Employment Scams
If it sounds too good to be true……..it is!!
Recently, some of the most popular scams have involved job opportunities.
Secret Shopper
One of the most common of these scams is the Secret Shopper. There are also scams for other jobs but basically these type of scams involve the supposed employer sending you checks or money orders that you are supposed to cash or deposit in your account, keep a percentage of the money, and wire the rest of the money to the employer or a third party via a company like Western Union or Money-gram. Do not do this.
You are either being sent forged checks or forged money orders and eventually they will come back as a forgery and the bank will take the entire amount of the check or money order out of your account.
The bank will not work with you on this and you are responsible for the entire amount.
When you wire money somewhere, all the receiver has to have is the name it was sent to and the transaction number and they can pick it up anywhere in the world.
For example: If you wired money to George Smith in Atlanta, Georgia it could be picked up by a George Smith in Moscow, Russia as long as he has the transaction number and an ID that says George Smith.
Re-Shipper
A second employment scam that is very popular is a re-shipper scam. The potential employer will describe the job as helping him ship products to customers or that he's traveling abroad and needs his packages sent to him.
The reality is that most of the time these are criminals in foreign countries who have stolen credit or debit card numbers and are using them to make fraudulent purchases over the internet at merchant's website. Many merchants having been hit hard by this type of fraud have stopped shipping to many overseas countries. The criminals want to use you as a conduit to ship their fraudulent obtained merchandise overseas.
The criminals in all these employment scams usually recruit unsuspecting victims on craigslist, monster.com, careerbuilder.com or quite recently we have seen a lot of these cases that originated from online dating sites
Recently, some of the most popular scams have involved job opportunities.
Secret Shopper
One of the most common of these scams is the Secret Shopper. There are also scams for other jobs but basically these type of scams involve the supposed employer sending you checks or money orders that you are supposed to cash or deposit in your account, keep a percentage of the money, and wire the rest of the money to the employer or a third party via a company like Western Union or Money-gram. Do not do this.
You are either being sent forged checks or forged money orders and eventually they will come back as a forgery and the bank will take the entire amount of the check or money order out of your account.
The bank will not work with you on this and you are responsible for the entire amount.
When you wire money somewhere, all the receiver has to have is the name it was sent to and the transaction number and they can pick it up anywhere in the world.
For example: If you wired money to George Smith in Atlanta, Georgia it could be picked up by a George Smith in Moscow, Russia as long as he has the transaction number and an ID that says George Smith.
Re-Shipper
A second employment scam that is very popular is a re-shipper scam. The potential employer will describe the job as helping him ship products to customers or that he's traveling abroad and needs his packages sent to him.
The reality is that most of the time these are criminals in foreign countries who have stolen credit or debit card numbers and are using them to make fraudulent purchases over the internet at merchant's website. Many merchants having been hit hard by this type of fraud have stopped shipping to many overseas countries. The criminals want to use you as a conduit to ship their fraudulent obtained merchandise overseas.
The criminals in all these employment scams usually recruit unsuspecting victims on craigslist, monster.com, careerbuilder.com or quite recently we have seen a lot of these cases that originated from online dating sites