TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: employment scam

  • Coca-Cola name used in employment scam

    I received the following e-mail from reader Ervin about his job search on craigslist…

    I have posted my resume on Craigslist and you wouldn’t believe all the scam job offer’s that are emailed to me daily. I finally did get a local legitimate job in my field (I started today and was called by the Director of Manufacturing to interview last week). I am glad that I was able to get this job. But, these scammer’s have sunk to new lows by using the Coca-Cola name to scam people now. Were you aware of this new scam? I am going to
    paste it for you to share below.

    Thank you,
    Ervin

    Here it is:

    JOB OFFER!!!
    Monday, November 17, 2008 12:23 AM
    From:”Admin Admin”

    Dear Sir/Ma
    You’re Ref: 2810/04/TF-ATW
    Coca – Cola Company offer you the position of offshore financial manager
    ..
    This is to inform you that after critical and proper review of your new contact email address, we are please to inform you that you have met the requirements needed for the post of Payment Officer / Book Keeper with The Coca – Cola Company.

    Furthermore, Your duties as the Payment Officer / Book Keeper is to collect payments from our numerous customers within your region, process the payments, deduct 20% of the amount issued to you as your personal bonus and you transfer the rest of the funds to our main account officer whose information will be provided to you in due time.

    This Job position is Temporary and does not require a specific work time frame. All payments will be mailed directly to you via your mailing /contact address. This position became necessary when lots of payments is being received from various customers from different regions / states within the United States and Canada per day and it became very tedious to process and sort, as a result of this, the search for representatives to sort / process payments on behalf of the company became highly necessary.If you are interested in this Job offer…kindly get back with the following information written below as soon as possible:

    All respond or question should be email to the company private email
    (SOPHISTICATED15127@HOTMAIL.COM)

    FULL NAMES: _________________________________
    GENDER:_________________________________
    DATE OF BIRTH:_________________________________
    NATIONALITY:_________________________________
    COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:___________________________
    MARITAL STATUS:_________________________________
    HOME ADDRESS (Where payment will be sent to)
    STREET:_________________________________
    CITY:_________________________________
    STATE:_________________________________
    ZIP CODE:_________________________________
    TELEPHONE NUMBER(S):___________________________
    SCAN A COPY OF YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE:___________

    Thank you very much and we anticipate your working with The Coca – Cola
    Company.

    Sincerely,
    The Coca – Cola Company Information Systems, Inc.
    Computer Systems Division
    Sam Williams.
    (+447031918592)

    They also included a website that identified Coke as being at a thecoca-colacompany URL. Coke’s actual URL is coca-cola.com. And I’m pretty sure that a major corporation like Coke wouldn’t send out an e-mail that said: “we are please to inform you.” I don’t think Coke would use Hotmail addresses either. This is just the phony check scam in a fake red and white package.

  • Reader employment scam

    I received the following e-mail from reader Diana about an employment scam…

    I have been looking for work on Craig’s List. Very successful and that is why I keep looking. Back in April when I found myself unemployed, I spend many hours sending out my resume to posted jobs. It all started with one posting where they were going to pay $25 and hour for a job that I have been doing and getting paid $15. What a deal I thought! I replied, sent my resume to receive a reply that the job had been filled, however, here is another opportunity for me. I had to qualify and fill in the questions below. I happily did and got a reply back that I was accepted and this is my assignment. They would send me a check for couple thousand dollars, you take your 10% commission and send the rest back by Western Union. Once I received the money order/cashiers check/business check, I called the bank listed on it to find out it was a fraud account. If I could cash all the bogus checks I have received while doing this money scam for fun, I could retire. It is a shame that so many people take ads like this and think they are real, but then in the end, they are out thousands of dollars for a moment of greed. Yes, they have figured out how to pull a scam even through the job search sections. Such a shame. Job hunter beware.

    Which leads me to believe that paid ads are not the be all and end all to security that craigslist thinks they are.

  • 3 fall for Michigan job scam

    At least 3 people sign up for bogus job posting on Craigslist:

    3 people in Michigan have been taken by a job scam. They had provided money and personal information so the ’employer’ could do a background search. I don’t know about you but I’ve never applied for a job where I had to give the employer money for any reason.

    The people were told to meet with the employer in Flint but when they showed up no one knew what they were talking about.

    Which just goes to show that even the job postings on craigslist, which are paid postings, are suspect.

  • craigslist job interview gone wrong

    craigslist job interview gone wrong

    Woman: Craigslist Ad Leads To Inappropriate Interview:

    This is a new one to me, since people who place employment ads on craigslist have to actually pay for the ad. I guess you can’t even trust employment ads on the internet’s hive of scum and villainy.

    PHILADELPHIA — A Conshohocken woman said she was just looking for work when an online ad on Craigslist caught her eye.

    Aleshia Endy, 22, said she now hopes police catch the man who ran the ad.

    “I thought it was a legit position. I really thought it was something, but now I’m grossed out,” Endy said.

    Endy said the job ad on the nationwide Web site, Craigslist.com, appeared to be perfect for her.

    “I responded to it, said apply for personal assistant/office manager, so I sent my picture and resume,” Endy said.

    Endy said she later found out that when the author wrote “female preferred” and “obey instructions” in the ad, he meant it.

    After responding to the ad, Endy called her potential employer, Eber Devine.

    Endy said Devine told her he was moving from one office to another, so he wanted to set up the interview at the University of Pennsylvania campus at the Van Pelt Library.

    “He met me outside. We went upstairs to where there’s, like, conference rooms,” Endy said.

    Endy said, at first, everything seemed fine. She filled out an application and agreed to a background check, and he promised her a generous salary.

    But right in the middle of the interview came the shocker.

    “He told me, ‘I want you to stand up. Go walk around the room. Go stand in the corner. I want to look at your ass,’” Endy said.

    Endy said she told him no, and when she started to walk away it became uncomfortable.

    “He stood up. He came over and started touching my shoulders and my chest and got real close and started breathing on me heavily,” Endy said.

    Endy said she pushed him away and left, but Devine had Endy’s cell phone number from the application and apparently was not finished talking.

    “Yeah, Aleshia, I think you are an excellent candidate,” one message said.

    “He called me about six times. I have it in my call log,” Endy said.

    Endy contacted the NBC 10 Investigators and the police.

    NBC 10’s Harry Hairston started looking into Devine’s background and found pages and pages of court records.

    Court documents show Devine’s criminal history goes back as far as 1986.

    NBC 10’s investigation turned up five different mug shots, some of which were taken between 2002 and December 2006.

    The self-proclaimed CEO also has a laundry list of guilty pleas.

    Records show he pleaded guilty to theft of leased property, unlawful use of a computer, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.

    NBC 10 went to Devine’s Philadelphia home. The 38-year-old self-styled entrepreneur lives with his father.

    Hairston asked Devine’s father if he knew anything about the ad on Craigslist.

    “That’s something he’s doing. He’s a grown man. I don’t know anything about it,” Devine’s father said.

    Hours after the visit, Devine called NBC 10. He wouldn’t go on camera, but he did admit to placing the ad on Craigslist, claiming to be the CEO of his own company and interviewing Endy.

    Devine denies anything inappropriate happened during the interview,

    That may be for a court to decide. The district attorney’s Office has issued a warrant for his arrest.

    He’s facing charges of sexual harassment, false imprisonment, indecent assault, unlawful restraint and burglary.

    “I just want him off the streets. I want the women out there to know what kind of person he is. I want him off the streets,” Endy said.

    Police said they are looking for Devine.

    And a spokeperson for Craigslist said illegal activity is forbidden on Craigslist by the company’s terms of use, and is not welcome on the site.

    I can almost see the craigslist spokesperson winking as they said that.