Job Scam: Market Direct Financial Group Ltd
Posted by Greg Bulmash in Job Hunting, tags: job scamsI received a job spam e-mail recently claiming to have come through Monster.com. Anyone can borrow Monster's graphics and fake Monster's e-mail address in the from line, plus the job description was sounding like a check cashing scam and the company didn't even provide it's name.
I responded, using a throwaway address, to get some more information, and here's their follow-up. They're calling themselves Market Direct Financial Group Ltd. If you read the job description below, you'll see the classic check cashing scam. The payments they would give you are fake, but good enough forgeries to get cashed. It's not until you've cashed a few and sent the money out of the country via Western Union that the banks catch up with you, and then you're responsible for paying back all the money, plus you're an accessory to a crime and could be prosecuted.
There are no legitimate foreign businesses that need independent agents in the U.S. to cash checks and send them the money via Western Union. And their claim that you're helping them get around taxes and fees (which might be how they explain not using a major bank) is not only bogus, but if it were true, you'd be an accessory to tax evasion, and then you'd be knowingly involved in a criminal enterprise instead of just a dupe.
Their response letter follows. Don't get tricked. Good luck and God bless.
Dear Candidate,Thank you for your response. We are glad to offer you a job position in our
company, Market Direct Financial Group Ltd. Our company was founded in 1991
in London UK, Market Direct Financial Group Ltd is one of the largest
electronics and gadget selling companies to millions of our customers --
businesses, groups and individuals. The Market Direct Financial Group Ltd
logo is a trusted symbol of dependability. Naturally, you have great
expectations regarding your career and that means you will need plenty of
room - to grow, to explore your potential and to realize your goals. At
Market Direct Financial Group Ltd you will find a challenging, fast-paced
environment where your creativity, drive and commitment will propel you to
the top of your career. HR Manager of Market Direct Financial Group Ltd
needs a responsible, honest, self motivated and reliable individual to work
for the company as our Legal Representative in USA. This is in view of us
not having an office presently in the USA. You don't need to have an office
and this certainly will not disturb any form of work you have going at the
moment.About the job:
• The average monthly income is about 6,000.00 USD
• This job takes only 1-2 hours per dayBecause of the today’s situation on the financial market, there is a vacancy
to be filled in our company; the job opening is that of a Legal
Representative within the US. This opening will help our company to reduce
taxes that we are obliged to pay to the government each month. And we offer
you one of the highest salaries on the market today and the minimal
expenditures of time!Presently with the amount of orders we have we cannot put them on hold for
fear of losing our customers, secondly we cannot cash these payments from
the US soon enough, as international checks take about 28 working days for
cash to be made available here in London UK. We lose about 75,000 USD of net
income each month because we have money transfer delays. Your task is to
coordinate payments from customers and help us with the payment process. You
are not involved in any sales.We make direct contact for sales of products. Once orders are received and
sorted we deliver the product to a customer (usually through FEDEX).The
customer receives and check the products, after this has been done the
customer has to pay for the products. We accept all forms of payment but
most of our customers pay using Bank Checks and so in order to solve this
problem and not lose any of our customers we have decided to open this new
job position. This job is legal according to the U.S. legislation as it is
today.Your tasks are:
1. Receive payment from our customers.
2. Cashing the checks at your existing bank account.
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on each payment processed.
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices
you will be contacted to send payment to. (Payment is to be forwarded by
Western Union Money Transfer).Local money transfers take barely a few hours, so it will give us a
possibility to get customer's payment almost immediately. For example you've
got 3000.00 USD, you deduct your commission: 300.00 USD and then send to us
the balance: 2700.00 USD. In the first month you will have 15-20
transactions after checking your background records, 3,000.00-6,000.00 USD
so you may calculate your income. For example 20 transactions each around
3000.00 USD gives you a total income of 6,000.00 USD plus your basis monthly
salary is 1,600.00 USD. Total: 7,600.00 USD per month and after establishing
a close co-operation with us you'll be able to operate with larger orders
and you'll be able to earn more. You will also deduct fees that are related
to this job (gasoline, western union fees, bank commissions etc) from our
balance, not from your salary or commissions. The checks will vary from:
$500.00 to $3,000.00. We will also send you a 1099 Form for tax deduction on
your part.Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have them cashed in
your existing bank account, we don’t accept newly created bank accounts,
because it slows the cashing process. Deduct your percentage and forward the
balance to the company attorney manager via western union money transfer,
the name will be given to you later after cashing a payment. This job takes
only 3-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing another job;
you'll get good income and a regular job. This job is very challenging and
you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies
our requirements and will be an earnest assistant.We are glad to offer this job position to you. If you feel that you are a
serious and earnest worker and you want to work for Market Direct Financial
Group Ltd, please answer a couple of questions:1. First: Have you ever cashed any checks using the account that you
are planning to use for cashing checks from our company?2. Second: I am interested if you have ever worked in this line of work
for processing payments (processed checks for another company) and if yes
please provide the period, what company and the reason you do not work for
them any longer?For this job you must use your existing bank account to cash checks. This is
because of one very important reason: after you will have a few positive
transactions the account will become "trusted" by the bank and all these
transactions will become routine. You must use an account where you have
cashed checks before. It is very important that you do so, because banks
have strict policies regarding new clients.We wait for your answers and if you are still interested, in the next email
we will send you the representative contract.Market Direct Financial Group Ltd
Renee Hawkins
Southwark Street
London, SE1
United Kingdom
FAX 011-44-800-516-0321
FAX 011-44-444-132-2019
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