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Have you received an email from Robert hicks of "Gallery Furniture & Design Center, http://gdfc.homestead.com" in Fremont, CA (or ANYWHERE else) offering you a job as a "xxx", "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 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.
In the email below, there are some many red flags, we can't imagine any way it could be legitimate. But you can try emailing "Robert hicks" back and asking:
Try cutting and pasting those questions and emailing them back to the person offering the "job", "Robert hicks" in this case and see how he responds. We'll bet it will be with hostility, like:
"Why are you asking me these questions? We are offering you a legitimate job, but you are treating us like we are scammers! If you are not interested we can find someone else; it is YOUR loss!"
Which, of course, is how a scammer caught with questions that expose his scam, will reply!
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 illustrate some of the additional clues that it is a scam, such as the email comes from a free email account (such as Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Aim.com, Gmail, cox.net, etc.). Wouldn't you expect a company to have its own website and email address (after all, it only costs about $200/year; every reputable company has its own website these days!) And don't be surprised if the scammers do put the names of real companies, real websites and events in their scams; it doesn't mean anything at all!
A visitor writes on March 5, 2008: "I received these emails from 2 job posting sites"
MONSTER.COM
The email she received:
Robert hicks <robert_hicks@live.com>
Sunday, March 02, 2008 4:03 PM
RE: 69043182 Online Assistant GAZ_807447 Monster Resume #uede5k3j9zmzv74g
Hello,
Thanks for your response to the posting...
We are looking to employ a work at home financial assistant/secretary who'll handle billing and handle a full inventory of monthly billings,payments and activities routed through him/her I own Gfdc.homestead.com/ where we sell our brand of hand-made Interior furnitures online.I need a company assistant/secretary to help payments,live help for customers and keep records of transactions going on,I have to be very mobile,as i need to import and export a lot of furnishing materials as the best of them are actually produced in Europe.
We should be handling the whole business on here but having a local secretary handle payments and having many hands on deck has it's advantages,I travel a lot and when a buyer wants to make a purchase when I'm on company errand, he\she has to hold-on till i return to place an order,on the long term.The effect is our customers start sourcing for other suppliers so having a secretary always at hand has it's numerous advantages.We have lost too many deals due to this and I'm trying to put an end to it.
We have store in Fremont, CA. We sell products mostly here in US and in Canada.The best form of payment is via a traveler checks and money orders as they are readily available and since payments come from a wide range of consumers these means is an easy option for those that prefer the old fashioned cash means and money order way of transaction.Most of the buyers we work with are those we've previously handled successful transactions with,new buyers are verified by me so you have nothing to worry about.
The general idea is, you receive the payment from buyers according to their preferred mode of payments directly from the individual buyer,in your mail and have them cashed at your bank.
You send the payment to our suppliers/vendors when I need you to, or directly to the company and your pay is 8% of the amount sent to you.
An average transaction is for $2,500.00 and upwards. All charges during cashing,sending of payments and transaction completion will be deducted from the balance after you've gotten your pay and not deducted from your pay so your pay is fixed on the amount cashed per transaction.If you can handle as many as 3 transactions per week,but you'll be handling one(1) initially to see how efficiently you can carry your tasks out and complete transactions. On 3 transactions you're sure of nothing less than $500 weekly.The hours are flexible and you can decide when you wanna work,I don't need you online 24/7 just online on a daily basis and check your emails regularly.
Working with me will also not disturb your other jobs as I require that applicant only have easy access to the net,be reachable easily and respond/carry out instructions sent as soon as possible.
Hope to hear from you and indicate your interest in the position by sending me your full contact details in this format...
Full Names...
Physical Address...
City...
State...
Zip code...
Cell Number...
Home Number...
Email Address(Pry & Sec)..
Thanks,
Robert hicks.
Chairman/CEO.
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