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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Retoneva Ltd.

This is a typical money mule job with one novel twist: the sign-up link they provide connects to a Flash file hosted at imageshack.us, rather than the more typical HTML website. This may be their latest attempt at avoiding spam filters. In my case, that strategy failed: it arrived in my Gmail spam folder as it ought.

For those not familiar with this scam, it involves laundering stolen money. The "employers" (a crime gang, not actually representative of any company) transfer stolen money into your bank account, then ask you to withdraw it and send it overseas via Western Union, thus laundering it. It's illegal. Contact your bank if you've received any money from these guys and report the transaction as suspicious: the bank will send the money back to its rightful owner.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false, random)]
Date: 2008/8/26 UTC
Subject: Very URGNT! NEW career with our company. staff needed. Assistants and Managers
To: [redacted (privacy)]


Hello,

Retoneva Ltd. recruits agents for business relations.
Position Type: Permanent
Working hours: Between 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday-Saturday. Variable overtime is also required.
Occupation Type: Part-time (1-8 hours a day occupation).
Probation period: 1 month (paid as a normal work).
Payment: Your basic salary will equal about 3000 USD/month (10% commission per each received transfer). You'll get your payment as a wire transfer approximately once a week and make Western Union transfers to our employees abroad.
Retoneva Ltd. will reimburse all transfer related fees.

Job Requirements:
We do not require any investments from our applicants. The job nature is a payment processing between our customers (sellers and buyers). No professional skills are required.

If you are interested in our job offer, please click on link and fill application form
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5034/dobvehzk5.swf

Regards,
Retoneva Ltd.

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