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.

Monday, May 04, 2009

HeidelbergCement

HeidelbergCement is a real enough company, as a quick web search will readily verify. That makes this scam fairly effective, because most people will search for the company name, and they'll get LOTS of hits -- but most of the ones which warn about this particular scam will be well down the list. This job offer is NOT from HeidelbergCement: it's just an impostor scammer using their identity as his cover story.

Note that the job requirements include "processing payments". The vast majority of all job scams are of this type. There are various ways in which scammers can either defraud you directly or use you to launder stolen money using this cover story. The job description doesn't make clear which particular method this scammer will use.

I've received eight of these spams to various accounts on two separate occasions (about a week apart). The sample shown here is from the latter occasion. I have not seen this scam reported widely: Fraud Watchers has the only known report at this time.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false, random)]
Date: 2009/4/29 UTC
Subject: Work position
To: [redacted (privacy)]



Financial Assistance Job Opportunity in USA:
In around 50 countries across the world, the name HeidelbergCement stands for competency and quality. HeidelbergCement is the global market leader in aggregates and a prominent player in the fields of cement, concrete and other downstream activities, making it one of the world's largest manufacturers of building materials.
HeidelbergCement is an attractive international employer, offering highly promising career opportunities throughout the world in a variety of fields. It makes no difference which role you're interested in: HeidelbergCement is a dynamic Group experiencing strong growth, which demands strong commitment from its managers and employees. On the way to becoming a top player in our industry, we have put a clear focus on customers and employees, cost awareness, speed, strength of implementation and closeness to the business. The challenges are growing as fast as our markets. This is why we are looking for qualified and dedicated employees throughout the world, who are prepared to take the initiative and accept responsibilities. Help us shape the future. We look forward to meeting you!
We are writing to inquire if you are interested in part-time vacancy in the area of financial/executive services.
HeidelbergCement, is currently looking for qualified Financial Assistant position employees within USA.
This position focuses on the management of daily, weekly and monthly tasks and special projects pertaining to the finance support for accounting in USA.
Hours: You can work full time or part time. Your schedule can be flexible. For part time - you will need to spend on average 2-3 hours per day, 3 days in week.
Location: This is a work at home position in USA.
Costs and Fees: There are no costs at any time for our employees. All fees related to this employment are covered by the company.
What we offer:
  • Salary/Wage(part time) : $2,850.00(trial) /month, $3,350.00(regular) /month
  • Flexibility in planning your business activity
  • Great opportunity to join European market
  • Competitive Compensation Package
  • Opportunity for career growth and work in dynamic and assertive team of professionals
  • During training/trial period assistance may be provided by phone
  • We will make online training for position offered

Position requirements:
  • Assist the Accountant and HR Departments in a support role performing special projects, data entry and other duties as assigned.
  • Recognizing, identifying, analyzing and evaluating data
  • Manage all financial data, including production of financial reports
  • Manage the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting packages for management
  • Building up long term relations with clients
  • Processing payments between partners, clients and our company
  • Process all the exception payments, correspondence, rejects from the lockbox provider.
  • Use of contemporary computer software (e.g., Windows; Microsoft Office Suite).

Candidate requirements:
  • Excellent math skills and desirable previous experience working in an accounting, accounting assistant or financial capacity, or documented accounting/finance/customers coursework.
  • Better you should have an AS Degree in Accounting, business, equivalent, or 1 plus years experience in Payment Processing or Accounting would also be acceptable.
  • Basic understanding of financial data.
  • High level of accuracy and attention to detail.
  • Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work.
  • Minimum basic knowledge of English language (written and oral communicational skills)

Tips
For Persons who have small or average business, we invite to cooperation on special conditions. (Financial Executive Position)
For further more detailed information you should contact with our managers, by email below.
To submit your resume and find out more about this position e-mail us at: heidelb.cement@gmail.com
HeidelbergCement
Berliner Strasse 6
69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Commercial Register Entry: District Court of Munich - HRB 157842
Managing Director: Dr. Tom Göttsch

© 2009 HeidelbergCement GmbH

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i contacted them and got a "contract"; they called about five times last week and emailed me several times. the best is that the name on the email was robert mugabe.
i emailed the real cement company and let's see what they have to say.

Unknown said...

I got the same letter except that it came out and offered me the position directly. This let me know for certain that it was a scam.
Financial Assistant Job Opportunity in USA:


"HeidelbergCement is a dynamic Group experiencing strong growth, which demands strong commitment from its managers and employees. On the way to becoming a top player in our industry, we have put a clear focus on customers and employees, cost awareness, speed, strength of implementation and closeness to the business. The challenges are growing as fast as our markets.
This is why we are looking for qualified and dedicated employees throughout the world, who are prepared to take the initiative and accept responsibilities. Help us shape the future. We look forward to meeting you! We are offering you the Financial Assistant opportunity in USA Region with the exclusive conditions."

Spotter said...

I received another copy of the spam (with similar formatting, but different text) on 13 June 2009. The copy below is truncated due to comment length limits.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted]
Date: 2009/6/13
Subject: Work in the cement manufacturer company
To: [redacted]


Financial Assistant Job Opportunity in USA:
HeidelbergCement is a dynamic Group experiencing strong growth, which demands strong commitment from its managers and employees. On the way to becoming a top player in our industry, we have put a clear focus on customers and employees, cost awareness, speed, strength of implementation and closeness to the business. The challenges are growing as fast as our markets.
This is why we are looking for qualified and dedicated employees throughout the world, who are prepared to take the initiative and accept responsibilities. Help us shape the future. We look forward to meeting you! We are offering you the Financial Assistant opportunity in USA Region with the exclusive conditions.

Management:
Successful entrepreneurial activity requires a high level of technical, social and management competence. Efficiency and fast implementation are decisive factors for us. We are looking for managers who are willing to join us in accepting the challenges of a dynamic globalised market.

The management culture at HeidelbergCement, as described in the Leadership Principles, is characterised by “operational excellence” and “leading excellence”. Cost leadership, efficient structures and processes, consistent implementation and speed are of vital importance for HeidelbergCement. We expect our management to play an exemplary role in every respect. Communication and transparency are not buzzwords; they are put into practice by our managers every day. The high level of commitment shown by our management has a positive influence on the motivation of all our employees, who see themselves as part of the successful whole. We are also convinced that our performance management across the Group in accordance with clearly defined, uniform key performance indicators, the global transparency, and the standardisation of processes and procedures make a significant contribution to the Group’s success.
The development of managers is one of the main priorities at HeidelbergCement. One aspect of this is Group-wide programmes for top and senior management.


Professionals:
The key to success lies in the competence of our employees. We need the knowledge and dedication of experienced professionals in all fields. For example, accountants, financial managers and tax experts, and customer support are particularly in demand.

Anonymous said...

The Heidelberg Cement job posting for a Financial Assistant is a scam and fruadulent. It is not authorized by the company and the position does not exist. Please note the application request for banking information. the proper authorities have been alerted to this posting and efforts continue to have it removed.