Scam Alert: Part Time Job Offer by Email

I received this email about a part-time job offer yesterday. This scam is not only costing its victims thousands of dollars, but also putting them at risk for going to jail!

This is another fake check scam in which the victim is sent a certified check, asked to deposit it, draw a new check minus 10% (which is the victim’s pay) and send it to the “company”. After a few days, even a month, the bank contacts the victim to let them know that the original cashier’s check that was cashed was bogus. The victim now has to pay back the bank the money it sent to the “company” (read scammer). Further, because the victim deposited a fake check, the bank can contact the authorities and have the victim charged with passing a fake check.

Below is a copy of the email. My comments are in red.

Attention,

Before I go further I thought I’d inform you of both who you would be working for and what you would be doing. We are into Manufacturing of Fabrics and Textiles with numerous customers home and abroad and here are our homepage http://www.globalsources.com/kingtexs.co (This has the appearance of a real site, but either the scammer is using it without the company’s knowledge or its a fake site). We produce various clothing materials, batiks, assorted fabrics and traditional costume.

We need a representative in the EU/US/CANADA who will be in charge of all our payments from our clients/customers because most of our customers pay us through Certified checks and money order’s which are not negotiable here in China. (There is no reason why a legitimate company can’t accept payment from around the world and most people aren’t going to pay by certified check. They’ll pay by credit card which is safer and offers a recourse if the product isn’t delivered). This brings our quest to employ a credible and trustworthy fellow as our representative to handle our payments. This would not affect your present job but serve as another stream of income to your good self. As our Representative in your country, your tasks are;

1. Receive payment from Customers

2. Cash it at any cashing point or at your banks and you will deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed (This is the crux of the scam. The checks will be bogus and you’ll be responsible to repay the money to the bank.)

3. 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). (Notice how they won’t accept your check!! There is no recourse for you to get your money back with a wire transfer.)

Note that as a representative of our company; you will be entitled to 10% of any amount you receive from customers on behalf of the company as payments for outstanding debts or goods that they want to buy.

We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot of free time doing another job, but this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking for a worker who is satisfied with our requirements and will be an earnest assistant. We are glad to offer this job position to you. If you feel that you are serious about this, we implore you to send your FULL NAMES, FULL ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER so we can forward it to our clients and they will start making payments to you as the company’s representative and I would be glad if I can hear from you with all the information required.

Thank you for your time and anticipated cooperation.

Regards,

Kim Woods.

Human Resources Manager

If you ever receive an email asking you to use your personal bank account to help a company do business, it will be a scam. Legitimate companies never need help processing payments nor would they need to hire people to use their bank accounts.