ADVICE NEEDED: WTF is up with this email?

[Blue Belle]

I've just started job hunting again, and I posted my resume online at a local newspaper. Well, I've been blasted with emails from recruiters, and such - but I received this email the other day asking if I was still looking for work and if I would be interested in a work at home clerical position. I sent an email back stating I am interested in a work at home and asked if they'd forward a job description(I swear the email was only 2 sentences long - if that)... this is what they sent me:

Hi,
We are glad you manifest an interest in our job offer. We have your contact info from careerbuilder.com website but we also need your cell phone number if you have one. If not all the numbers where I can find you during the day, like home or work numbers.Also please email/fax me a copy of your driver license and some utility bills from your current residence. This is a safety measure for us since you will be working with our money. I'm sure you understand.I want you to be able to check your email as many times as possible during the day.Our clients work mostly with these banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo and City Bank.

I will need you to open an account with at least two of these banks. As soon as you can do that we can start our cooperation. Please ask them to activate the online banking systems for every account and I will need access to those accounts to verify when funds are coming into the account and leaving the account. You will be receiving the payments from our customers. Your commission from every transaction is 8%. You will deduct it yourself. Let me know when you will be able to go to these banks and open an account with them so I'll know when we should start doing business together.

P.S. Some people are asking what is this job about in general terms. Well, our company works in the "Home Depot" system and we recruit affiliates from all over USA in order to cover as many areas as possible and extend our network truly nationwide. All you will have to do, is open a new bank account (we prefer Bank of America as most of our customers bank with them) and you will receive some wire transfers or money orders. You will forward that money , minus your commission money, to our suppliers/resellers/distributors. This is all you have to do. All fees that will occur with the bank or any other money/postal remitter service that we shall ask you to use will be supported by the company, thus NOT affecting your commission money.And yes, you will have to pay taxes ONLY for the money you will earn (you will have receipts from the bank stating how much money you withdrew and how much money you resent to our partners). The minimum you will earn per month is $4000, as we make sure you will receive enough assignments in order to earn that much money the least.That is of course, if you prove yourself worthy for the company.

I have no interest in pursuing this, but can someone tell me what the hell kind of business that they're running here??

[Scout1071]

1. Yea.....a scam.

Delete and never look back.

[TrogL]

2. It's a scam

Run like hell.

[KeepItReal]

3. That is some messed up stuff

They are just trying to get access to your bank account.

Not legit.

[Sannum]

4. A SCAM

alert career builder

[WhollyHeretic]

5. I registered with careerbuilder and I've gotten nothing but scams

Not that one but several others. One was claiming to be a job agency that had several companies interested in me but I had to buy their computer program with interview tips. People are just so fucked up, trying to scam someone is bad enough, but trying to scam people looking for work and probably already have money trouble, that's just evil.

[Blue Belle]

15. I know...

There's a special place in the seventh circle of hell for people like this (right next to Tom Delay and Ken lay). It's getting to the point that I don't want to check my email. :eyes:

Good luck with your job search!

[WhollyHeretic]

16. Good luck to you as well!

I think mine might be over. I should find out soon.

[democracyindanger]

6. SCAM

They don't say anything about sending you the legal forms required for employment, like a W-2, proof of citizenship/work visa, et al. They want you to open bank accounts under your name and give them unrestricted access.

And it's "Citibank," not "City Bank."

Report this to careerbuilder.com and the local police fraud unit.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. "We are glad you manifest an interest in our job offer."

That'd make me deep six it before I made it to the next sentence.

[Blue Belle]

11. No kidding...

Manifest an interest?? Please! :eyes:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

8. Report it to your ISP.

[Radio_Lady]

9. Report this to the Attorney General in your state -- and perhaps to

others?

Any more suggestions gratefully appreciated.

This is a nasty scam that should be stopped.

[Radio_Lady]

10. Thanks for posting this. If you can, send the email header to

Spamcop.net and they will send it to the abuse@ address for the ISP that "provided" it to you. (If you don't have a free spamcop.net account, PM me and I'll try to help you.)

Ugly stuff. Obviously coming from some non-English speaking group in stilted and insulting language. This is worse than the Nigerian scam that's still around after skatey-eight years!

[grace0418]

13. Thanks for the info on Spamcop.nnet

I am going to check that out too.

[Radio_Lady]

12. Here's what's going on with "work at home" at snopes.com

(That web site follows "urban legends" etc.)

Origins: In 2004 we began noticing a new scam targeting those searching for part-time paid duties that could be performed from home. This new con uses the promise of high-paying work to lure eager job seekers into being defrauded themselves or used to steal from others.

Those so led down the garden path are pulled in by advertisements for jobs involving the forwarding of monies or goods collected in the U.S. to business entities in other countries. Supposedly, the successful applicants will make thousands of dollars through working from home for a few hours a week, with no special skills or training required. Sometimes international wire transfers are specifically mentioned in these solicitations, and the terms "import/export specialist," "marketing manager," and "financial manager" often turn up in their wording. The reputations of the venues where the ads are found proves no protection to those looking for such opportunities, in that this work-at-home scam has been touted thousands of times on popular job web sites including Monster, Careerbuilder, Careers.com, and Yahoo! Hotjobs.

This con operates in one of two of ways, both of which leaves hopeful job seekers in a mess of trouble:

In its more usual incarnation, successful job applicants are tasked with depositing checks for varying amounts (anywhere from a few thousand dollars all the way into the six-figure range) into their personal bank accounts and relaying to their new employers 95% of the amount banked, keeping 5% as their commission. The explanation given by the employers for that which necessitates their having someone cash checks on their behalf varies from come-on to come-on, but the need to believe in 'something for nothing' (in this case a high steady income in return for a few hours' work per week) blinds the about-to-be-defrauded to the glaring implausibilities inherent to these tall tales of strange government-imposed restrictions, exorbitant tax rates in the homeland, the need to fly under a competitor's radar, and the like. The checks the unsuspecting dupes are given to deposit are worthless, but this detail is not discovered by them or their banks until weeks after the fact, which is long after 95% of the face value of said financial instruments has been wired to the thieves. As is the case in the 'cashier check' scam (sellers are duped into accepting cashier checks in excess of the amounts they seek for their goods on the understanding they are to forward the additional monies to third parties), the scam works because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) requires banks to make money from cashier's, certified, or teller's checks available in one to five days. Consequently, funds from checks that might not be good are often released into payees' accounts long before the checks themselves have been honored by their issuing banks. High quality forgeries can be bounced back and forth between banks for weeks before anyone catches on to their being worthless.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Blue Belle]

14. Wow!

Thanks so much for posting this. All of your information has been so helpful.

:hug:

[brainshrub]

19. Polite reminder:

Radio_Lady: Please be aware that DU copyright rules require that excerpts of copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs and must include a link to the original source.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

[Radio_Lady]

21. Thanks, brainshrub. I'm seeing this about 24 hrs later and don't

have time to respond adequately. I'll try to pin this down later tonight or tomorrow (Friday).

[Radio_Lady]

22. Here's the link -- will try to remember the rules next time!

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/reshipper.asp

(scroll down to middle of page)

Thanks for the reminder! I was just in a hurry...

[Radio_Lady]

23. Link to other pages discussing work at home schemes:

From the Federal Trade Commission:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/invest/homewrk.htm

From the Better Business Bureau:

http://www.bbb.org/alerts/article.asp?ID=436

[RebelOne]

17. Sounds like a money-laundering scam.

[Patiod]

18. Thanks for posting this

As a warning to others.

My brother is WAY too trusting, and has his resume up on CareerBuilders. I sent him the snopes link.

[Shell Beau]

20. Run far far away!!!

[Radio_Lady]

24. Bluebelle, I hope you take advantage of all of these suggestions.

Good luck on your job search -- and have a happy holiday weekend!

[Canadian Socialist]

26. For those DUers in Canada

go here:
http://www.rcmp.ca/scams/index_e.htm
I have forwarded many many "Nigerian" mail scams and the like. The mounties luv this shit. And they are very good at tracking down the culprits!

[kick-ass-bob]

25. "We are glad you manifest an interest in our job offer."

This was a tip... (what kind of sentence is that??)

"...a copy of your driver license and some utility bills from your current residence."

This is where I stopped reading.

Any mention of bank account numbers? :eyes:

Everyone else has said it already, so I won't.

[tenshi816]

27. This reads like a variation of the Nigerian money scam.

The business they're running is of the "take other people's money fraudulently" variety. Ever notice these things always read as if they're written by someone who doesn't have English as a first language?

I particularly like the "if you prove yourself worthy" line. :rofl:

[RebelOne]

28. I bet if you check the header, you will find it

originated in either Nigeria or the Netherlands.

[khashka]

29. It's called a scam

Run for the hills!

Khash.