Just got the following e-mail slipping through my spam filters. I'll post it below, then show you how to tell it's a scam.

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.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Job Hunting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.