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.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

United Shipping Company Inc.

This is a reshipper scam. These scammers purchase goods on stolen credit cards, but operate out of a country with a bad reputation for such fraud, so that merchants will not deal with them. Instead, they use the identity and shipping address of the "employee", so that the fraud is not detected until after the goods have left the country. This is organised crime, and the "employee" can expect a visit from the police sooner or later, with all the awkwardness that implies.

The domain name "unitedsco.net" seems to have been registered specifically for this scam.

   Domain Name: UNITEDSCO.NET
   Registrar: DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
   Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Name Server: NS10.HOSTLIFE.NET
   Name Server: NS9.HOSTLIFE.NET
   Updated Date: 03-may-2009
   Creation Date: 16-mar-2009
   Expiration Date: 16-mar-2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false, random)]
Date: 2009/5/1 UTC
Subject: New vacancy
To: [redacted (false, random)]


United Shipping Company Inc.
Vacancy Name: Shipping Agent

Hello my name is August  Butorac I am a manager in United Shipping Company

No special experience is required for this position!
No start up fees!
No out of pocket fees! Nothing to pay!
(Each candidate should pass the trial period – 2 weeks).
The trial period is PAID !!!

About us:
United Shipping Company  is one of the USA's cargo transporting and freight forwarding companies.
United Shipping Company was formed in 2003, we are an International Company based in Atlanta, USA
During these years, our company proved its reliability and stability.
We have mutual partnership with such companies such as FedEx , UPS  ,USPS , DHL and many others.

Currently we look for  persons located in United States, United Kingdom, Germany and some other countries for job opening of a Shipping Agent.

About our Vacancy: Shipping Agent

The Shipping Agent will receive parcels from our customers/partners , repack and send it to proper destination place.

Compensation of employee:
Employee will receive 50-80$ USD per parcel depend of weight ,size ,price, of parcel received, proceeded and forwarded to its proper destination place.
Payment is made by means of  Paypal, Western Union, or by a Bank transfer.

Job description:
1. Receive the correspondence from our partners (US sellers) to his/her residential
address or alternative address (office and etc) ; Correspondence will be delivering
from 9:30 am - 17:00 pm (is not obliged to be at home but it is very desirable )Via UPS FEDEX or DHL you need sign for packages.
We have a contract with post company (UPS,FEDEX,DHL) so you should take and sign.
2. Our manager will email you prepaid shipping labels in PDF format.
You will need to download shipping labels and print.
3.After the receipt of goods it will must you repacking it and send to proper destination place.
4. Go to your local USPS post office (you can check office location on USPS -
The United States Postal Service (U.S. Postal Service) and ship the package
( You do NOT need to pay for shipping, shipping labels are already prepaid).
5. Report to your personal manager that package(s) are shipped.
First 2 weeks you will receive  1 - 3 packages per week.
After you will receive  3 - 6 packages per week.
Our company pays Every 1 weeks.
Or after every sent package to proper destination place.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS :
- More than 18 years old.
- An ability to reply promptly to the e-mails every day.
- An ability to receive phone calls from us.


If you are interested in this offer, please reply ONLY to e-mail:  support@unitedsco.net


Please send us this details.
First name
Last name
Address
City
State
Country
Postal zip code
Phone Number

Sincerely Yours
August  Butorac

37 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, thanks for putting this up because alot of people now might get caught with this one. Oh yeah, I got the same email but did not apply.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing.

fyi: i just got the email and googled "support@unitedsco.net"; your site was the second link, so OMGMADDPROPZ!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I also got a email, but I was so stuppid to replay this is there site http://www.shipping-solutions.org/. I got a contract but noting els I did'nt send it back they asked for my bank account number, and home adress. Do I need to do something? They also called me ones, but the call was to short for any info.

Spotter said...

Just ignore them. If you're not cooperating with them, they're not scamming you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the blog! I received an email, but the website that was given is different. It was usshipit.com. Are they the same?

Anonymous said...

that site is a scam

Spotter said...

The site usshipit.com does not look suspicious to me at this time, but just because you've received an email which claims to be from there doesn't mean that it's true. Unless the person that you are corresponding with uses the exact same domain name for their email (as both their sent-from and reply-to address), there's a good chance they're lying about who they are. Of course, if they're lying about who they are, then the chances are that they're trying to scam you.

Unknown said...

I have recently accepted a job offered by usshipit.us which so far seems legit. They have not asked for money or info that seems out of line. I figure all I have to lose is time. If they turn out to be a scam I will gladly inform all of you.

Unknown said...

to the lady that said she just started job with usshipit.com how are things going ? is it true or is it a scam too

Unknown said...

I received an email offer from usshipit.us but the reply email was a private individual using ymail.com. According to what I can see on BBB, there was a company using .com. If you don't buy all the extensions with your domain it looks like you may be leaving your legitimate company open for crooks.
I also got a similar offer from Niles Communication Group. They got all my private info, bank acct, ss#, etc. I even talked to a representative. This is very sophisticated.
Will the local police tell you who is at a particular address?

Spotter said...

usshipit.us is a scam. It was registered about a week and a half ago to someone claiming to be in Russia and using a hotmail address. It has "scam" written all over it.

Mike, it's not practical to register every domain name that is similar to your own. It's like trying to acquire every phone number that differs from yours by one digit, only harder. There's no substitute for diligence and caution when it comes to online job hunting.

Anonymous said...

Spotter, what are the next steps if the application process went through, contracts were signed, and tax W4 was done?

Thank you in advance.

Spotter said...

If you've gone through that paperwork with a scammer, then it means you've divulged personal information to someone who is likely to use it to conduct identity fraud. Other than the increased risk of someone trying to get a loan in your name (or other similar risks of identity fraud, which you'll have to assess for yourself), however, it means very little. They aren't a real company, and those aren't real contracts. In general, the best way to exit a scam of that sort is just to break off all contact with the scammers immediately. Play deaf, and respond to nothing. Let them figure out the hard way that they've lost you.

Unknown said...

United SHipping Solutions IS A SCAM!! At first It seemed legit but I have recently found out they are NOT. After receiving 2 packages from them they told me I HAD TO open a business acct. at a bank because the direct deposit info for a PREPAID CARD would not work... RED FLAG!! They said as part of the job I have to receive money into my acct. in large amounts and after keeping "MY SHARE" I am to then send via Western Union or Money Gram other "employees" Pay... I knew then that it was a SCAM, I contacted THE REAL company and was informed it was not them. SO, it's someone simply using their companys name

Anonymous said...

what's the next step,where do you go to report them?

Unknown said...

Wish I knew! They have all my identity info. I have sent them an Email telling them I know its a scam and have not heard anything back, I assume they won't bother replying, They will most likely move on to the next sucker like me

Spotter said...

In the USA you can file a complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. I think that it's probably about as effective as writing your complaint on toilet paper and flushing it, but it might be marginally more effective than that.

Divadaily said...

How did you contact the real company? My husband has started receiving these packages and an officer has come to pick up one already...

Unknown said...

I think I'm involved in the same situation you were in with the same company. Around the same time like me.I wanna know more about these and see what we have in common. I need to talk with u Alexandra ASAP.thank you

Anonymous said...

This company is a real scam. Don't receive any packages from them or you're in trouble. Do you want to know how this packages come from? This company steal credit cards information and paypal accounts and they make purchases using the logistic coordinator's identity and they ship it to you using your name and address and they send it to you by FEDEX or UPS and you have to ship out to Russia. In that first month of contract they make purchases online using credit cards from other people using your name and address like if you purchase that and then they ship it to you offering a rush bonus of $25 and those packages go to Russia. This happened to me and one day working for this company I received a call from a lady saying that I bought a Samsung Tablet using her credit card information and guess what? I almost got arrested by the police. PEOPLE IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR THIS COMPANY STOP, STOP, STOOOOOP IT. BE CAREFUL WITH (KIM THOMPSON) HE IS THE SUPERVISOR OF THIS SCAM COMPANY. This happened to me an other Sucker of "UNITED SHIPPING SOLUTIONS"

Anonymous said...

FRAUD-LOGISTICS COORDINATOR POSITION


Position: _Full Time x _Part Time

Logistics Coordinator

Location:

USA, All states

Starting Date:

Immediate

Duties & Responsibilities:

- Coordinate export and control over movement of internal mail and postage

- Documentation and labeling freight

- Assist in day to day operations

Qualifications:

- 21+; Fluent English

- Knowledge of MS Office

- Customer service and accounting skills

- Must be able to multi task

Compensation/Monthly:

$2,650 + Bonuses, additional compensation increase opportunities may be available.

Anonymous said...

FRAUD-LOGISTICS COORDINATOR POSITION



Candidate,

This is United Shipping Solutions HR Team and my name is Gregory Roemmich,
responsible for your employment application. You got this message as a reply
to your interest in our job opportunity of 'Logistics Coordinator' position.

You can open 'About' file attached to this message to find out more information
about United Shipping Solutions or visit our official website www.usshipit.us to take
a closer look at the company.

As Logistics Coordinator you will manage the delivery department from your home
and your main task will be monitoring the flow of internal correspondence and packages.
To complete this task we need an employee whose responsibilities will include
controlling our internal mail stream. This stream will consist of mail pieces containing
different kinds of documents which can not be sent by fax or other communication
means when such documents may be exposed to an external party due to their strictly
confidential nature. Also, as we use rewards system for our more than 6,000 employees to
reward them for their achievements, you will be responsible for forwarding our employees'
gifts weighting not more than 18 lbs as well as forwarding previously lost letters and
packages weighting not more than 42 lbs. Our practice shows that about 90 percent of the mail
and packages declared lost in transit and is being recovered at a later stage. And, as our
company is maintaining high standard quality of our Services, we are paying great attention to
establishing good relationships with our customers. Having this in mind we are trying to 'deliver
every recovered item to its owner right after it has been recovered. This task will involve you in forwarding
such packages to their owners or further in our delivery chain. Briefly I should say that
your part will be receiving all the postage mentioned above, repack them with wrapping paper if
necessary and ship them out to the correct receiver. This position doesn't require any
investment from your pocket. Mail shipment is prepaid and you get prepaid shipping labels
for every package. We also provide you with wrapping material and supplies before you get the
first 'wrapping' task. Everything you will need is a computer with Internet connection,
ability to use Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher, storage place for up to 8 boxes (wght.42 lbs max).

In general you will have to process 10-15 pieces of mail a week. Your monthly salary for
this position will be $2,650.00 + bonuses for processing greater quantities of mail at busier
times. You will pass the necessary briefing during the first 2 weeks of this work. Our
company pays in advance after 2 weeks and you will also have opportunities to improve
your wages for doing business with United Shipping Solutions. The work requires 10-15 hours of your free
time a week. You have to speak fluent English and be 21 or older to join our team. If you are
interested in this position, please find an Application Form attached to this message, fill it
out right on your computer and email it back to me. References are required to set up a phone job
interview.

Our goal is to be the best in sphere of freight and delivery and that's why we are looking for
positive, energetic and outgoing people able to work in our team. Working with us is giving you prospects of
career growth, so you will always have possibility to move up, constantly improving yourself
together with us. We perform complete training of each candidate, that's why all you need for trying
yourself is only your desire and belief in yourself. You don't need any special knowledge or skills.

Anonymous said...

We are sure that after trying yourself as our Logistics Coordinator, you'll never find yourself looking
for another job. Become a part of our fastgrowing company and you won't regret! Our team will gladly
help you with everything and you'll feel our support. (!) To follow up with this job opportunity you should
fill out the Application form and email it to back to me

Please make sure you add the above email address to your contact list to avoid lost messages or
having it delivered to your spam folder. Thank you for your time and attention and I hope to see you among our
employees soon!

Sincerely,

Gregory Roemmich
HR Team
United Shipping Solutions

Anonymous said...

how about WTL logistics

Anonymous said...


I'm Linda, your personal manager.

Thanks for your inquiry! Now I'll explain the details of this job.

1. A package will be shipped to you. I'll let you know what's inside(usually it's electronics or clothes) and the approximate arrival date.

2. You should receive the package and send me the confirmation that you've received it. Please note that most carriers(UPS, DHL, Fedex) usually deliver before 3pm.

3. I'll email you pre-paid USPS shipping label the day the package is delivered to you. This means you won't have to pay for shipping out of your pocket. Shipping labels are in PDF or TIFF format so make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You'll have to print shipping label and then take the printed label and the package to the Post Office. Please try to ship the package the same day the it's delivered, you'll get $40 for each package.

4. Then you should send an email to me to confirm the package is shipped.

5. The payments for your job are calculated each month between the 26th and the 28th. They can be sent to your paypal account or by personal check, please choose the option.

Please ask me with more questions or just let me know you're ready to get started(nothing will be shipped to you before your confirmation).

Bye,

Linda Holloman

Spotter said...

That's a fairly obvious reshipper scam. The scammers purchase expensive things on stolen credit cards, and have them shipped to a domestic address so that the merchant is less likely to flag it as fraud. Then they get the reshipper to immediately forward it to the real address, somewhere internationally. Not only would you be facilitating credit card fraud, but the scammers have no reason to actually pay you: from their perspective, you're a disposable mule, only useful for as long as it takes for the repeated fraud associated with your address to be noticed.

Anonymous said...

i am the one with the post dat has linda holloman. i have one package with me now what do i do to it . pls advice me.

Spotter said...

Return it to the sender if you can, or notify the sender that they should take it back if you can. Otherwise, keep it aside for the sender to collect at a later date. They'll be wanting it back sooner or later.

Under no circumstances should you forward it anywhere else. Return to sender only.

Anonymous said...

yes they are angry at me and threatening to report it as stolen. surprisingly when the items are shipped they don't come in my name. there are no contacts to the shipper. it is from walmart.

Spotter said...

Ignore their silly threats. If there's no easy way to notify the sender, then just leave the thing to one side. It may take a while, but they'll probably try to recover the goods sooner or later. I don't know how long you are legally obliged to hold on to the goods for collection: those rules vary from place to place.

Anonymous said...

Hello,
I was doing some research and got advice that I should check parts of the email to see if it is a real job. I checked the doamin of the website it was only a month old and then i searched for parts of the email and the exact email came up on this website. I am in the process of emailing the company and I will call them, but so far it seems like a scam for logistics coordinator
This was the email
ood morning,

My name is James and I am glad to represent ISL, Inc. We are currently looking for a right person for Logistics Coordinator position and reply to your interest in our offer.

As Logistics Coordinator you will manage the delivery department from your home and your main task will be monitoring the flow of internal correspondence and packages. To complete this
task we need an employee whose responsibilities will include controlling our internal mail stream. This stream will consist of mail pieces containing different kinds of documents
which can not be sent by fax or other communication means when such documents may be exposed to an external party due to their strictly confidential nature. Also, as we use rewards
system for our more than 6,000 employees to reward them for their achievements, you will be responsible for forwarding our employees' gifts weighting not more than 18 lbs as well as
forwarding previously lost letters and packages weighting not more than 42 lbs. Our practice shows that about 90 percent of the mail and packages declared lost in transit and is being
recovered at a later stage. And, as our company is maintaining high standard quality of our services, we are paying great attention to establishing good relationships with our
customers. Having this in mind we are trying to deliver every recovered item to its owner right after it has been recovered. This task will involve you in forwarding such packages to
their owners or further in our delivery chain. Briefly I should say that your part will be receiving all the postage mentioned above, repack them with wrapping paper if necessary
and ship them out to the correct receiver. This position doesn't require any investment from your pocket. Mail shipment is prepaid and you get prepaid shipping labels for
every package. We also provide you with wrapping material and supplies before you get the first 'wrapping' task. Everything you will need is a computer with Internet connection,
ability to use Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher, storage place for up to 8 boxes (wght.42 lbs max).

In general you will have to process 10-15 pieces of mail a week. Your monthly salary for this position will be $2,650.00 + bonuses for processing greater quantities of mail at
busier times. You will pass the necessary briefing during the first 2 weeks of this work. Our company pays in advance after 2 weeks and you will also have
opportunities to improve your wages for doing business with International Shipping Logistic. The work requires 10-15 hours of your free time a week. You have to speak fluent
English and be 21 or older to join our team. If you are interested in this position, please find an Application Form attached to this message, fill it out right on your
computer and email it back to me. References are required to set up a phone job interview.

Our goal is to be the best in sphere of freight and delivery and that's why we are looking for positive, energetic and outgoing people able to work in our team. Working with us
is giving you prospects of career growth, so you will always have possibility to move up, constantly improving yourself together with us.....

Sincerely,

James Datten
International Shipping Logistic, Inc
intershippinglogistic.com
Tel: (361) 437-0727
Fax: (979) 353-1307
___________________________

Anonymous said...

I was also sent a w4 form to fill out it looked real, but I am not sure if they just wanted my social

Good morning,

My name is James and I am glad to represent ISL, Inc. We are currently looking for a right person for Logistics Coordinator position and reply to your interest in our offer.

This position doesn't require any investment from your pocket. Mail shipment is prepaid and you get prepaid shipping labels for
every package. We also provide you with wrapping material and supplies before you get the first 'wrapping' task. Everything you will need is a computer with Internet connection,
ability to use Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher, storage place for up to 8 boxes (wght.42 lbs max).

In general you will have to process 10-15 pieces of mail a week. Your monthly salary for this position will be $2,650.00 + bonuses for processing greater quantities of mail at
busier times. You will pass the necessary briefing during the first 2 weeks of this work. Our company pays in advance after 2 weeks and you will also have
opportunities to improve your wages for doing business with International Shipping Logistic. The work requires 10-15 hours of your free time a week. You have to speak fluent
English and be 21 or older to join our team. If you are interested in this position, please find an Application Form attached to this message, fill it out right on your
computer and email it back to me. References are required to set up a phone job interview.

Our goal is to be the best in sphere of freight and delivery and that's why we are looking for positive, energetic and outgoing people able to work in our team. Working with us
is giving you prospects of career growth, so you will always have possibility to move up, constantly improving yourself together with us. We perform complete training of each
candidate, that's why all you need for trying yourself is only your desire and belief in yourself. You don't need any special knowledge or skills.

We are sure that after trying yourself as our Logistics Coordinator, you'll never find yourself looking for another job. Become a part of our fastgrowing company and you won't
regret! Our team will gladly help you with everything and you'll feel our support. (!) To follow up with this job opportunity you should fill out the Application form and
email it to back to me.

Please make sure you add the above email address to your contact list to avoid lost messages or having it delivered to your spam folder. Thank you for your time and attention and
I hope to see you among our employees soon!

Sincerely,

James Datten
International Shipping Logistic, Inc
intershippinglogistic.com
Tel: (361) 437-0727
Fax: (979) 353-1307
___________________________

Spotter said...

Same old scam.

Anonymous said...

Beware: PARCEL UNIT is another reshipping scam. They are soliciting candidates on job boards either CareerBuilder, Monster or Indeed.

Unknown said...

What do u do if you applied and they have your personal info and they send u the packages report them to the police?

Unknown said...

What to do if this happens to you?

Spotter said...

I recommend refusing to accept delivery of the packages if possible. If not, hold onto them on the assumption that the sender will want them back. If possible, notify the sender that you have the item, and that you believe it was purchased fraudulently. Give them the opportunity to reclaim it.

Don't worry too much about the fact that they have your personal info. You are exposed to some risk of credit fraud, and you should act accordingly, but they aren't going to come and visit you. The whole point of hiring you in the first place was so that they could conduct fraud remotely.