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.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Orion Finance Inc

As you can see below, this message purports to be from careerbuilder.com, but I see no evidence for it being anything but a forgery. The job offer in question is typical money mule work. There are legitimate businesses using the name "Orion Finance", but this scam doesn't seem to be explicitly impersonating any of them. The scammers are using two domain names of which I'm aware at this point in time, and I'll report others in comments below if they come to my attention.

Domain ID:D145054464-LROR
Domain Name: ORIONFINANCEINC.ORG <-- scam
Created On:01-May-2007 04:15:46 UTC <-- new
Last Updated On:01-May-2007 04:15:46 UTC
Expiration Date:01-May-2008 04:15:46 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Directi Internet Solutions d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.Com (R27-LROR)
Registrant ID:DI_6283512
Registrant Email:wenigmanj@yahoo.com
Name Server:NS1.MYNICK.NAME
Name Server:NS2.MYNICK.NAME
Name Server: NS3.MYNICK.NAME
Name Server:NS4.MYNICK.NAME

Domain Name:                                 ORIONFINANCEINC.BIZ <-- scam
Domain ID:                                   D17657074-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:                        DIRECT INFORMATION PVT LTD DBA PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:                303
Registrant ID:                               DI_6277704
Registrant Email:                            rnoninterjz@yahoo.com
Name Server:                                 NS1.KARASUMA.IN
Name Server:                                 NS2.KARASUMA.IN
Created by Registrar:                        DIRECT INFORMATION PVT LTD DBA PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Last Updated by Registrar:                   DIRECT INFORMATION PVT LTD DBA PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Domain Registration Date:                    Mon Apr 30 14:12:58 GMT 2007 <-- new
Domain Expiration Date:                      Tue Apr 29 23:59:59 GMT 2008
Domain Last Updated Date:                    Mon Apr 30 14:26:55 GMT 2007

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: offer@careerbuilder.com <offer@careerbuilder.com>
Date: 02-May-2007 12:00
Subject: Opportunity to earn money without investing
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Home-based Job for Everyone!

Orion Finance Inc. leader in international Law and Business practice is looking for responsible
individuals to be responsible for the areas of customer service, transaction and bank operations.

   Current openings: Payments Agent

   You will receive transfers for our company, send/receive funds (bank transfers, checks, money orders).
   You should have your local bank branch locating near you, so you can withdraw money from your account within several hours.
   You should have home, work or cell phone number (preferably).
   Work is home-based.

Requirements:
* Be able to check your email several times a day
* Be able to respond to emails immediately
* Be responsible and hard working
* Should have personal/business bank account

If you are interested in this position and meet the minimum requirements please
visit our site

orionfinanceinc.org

Registration is FREE of charge. Initial training is provided!

Recruitment Department of Orion Finance Inc.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

An older version of the same Orion Finance site: http://www.orion-finance.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info. I have a resume on careerbuilders.com and just received the job offer from Orion Finance. I thought it sounded too good to be true.

Anonymous said...

I received something similer to that yesturday, but they got my resume from monster.com

My name is Ernest Ertis and I am Support of Orion Finance.

We found your resume on www.Monster.com and we want to suggest to you vacancy of Bank Checks Processing Manager

Job Description:

The major duty of the Bank Checks Processing Manager is to process payments
between our partners, clients and our company via USA checks system. You will get 10 percent per transfer.


Minimal Qualification Requirements:

At least 18 years old.
U.S. Postal Address
Internet and Email skills


Our Main Benefits:

Good salary
Flexible schedule (1-3 hours per day)
Ability to combine jobs
Ability to take unlimited vacation (without guaranteed salary).
2 weeks vacation after every 3 months of working (with guaranteed salary of $500 per week).

Salary range is $500 - $3,000 per week, depending on individual abilities and willingness to work.
Minimum $500 guaranteed salary (not dependent on volume of transactions).
No private data (Social Security Number, Mother's/Maiden Name or passwords) required.
NO MAIL DELIVERING.
NO NETWORK MARKETING.
NO ENTRANCE FEES. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY ANYTHING TO JOIN OUR COMPANY.


Number of available vacancies: 4


If you want to apply for this job please .

Anonymous said...

hmmm...i got the exact same email saying that they got me resume from Monster. I forward it to my bf, since I just skimmed through it and it sounded cool. I guess he tested it out and they sent him a check a little over $1K. Fishy....

Spotter said...

Watch out -- that check will be a high quality forgery. A bank will accept it for deposit, and it will clear (allowing you to draw on it), but then the bank will eventually discover that it's no good and take the money back out of the account. If you've already deposited it, inform the bank that you suspect it might be a forgery, otherwise they might think that YOU forged it. And don't send any money to the scammers via Western Union or whatever -- you'll wind up personally out of pocket for it.

My L-Word Life said...

my coworker fell for this line and now owes her bank over $4000.00 does anyone know if she has alegal foot to stand on as far as getting her money back or not having to pay this debit on her own?

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I received this offer too, but I complete the enrollment. I can Quit? This is the email:rnest Ertis and I am Support of Orion Finance.
We found your resume on www.Monster.com and we want to suggest to you vacancy of Bank Checks Processing Manager

Job Description:

The major duty of the Bank Checks Processing Manager is to process payments
between our partners, clients and our company via USA checks system. You will get 10 percent per transfer.


Minimal Qualification Requirements:
At least 18 years old.
U.S. Postal Address
Internet and Email skills

Our Main Benefits:
Good salary
Flexible schedule (1-3 hours per day)
Ability to combine jobs
Ability to take unlimited vacation (without guaranteed salary).
2 weeks vacation after every 3 months of working (with guaranteed salary of $500 per week).

Salary range is $500 - $3,000 per week, depending on individual abilities and willingness to work.
Minimum $500 guaranteed salary (not dependent on volume of transactions).
No private data (Social Security Number, Mother’s/Maiden Name or passwords) required.
NO MAIL DELIVERING.
NO NETWORK MARKETING.
NO ENTRANCE FEES. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY ANYTHING TO JOIN OUR COMPANY.


Number of available vacancies: 4

Spotter said...

Tell the scammers that you're onto them. Tell them you'll be ripping up any cheques they send. Make good on that promise if they go ahead and send any. Ignore them if they threaten any kind of legal action -- they're bluffing, and you've done nothing wrong.

Anonymous said...

Now going under the name Verlus Financial Group. Same email from Ernest Ertis.

http://verlus-ltd.org/index.php

Anonymous said...

I recently joined the "verlus Financial Group," as well. I was sent an email stating "We saw your resume on Monster.com." I enrolled and a couple weeks later, I received a "check" for $1400!

What a crock!! We knew something seemed fishy from the beginning. DON'T DO THIS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I just received the same email. Ernest got my resume from monster.com. Before proceeding I googled Orion Finance and found this website. Thank you for saving me from this!

Anonymous said...

I got the email from http://verlus.com/zone

and I had to sign up and process checks.

I signed up assuming that this was a good at home opportunity.

finally I got a check for 1900. Not sure what to do with it. any way I am happy that I got to this website before I eposited the check.

Anonymous said...

I received the exact same offer from ernest ertis. signed up to verlus financial group and recieved two checks, one for $1,900 and the other for $2,000.thinking about just cashing them both and pcketing the money..whos with me?

Spotter said...

Given that the checks are forgeries, how do you expect to profit from this without breaking the law yourself? Those checks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Anonymous said...

Add this to the list of scam emails:

Good day,

At our US and European branch offices there are vacancies available at the moment. Interested can check job openings at our web-site in details. To apply for a job, fill an application form available for download at "vacancies" section.

Certain job positions require an applicant to be trained. We provide free training courses for this purpose. All smart, conscientious and self-motivated individuals are challenged to try their abilities and to develop their careers in our environment dedicated to teamwork, client oriented approach, and focused on result.

Sincerely,
Patricia Conner, HR and Recruiting dept.
Mail to: hr-department@orioncareer.com
Orion Financial Group
8807 W. Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Anonymous said...

I received a variation of the above listed Email from Orion:

Good day,

We�ve got some open job vacancies at our branch offices in USA and in Europe. You can find all necessary information about positions at our web-site. Application forms are also available there.

All the applicants have a possibility to get free training. If you are motivated, honest and talanted, we'd like to offer you an opportunity to make your career grow in a company, focused on result and customer, team and openness.

Sincerely,
Patricia Conner, HR and Recruiting dept.
Mail to: recruiting@orioncareer.com
Orion Financial Group
8807 W. Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Anonymous said...

i just received this email as well. notice that they are looking for 'tallanted' individuals.

any time you ever get an email from a recruiter that contains spelling or grammatical errors i would be uneasy about such job offers. you will only be getting suckered in.

Anonymous said...

My gmail spam filter caught it....

Good day,

We�ve got some open job vacancies at our branch offices in USA and in Europe. You can find all necessary information about positions at our web-site. Application forms are also available there.

All the applicants have a possibility to get free training. If you are motivated, honest and tallanted, we'd like to offer you an opportunity to make your career grow in a company, focused on result and customer, team and openness.

Sincerely,
Patricia Conner, HR and Recruiting dept.
Mail to: career@orioncareer.com
Orion Financial Group
8807 W. Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035

DISCLAIMER: This is not an unsolicited mail. Under Bill 1618 Title III passed by the 105th US Congress this mail cannot be considered Spam as long as we include contact information and a method to be removed from our mailing list. If you have received this message in error or are not interested in receiving our e-mails, please reply with a "REMOVE" in the subject line and we will remove your e-mail address from our future mailings.