Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from Jennifer Claire of "ArtGalllery.org" in England (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "par time worker", "Payment Officer", "local agent" or "local representative" in which you "receive payments", deduct your "Processing fee", deposit the checks and then wire most of the money to an overseas "company"?
It is an AFF / Money transfer Scam. They'll send you counterfeit US Postal money orders or checks which you are supposed to deposit, take out some percentage (typically, 10%) for your work, and then MoneyGram or Western Union wire the remaining 90%. Notice that although you receive checks, they won't let you forward a check to them, only Western Union or Money Gram. There's a reason for this: Western Union and MoneyGrams are cashed immediately and are untraceable and irretrievable. Bank checks can take 1 or 2 weeks to clear!
Of course, since the check is fake, it will bounce a week or so later after you deposit it. But you have already moneygram'ed the scammers the 90% of the amount, and that is transacted almost instantly. So you now owe the bank for the full amount. You may also face criminal charges for passing counterfeit checks. See this page for a step-by-step explanation of how the scam unfolds.
Do you have a resume posted online? We'd like to hear from you about your experiences recruiting emails that turned out to be scams or misleading - click here to write us.
Notice the passages we have highlighted in the actual scam email below. They point out some of the additional clues that it is a scam.
From : MRS.JENNIFER CLAIRE. < jenniferclaire@artgalllery.org >
Reply-To : jennifer_claire10@yahoo.com
Sent : Wednesday, March 7, 2007 7:19 PM
Subject : PART TIME JOB OFFER WORK AT HOME GETPAID..Hello Dear,
My name is Jennifer Claire and I am an artist. I live in England, with my two kids, one dog and the love of my life. It is definitely a full house.
I have been doing artwork since I was a child when I was in Canada were I took interest in arts that gives me about 23 years of experience. I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color pencils. I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the computer.
I have been selling my art for the last 4 to 5 years and have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines. I have sold in galleries, museums and to private collectors from all around the world.
I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Americans; they are always offering to pay with US POSTAL MONEY ORDERS, which is difficult for me to cash here in England.
I am looking for a representative in the states who will be working for me as a par time worker and I am willing to pay for every transaction, which wouldn't affect your present state of work, someone who would help me receive payments from my customers in the states.
I mean someone that is responsible and reliable, because the cost of coming to the states and getting payments is very expensive, I am working on setting up a branch in the state, and so for now I need a representative in the United States who will be handling the payment aspect.
These payments are in money order and they would come to you in your name, so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage and wire the rest back. But the problem I have is trust.
But I have my way of getting anyone that gets away with our money; I mean the FBI branch in Washington gets involved.
It wouldn't cost u any amount, u are to receive payments which will be sent to u by FedEx or USPS from my business partners, which would come in form of a money order then u are to cash it and send the cash to me via western union money transfer all western union charges will be deducted from the money.
If you are interested, please get back to me as soon as possible.
(1)Your full names,
(2)Contact address and,
(3)Phone/fax numbers.
For more information please contact me vian email on
My Regard
Jennifer Claire
***
There are a variety of sleazy scams that look, at first glance, like legitimate job offers. Before you write back to them, pause a moment and read about the scams below!
Some of the more common job scams are