Job scam quick guide: it's a scam if...

  • they want you to collect and forward money in any way (a "money mule" job). You'll wind up engaged in money laundering, personally defrauded via expertly forged cheques, money orders, etc, or defrauding someone else who pays for goods that never arrive.
  • they want you to receive packages and reship them somewhere else. The goods will have been obtained fraudulently, and they're just using you to make the shipping address appear local. You will be aiding fraud.
  • they want up-front payment (either to them or someone else) of any sort for anything before you can get the job. This is advance fee fraud: there is no job -- it's just a big con to extract money from you.
  • they want you to buy any kind of "membership" or "kit" in order to start. Forget it -- it's not a real job at all: they're trying to sell you something, and they're probably making a bunch of other false claims about it if they're pitching it as a "job".
  • it's a job offer, and it's spam. There are LOTS of these scams about, as you can see.

Friday, December 01, 2006

ITS Financial Corp

Both the "from" and "to" addresses have been radacted, because I believe them to be taken from the list of spammed addresses, rather than belonging to the spammer. Although it's not entirely obvious from the email itself, this is a money mule scam. The website makes this clear, so I've included text from the site below the email.

   Domain Name: RECIVERAC34D.COM <-- scam domain
   Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
   Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
   Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
   Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
   Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
   Updated Date: 03-Nov-2006
   Creation Date: 03-Nov-2006 <-- created less than a month ago
   Expiration Date: 03-Nov-2007 <-- minimum registration

Also associated with the following domain, but the website was unavailable due to DNS error.

   Domain Name: ONLINET45.COM
   Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
   Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
   Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
   Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
   Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
   Updated Date: 24-Nov-2006
   Creation Date: 03-Nov-2006
   Expiration Date: 03-Nov-2007


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted]
Date: 01-Dec-2006 13:14
Subject: business opportunity lead
To: [redacted]


Hey there
I hope this message finds you in a great spirit.
For a start I'd like to welcome you on this opportunity because our firm just came about your contact and your brief profile through an email listing affiliated with HotJobs and I would be highly interested in giving you a work at home job in which you can earnextra income of close to AUD3000 monthly.
This work doesn't affect your present job and this is a very limited offer in which I would really require your immediate response. I will be hoping to hear from you soon, since this is  a job that will enable you to work part-time.
You will also be given the opportunity of being a part of our future and winning team in which you'll be highly appreciated.
Please fill out our application form, no fees asked, just your basic contact details:
http://www.reciverac34d.com
We will get back to you ASAP.
Have a nice day


---------- Extracted from http://www.reciverac34d.com/ ----------

Please read the text below carefully as there are some information about ITS Financial Corp and your career opportunity with us.

Common information
-----------------------------

ITS Financial Corp is a young and growing multinational company. We have more than 10 departments worldwide (USA, Southern Africa, Eastern and Western Europe and Mexico). The head office is located in Melbourne, Australia. Our company is engaged in mail and money management and collecting payments worldwide. We're providing check/wire clearing service for customers throughout the EU and Asia who for some reasons need to receive payments from the people abroad. Reasons for this include, but not limited to:

 - telecommute work
 - affiliate programs
 - sponsorship
 - travellers assistance

The purpose of the job is to expedite funds clearing, since clearing of foreign checks/wires overseas can take up to 3 months. Therefore we're establishing an agent service in order to process the funds in the country of origin, hiring a contract staff to work with transfers.

Junior Financial Manager vacancy description
--------------------------------------------

We are looking for HONEST and reliable people for this position.

Requirements:

 - AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND RESIDENTS ONLY (no exceptions)
 - reliable Internet/e-mail access (must be able to check e-mail 2-3 times a day)
 - checking/savings bank account
 - 2-3 hours of free time a week (mainly in non-business hours) for communications
 - Adults only (21+)

Persons who are accepted for this position will follow these instructions:

 - Receive the funds from either our company or our partners to his/her designated bank account approved by our manager;
 - Withdraw the funds, keeping specified money transaction fee as a commission for your services (usually between $150 to $500, no less than $150 per transfer);
 - Send the rest of the money to our company and/or our partners via the specified transaction operator.
 - Report transaction details back to the manager.

Our preferred money transfer methods are personal/corporate checks, money orders and wire transfers.

Job description
------------------

We will send you the funds through one of our money transfer methods from our company and/or our partners directly to you.

Your part of the job is to ensure the clearing of funds, re-sending the money (less your commission) to us/our customers via one of chosen money transfer agencies.
This should be done on the same or the next day when the funds are available for transfer (usually 2 business days).

Necessary transaction details will be sent to you via e-mail. You will have it as soon as you confirm availability of the funds. We will start with one transaction to gain the trust for both parties, after the first transfer is done you should express how many transfers you're able to handle every business day.
If you're willing to try our program, fill out the form below with your personal information. Every completed form will be reviewed and our manager will contact you in 24 hours.

Getting started
------------------

We will need you to provide some basic personal information to get started.
Please click on "I AM READY" link below to fill the form.
You might want to specify any questions you have.
Thank you for reading this document. Good luck.

2 comments:

Spotter said...

Also seen here.

Domain Name: SERVICE-RTGX456.COM
Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Updated Date: 03-Nov-2006
Creation Date: 03-Nov-2006
Expiration Date: 03-Nov-2007

Spotter said...

Also seen here.

Domain Name: FINAXCINGTX.COM
Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Updated Date: 03-Nov-2006
Creation Date: 03-Nov-2006
Expiration Date: 03-Nov-2007