempt to publicly address this issue since it's gone on for months. Whatever their role in it, good PR strategy would be to get out ahead of it instead of remaining silent while these spammers continue to associate Joined.com with scuzzy activities. I can't find it addressed on their site. And Derek Firth would be welcome to post a comment or even send me a statement to add to this post.
All I know is that this page has been visited by thousands of people concerned after being spammed by these fake staffing firms and the one thing the spams all had in common was the promotion of Joined.com.
March 25, 2009: Derek Firth of Joined.com e-mailed me yesterday about this brouhaha and addressed user concerns. I asked if I could post his e-mail as an official response, and he agreed.
Hi Greg,Thanks for the followup post today.
These groups have no affiliation with Joined.com.
Joined is a networking site, and we have hundreds of thousands of members, including recruiters and employers inviting others to join their professional networks.These complaints are something we take very seriously, and we continue to investigate.
One of the challenges that other viral web 2.0 sites like Facebook and LinkedIN face, is to police every single avenue that entities use to drive traffic and build relationships on your site. We will be adding additional reporting functions on our invitations in the coming future to help further identify any unwanted communication.
Once someone is a Joined member, they retain complete control of their privacy settings, controlling who can access the various parts of their profile.
There is a `report member` function that allows real time reporting of any abuse or unwanted communication from other Joined members. Unfortunately, these unwanted messages do not come from Joined members.You hit the nail on the head in your post about people feeling tricked, which is a shame, and it should not take away from the valuable service that Joined provides. It seems to be the case of a bad messenger, but I can assure you that registering on Joined will not result in a virus.
We have partnerships with the leaders in job search and networking components. Our job search is powered by Indeed.com, the leading job aggregator, bringing our members the web´s best jobs from over 2500 job sites and corporate employment sites. Users are free to view all of these jobs without having to register as a Joined member. I would suggest to any of your readers that members run a job search and see if there are any good matches. I urge them to judge Joined by the quality of the experience on the site.
What I can tell you is that our members are extremely excited about our rapidly growing site, and we are providing a necessary service to both employed and unemployed member in these tough economic times.
Growing a business in this economy is a challenge, I would like to be able to hire an entire team to manage and investigate these complaints. However, the reality is that we have to work with the resources that are in place.
Regards,
Derek Firth
President & Founder
Joined
Entries (RSS)
Received the exact same email... it's phishing for info...all fake websites and links.
As the founder of BetterMail, I can confirm that BetterMail.ca is an opt-in only email marketing provider. We've suspended this account due to your complaint.
Just to throw this into the mix, cleaning out my email and came upon this note from Oct 1st.
From: Emma Dunwin-Dunwin Staffing
"Hi Susan,
If you are still in the Customer Service job market or if you are looking to expand your professional network in the Laguna Beach area, here is a great site for job search and career tools.
Regards,
Monica Beazley
Senior Recruiter
Beazley Recruiting
I am using Joined for professional networking and more..."
1) the words "job search" is a link to url http://www.bettermail.ca/ct/443/55062/2806364/6a7ee87fee5cb55d13da64189d953b3b
2) the word "joined" is a link to url http://www.bettermail.ca/ct/443/55062/2806366/6a7ee87fee5cb55d13da64189d953b3b
Susan,
Interesting in that while Keith Holloway says they've suspended the account, the bettermail.ca links from the mail you received are still working to redirect to joined. You'd think that the suspension would redirect bad links to an "inactive account" page, much like AWeber did with the form redirect on BNR-National's scam.
I decided to google the veracity of Joined.com and came across your site. This arrived in my Inbox yesterday:
Hi Michael,
I am following up on earlier correspondence regarding your job search. I wanted to touch base, given the economic situation to see if you are still looking for work in the Accounting field or any other industry. The latest postings are found here.
Regards,
Anne Carter
Staffing Specialist
Hobin Staffing
I am using Joined for professional networking and more...
7 Dies St.
Canton, NY
13617-1324
Many thanks for saving from a potential world of grief!
I received the same email. In the subject line it names the city I live in and says it is an employment update. Never heard of them. Thank you for the info!!!!
Hi Sonya,
I am following up on earlier correspondence regarding your job search. I wanted to touch base, given the economic situation to see if you are still looking for work in the Human Resources field or any other industry. The latest postings are found here.
Regards,
Anne Carter
Staffing Specialist
Hobin Staffing
I am using Joined for professional networking and more...
7 Dies St.
Canton, NY
13617-1324
TY for the heads up on this one. I always check out these unsolicited email websites and this is where I landed. kudos!
Got the exact same email as Sonya just today...
I just received this one. I was looking to see if it's a scam - sounds like it is.
"Hi Friend,
I am following up on earlier correspondence regarding your job search. I wanted to touch base, given the economic situation to see if you are still looking for work in the Marketing field or any other industry. The latest postings are found here.
Regards,
Anne Carter
Staffing Specialist
Hobin Staffing
I am using Joined for professional networking and more..."
I got this message and it's definitely looks like a scam since Niwot is a very small town with a few stores and no professional community.
Hi Katherine,
I am following up on your recent job search inquiry. If you are still in the appropriate employment market or if you are looking to expand your professional network in the Niwot area, we direct our candidates here for job search and career tools.
Regards,
Anne Carter
Recruiter
Hobin Staffing
I am using Joined for professional networking and more...
7 Dies St.
Canton, NY
13617-1324
This message sent to you by Hobin Staffing
You can change your communication preferences.
Well, I just got it again, this time from "Davieson Staffing" with a subject line of "75k+ Job Search" and signed by "Isabella Murray". I'd reported "Emma Dunwin" to Joined and got no response. Looks like the folks at Joined either do not care about this and are paying affiliate fees to a spammer, or they're behind the spam themselves. Either way, Joined and its owner Derek Firth are on my personal scum/scam list
.
I got the same email this morning - I suspect it was after I renewed my resume' on Monster.com.
I received the same thing a few minutes ago. I'm glad I searched "Hobin Staffing."
Thank you!!!
Mike
I just got one of these today and Googled Hobin. It seems I get these phishing messages after I update my on-line account on either Monster or CareerBuilder. I'm with Carolyn, I think it is Monster. These scams/schemes are getting better all the time, it is good to be very wary these days
I just got the same email as Greg got. It was from "Davieson Staffing" subject: Employment Status Check-In signed by "Isabella Murray".
So I reported the Isabella Murray one to Joined yesterday and did get a response, signed from Derek Firth (founder of Joined.com), asking me to forward the message. I forwarded the whole thing including the mail headers plus a link to this page so he could see the various people complaining.
If Derek responds, I'll post an update.
Got the same thing today from Isabella Murray at Davieson Staffing. The only resume update I did today was on 6figurejobs.com, so it may not be just Monster. The website I was directed to was sixfigurecareers.com and the company, Executive Search Online, was based in Denver. It's a bit of an odd coincidence that this is the same city where another "career management" scam is located, ITS.
This is still coming out of Joined - this time through mailsender244.com which again is protected by "Domains by Proxy" - It looks like Joined.com is spamming this cr@p
I just received the same letter of person #5, Michael. It does give 2 options to opt out of future mailings.
To remove yourself from future mailings click here
Hi Candace,
I am following up on earlier correspondence regarding your job search. I wanted to touch base, given the economic situation to see if you are still looking for work in the Customer Service field or any other industry. The latest postings are found here.
Regards,
Anne Carter
Staffing Specialist
Hobin Staffing
7 Dies St.
Canton, NY
13617-1324
This message sent was to you by Hobin Staffing
You can change your communication preferences or you can unsubscribe from future mailings.
@Candace: A spammer's unsubscribe options are generally one or both of two things:
1: Fake and don't work.
2: A way for you to confirm that you open spam which gets your address on "verified address" spam lists the spammers sell to other spammers.
If you believe that these dishonest people, who are already lying to you in a couple of ways, are suddenly getting a sense of honor and offering a legitimate mechanism to unsubscribe from future spam, I've got a bridge I want to sell you.
Just got the same email from Hobin; had my town in the subject line, links to Joined; perhaps scamming and spamming using career jobs listings?
Just got an email from "phishing partner" Isabella Murray of Davieson Staffing.
I'd updated my resume on a couple of websites today and can't tell you which ones they were.... my only advice is to keep your bull**** detectors on HIGH ALERT.
I'm taking Greg's advice and won't be "unsubscribing"....
Unless a good system is put in place to rid the net from scammers, spammers and such, we will be soon backing to square one, looking at phone books and mailing letters.
Internet is becoming such a dangerous environment where you can be spied on many ways at any time in fact risking the destruction of your privacy, identity, sanity and even physical integrity. Who need that?
If even the smartest computer savvy people with help of strong antivirus/spyware software are having trouble detecting threats, imagine how safe everybody else is. (Or isn't)
My opinion if you care? We are at war, war with no frontiers whatsoever, no rules, no laws were the creepiest low life scum of this planet probably is looking at your Facebook profile right now!
You want to be safe? Unplug your computer wile you can...
By the way, I've got Ms. Carter email as well along with many other scams/spams (about 20 today alone)
Good luck guys.
Got the same email! IT'S A SCAM!
Chicago Employment Updateâ€
From: Anne Carter (annecarter@hobinstaffing.com)
Sent: Fri 1/02/09 10:26 AM
Wow! Just got phished by Anne Carter @Hobinstaffing as well. Wish I would've seen this site first....
Hello-
Just wanted to share...
I have my resume posted on Career Builder, & have received the same e-mail from "Anne Carter at Hobin Staffing". I came across these posts while searching for info about the Co.
Thanks for the info!
Message details:
Anne Carter (annecarter@hobinstaffing.com)
Sent: Fri 1/02/09 12:54 PM
Just got the email from Davieson Staffing, isabella.murray@daviesonstaffing.com, Thanks for your postings above concerning her email, subject line, Employment Status Check-In. Needless to say, I didn't update my information.
Just got the same email from Isabella Murray. DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINK.
I only posted my resume on careerbuilder.com...so the scam people are on every jobs website.
Be very careful...SCAM SCAM SCAM
same as above, Davieson Staffing, isabella.murray@daviesonstaffing.com, let us do something about this, can we?
YIS, (yours in scouting)
Roger
I got it too. Blocked and deleted. It always amazes me what these scumbags come up with. A close friend tells me the "scumbags" are really the same folks selling us the programs to fix this junk. I wouldn't doubt it.
Watch out for this scam also. I asked why she is using a private email address and she said " I don't know". I asked why the website can't be found and she said it is being improved.
I think either the business folded and she is trying to make bucks on the side or is into identity theft.
Just got the same from Ms. Isabella Murray. She even provides a physical mail address to write to in order to be "removed" from the distribution.
Guys, good work, got the same one from Isabella today. Thanks for the detective work. Tom
Got the same as others above - thank you to all above for the warning! It's going straight into the junk mail folder!
I recieved this a few minutes ago...
9:56 AM Received the same was as No.15:
Davidson Staffing - Isabella Murray January, 12, 2008
Several Months ago I went through my online resumes and removed my email
address and phone number. Most of the legit sites tell you only employers have access
personal information. So much for "legititmate" employers.
I got this message this morning - looks like they've added another name to the mix: Hobin Staffing.
Thank you for posting. I got this email today:
back up and running...1/12/2009
Yeah- they shut it down - right...
mailsender244.com/ms2444/...
Found in my Yahoo box this morning.
[standard mail with mailsender links]
I receive the Anne Carter from Hobin Staffing email and clicked and went to the joined.com website. Are they out putting a cookie or some kind of tracker on account? How do you get rid of it without totally cleaning out my cookies or cache?
Hi, here it is again on my e-mail. I thought it looked kind of phishy......
Got the email from Isabella Murray from Davieson Staffing. When I plugged the listed physical address into Google Maps & looked at the satellite view, it looks very residential.
It looks like Ho Ho Hobin is up to their same dimwitted tricks again. I recived this today and the subject named the city I live in. Very unnerving.
I got the same letter from Davieson Staffing too today....In order make the legit websites aware of these phising/scam emails, we have to keep reporting them....I know it's a pain, but they do not get enough people complaining, they can't do anything.
Here's the info I found on Career Builders to report. All you do is forward the suspicious email to thier phising/scam team. No, it's not going to stop the emails right away, but it helps to let the right people know about it.....
Link from Career Builders:
http://www.fuzeqna.com/careerbuilder/consumer/kbdetail.asp?kbid=772
- Feel that you have been a victim of a Phishing Scam?
- Change your password immediately
- Disregard all future emails requesting to update information
- Increase the security on the spam filters
- Contact Careerbuilder and forward the original email to TSST@careerbuilder.com
Received the Isabella Murray email today ... they are still at it ... sheesh, job searching is hard enough without having to filter through scams on top of it all ...
Thanks for all the reporting here so I could determine how to respond (or NOT) ...
I received an e-mail from Isabella Murray from Davieson Staffing. For some reason my antenna went up and I didn't trust it so I googled it. In doing so, I found this site. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.
Outstanding Info! Thanks for the heads-up. I just recieved the same e-mail from Isabella Murray from Davieson Staffing. I was about to respond, but something smelled fishy, so I first decided to 'Google' Isabella Murray from Davieson Staffing and found this site. Sure enough! Scam City! Thanks!
Hi there,
They have added "Katie Jensen" at "Dudley Search Group" (same address in Canton, NY) to the mix now.
Thanks for the background information. Looked strange, considering the good networking systems out there.
Notice that I said I got a response from Derek Firth back in December and I'd post an update if he ever followed up. Never heard from him again.
This page is the #1 result on Google if you search for Joined.com, Derek, and it's been one of the most popular pages on my site for months. So thousands of people a month are learning here that Joined.com is not to be trusted.