Complaint Review: Owen Simpson - Internet

A couple of weeks ago, I found the following ad on Craigslist NYC in the jobs section:

"Fast growing security company that prides itself on its small company atmosphere and high potential opportunities. Position requires excellent writing skills.

Responsibilities to include:

-Work with management to plan and execute the communications component as part of a larger marketing/sales campaign to our target audience. Predominately via email

-Creation and content of a quarterly customer newsletter.

-Letter writing to prospective and current customers.

-Assist outside sales team, with information requests.

** Must be proficient with Microsoft Office product suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Please send resumes to [email protected]

* Compensation: $400 per week

* Telecommuting is ok."

I sent in my resume and quickly received an email response, giving the website of a UK-based company. The website seemed legit and great, so I responded back to them asking questions about the job and responsibilities.

I received barely literate emails in response telling me that I was to send out mailings and catalogs for the company.

Then came this email, which is the basis of a wire transfer scam:

"Dear Rep AP648,

This is to notify you that there was a mixed up at the accounting department with the payment sent to you. The payment that was sent to you is $3200 and the imbursement payment should be $490 and not $3200 that was sent to you. The $3200 was supposed to be sent to our shipping agent.

As soon as you receive the payment, Take the payment to the bank immediately and cash it. Then send $2710 back to the accounting officer through western union money transfer. Here is the breakdown of the imbursement: $400 is for your one week advance payment and $90 is for buying USPS stamp for the posting of the Mails and Catalogues.

Here is our accounting officer's information to send the money to him

First Name: Rodney

Last Name: Grant

Address: 10 Robin Court, London, SE12 9QW

As soon as you send the money, email me the control number given to you at western union and the actual amount sent after deducting western union charges to send the money. Then wait till you receive further instruction. Hope to hear back from you soon.

INCASE YOU DONT KNOW ANY WESTERN UNION OFFICE AROUND YOU, I CAN SEARCH ONLINE FOR THE NEAREST WESTERN UNION AGENT IN YOUR LOCATION WHERE YOU CAN SEND THE MONEY.

Important Notice: Please email me back so I can be sure you receive and understand this message.

Regards,

Mr Owen Simpson"

At this point, I sent an email through the Safe Options website, and they wrote back confirming that they are not affiliated with these people:

"We are based solely in Bristol in the United Kingdom and NEVER advertise or recruit in the USA or anywhere else outside the UK. If you are being offered employment with us or being asked to wire funds to us then it is a SCAM.

We are sorry that some unscrupulous characters are using our company as a vehicle to extort cash, but unfortunately there is very little that we can do to prevent these malicious acts.

If you report the scam to the relevant website, where it is posted, at least no-one else will be caught. We have already requested the removal of numerous adverts from sites such as www.craiglist.org . Please note that telephone numbers given by these people are nearly always Public Payphones. The person responsible may even reside outside the UK.

Please check the following website for help in recognising internet scams-

(((Redacted)))

and if you have become a victim in the USA lodge your complaint here -

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Kind regards

Robert Phillips - CEO

Safe Options Limited

Harbourside House

4/5 The Grove

Bristol, BS1 4QZ

United Kingdom

Tel: 00-44-1179292104"

Anyway, I'm glad that I came upon PSAs warning about these types of scams and I'm sorry that a legitimate company got mixed up in this type of thing. I have been trying to flag them on Craigslist whenever I see them and I would also like to notify gmail, but don't see any channel where I can do so.

I never thought I would come into contact with something like this, but since I have started looking for part-time jobs on Craigslist, I've realized they are abundant. Please warn people around you about them!

JWKL

Lyndhurst, New Jersey

U.S.A.

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.