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 11, 2009

Velso Estate Solutions

I don't have a lot to say about this one -- it looks like cheque fraud. A Google search indicates that "Velso Estate Solutions" had a couple of Craigslist ads, which were subsequently removed. I can see no evidence that a company of that name actually exists anywhere, although it might. Whatever the case, this particular offer is the work of a scammer.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false, random)]
Date: 2009/5/4 UTC
Subject: Job position
To: [redacted (false, random)]


Greetings,

Welcome to Velso Estate Solutions!

We have a available position "Private client manager"; in our virtual office and will be glad to have you deal) with us. Specialized professional education isn't necessary.

Employment: Employee
Hours:  9 am - 1 pm
Country: US of America
Description:  support in private services and financial assistant of our customers
Payment rate: $ 1200 + bonuses

Education and Experience:
High school, college or equivalent of education and experience

Requirements:

1. MS Office skills
2. US authorized work status
3. Adult age
4. E-mail access
5. Cell phone for urgent duties

Now you are only one step away from successful career. Interested?

Please reply only to our e-mail:  velso.estate@gmail.com

Send us CV and get response within 1 business day.

Try us and you'll be glad you did!


10 comments:

Ms_Magoo said...

Yes, I was contacted by this company after posting a resume' on yahoo or hot jobs, I'm not sure which. After getting a response back that looked like what you are describing, I started to look for the name on the internet and found your site. Here is what they sent me. I am going to block them from my email


Does this say fraud and scam to you?


A detailed description of working process



Thank you for accepting our invitation to take on the Regional Agent job. We hope this will be a starting point in your career. Our company will try to assist you in any way.



In the following letter you will receive full information about the way the work is done.



The actual work starts with you beginning to collect information about real estate offered for sale in your living area. If you consider these lots to be of high liquidity, you fill in the form in free style with the most complete description of this object and send it to our email. If a company decides that this lot is worth placing in its database, then you will be able to claim some interest from selling of this object. While searching for such real estate we suggest that you use mass media, printed media, Internet etc. In case the lot you placed is sold you can claim 0.2% of clear selling price of the object (taxes, bonuses, discounts etc deducted).



At the second stage you will need to process the incoming prepayments from the clients who purchase real estate abroad. Here you will need a strict time management so that you could promptly process all transactions without delay. The company’s reputation and the clients’ trust are dependent on your performance. As you already know, because a complete payment for real estate is possible only within 30-40 days (this is connected with checkup of legal clarity of transaction, and also to exclude possibility of financial fraud) our company offers the following service to our clients: after receiving prepayment in amount of 5-10% from the purchase price of the object, we initiate the process of alienation of the object for the new owner’s sake. Since the processes of transferring prepayments are done around the clock, you need to check for the incoming information on your email. The first obligatory checkup must be done at 9 am local time, with a 3-hour step. ATTENTION! When you received information about transfer of money on your account, you need to complete transaction within 3 hours!!!



At the final stage you need to finish the process of payment transaction. After receiving information about money transferred to your account you need to cash it as soon as possible and send it to one of the affiliates via Western Union. As a prerequisite, all information about the payment is accompanied by a purchase contract and an invoice, where the sum and the purpose of payment are indicated. Also you receive full information about the receiver of this money. Please pay special attention to the fact that we have people of different nationalities working in our offices, so please be attentive when filling in lines about the actual receiver (first name, last name etc). After sending via WU you need to inform your manager about finalization of payment transaction. After confirmation of successful finalization of payment transaction you can proceed to processing the next payments.



Thank you for your cooperation.

Spotter said...

That's a money mule scam: they want you to launder money, and the whole "real estate" angle is just a smokescreen to make the money transfer aspect look legitimate. The trick is that the money being transferred into your account is stolen: that's why they want it taken out and laundered through Western Union as quickly as possible.

Anonymous said...

I received mine after uploading my resume to CareerBuuilders.com. They seem to be plugged in everywhere.

Anonymous said...

I too was contacted by them. SCAMMERS_____They offered me the position of Regional Agent:

Here is their response after I asked for more information on the company:

I am your personal manager Velso Estate Solutions. If you are
interested in cooperation with our Company I will explain you all the
details of your future work. Our Company works with sales of the real
estate all over the United States. We are glad to propose you the
position of "Regional agent". Your task will be to find the real
estate for sale in your region, near the place of your residence. For
this purpose you can use newspapers, Internet, advertisements, mass
media. When you find such an object you have to send the description
of this object to your manager and register the real estate on our
website in the section "Offers". After that we will examine your offer
and if it is ok in 7-14 days we find a purchaser. The payment for the
deal is transferred to your bank account. Your share is 6% from every
transaction and the salary $1200 p/month. If our offer is interesting
for you we will be glad to work with you.


Best regards,
Velso Estate Solutions

Anonymous said...

I was also contacted by some dude in Long Island who sounded like my neighborhood drug dealer talking about a recruiting agengy. He contacted me after I posted my resume in careerbuilder.com. I smelled scam a mile away. the number he called me from was 516 508 2088. his email is: velsoestatecareer@gmail.com

this is the email he sent me:

Welcome to Velso Estate Solutions !

We have a vacant position "Regional agent"; in our virtual office and
will be happy to have you work with us. Specialized professional
education isn't necessary.

Employment: Employee
Hours: 9 am - 1 pm
Country: US of America
Description: Negotiations with customers, selection and presentation
of realty objects, follow-up on deals and entering contracts.
Salary rate: $ 1200 + bonuses

Education and Experience:
High school, college or equivalent of education and experience

Requirements:

1. MS Office skills
2. US authorized work status
3. Adult age
4. E-mail access
5. Cell phone for urgent duties

Now you are only one step away from successful career. Interested?

Send us resume and receive response within 1 business day.

Try us and you'll be glad you did!

Joshua said...

I received this same email message sent out from CareerBuilder.com.

Please send all your deceptive scam emails to spam@uce.gov.

The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.

TheGerman said...

they also try to recruit people in germany.
here's what i found in my email today:

Wir sind eine Immobilienfirma und suchen zur Zeit Mitarbeiter fur unseren Haus.

Sie sind motiviert, arbeiten gerne mit Kunden und wollen beruflich etwas erreichen?

Wir bieten Ihnen einen interessanten Arbeitsplatz mit besten Verdienstmoglichkeiten und die Unterstutzung eines erfolgreichen Teams.
Erfahrung im Immobilienbereich ist nicht notwendig. Verkaufserfahrung im Au?endienst/Einzelhandel wird von uns begru?t.
Unsere Spezialisten sorgen fur Ihre Aus-/Weiterbildung.
Neben sehr guten Kenntnissen in der Immobilienbranche verfugen Sie uber eine ausgepragte Kommunikationsfahigkeit und Verhandlungsgeschick.
Daruber hinaus sollten Sie flexibel, kundenorientiert und belastbar sein und selbstverstandlich gute EDV-Kenntnisse besitzen.

Wir bieten Ihnen eine leistungsorientierte Vergutung sowie eine vielseitige, anspruchsvolle und abwechslungsreiche Tatigkeit sowie einen dauerhaften Arbeitsplatz mit Ubernahmegarantie.

Bitte, schicken Sie Ihre Bewerbungsunterlagen an unsere E-Mail Adresse solution.velso.job@gmail.com

Velso Estate Solutions

Anonymous said...

They are also active in Germany! Interestingly, the text is well written and sounds professional, unlike most other scams. I did not reply.

Here the original text:

Wir sind eine Immobilienfirma und suchen zur Zeit Mitarbeiter fur unseren Haus.

Sie sind motiviert, arbeiten gerne mit Kunden und wollen beruflich etwas erreichen?
Wir bieten Ihnen einen interessanten Arbeitsplatz mit besten Verdienstmoglichkeiten und die Unterstutzung eines erfolgreichen Teams. Erfahrung im Immobilienbereich ist nicht notwendig. Verkaufserfahrung im Au?endienst/Einzelhandel wird von uns begru?t. Unsere Spezialisten sorgen fur Ihre Aus-/Weiterbildung. Neben sehr guten Kenntnissen in der Immobilienbranche verfugen Sie uber eine ausgepragte Kommunikationsfahigkeit und Verhandlungsgeschick. Daruber hinaus sollten Sie flexibel, kundenorientiert und belastbar sein und selbstverstandlich gute EDV-Kenntnisse besitzen.

Wir bieten Ihnen eine leistungsorientierte Vergutung sowie eine vielseitige, anspruchsvolle und abwechslungsreiche Tatigkeit sowie einen dauerhaften Arbeitsplatz mit Ubernahmegarantie.

Bitte, schicken Sie Ihre Bewerbungsunterlagen an unsere E-Mail Adresse velso.estate.solutions.job@gmail.com

Velso Estate Solutions

John Nelson said...

Dear Clarence. I would like to offer you a job opportunity with Velso Estate Solutions Ltd. I have found your resume in the CareerBuilder job database. Our company is looking for a highly-motivated customer service agent for working remotly. We are offering quite an attractive salary and bonuses. Our companys speciality is in selling various real estate all over the world. Our trademark is famous for its high-quality client service and support. So, if you apply, you should provide a professional service for our clients from USA and Canada. We are experiencing trouble with supporting our USA and Canadian clients, that's why we are looking for a person, who would promote our services in these countries and consult our clients. Title: Regional agent Base Salary: $1500, paid bi-weekly, total $3000 per month, excluding bonuses. The bonuses are calculated by our manager after analizing your success in job performance. You will also receive a stable 5% bonus from every sold real estate. Please contact me if you are interested with this opportunity. Sincerely, Mark Farringer

My name is john......

Anonymous said...

and another one from germany. this time in a horrible word-to-word-translation. i got this today after not having applied anywhere:

Willkommen bei Velso Estate Solutions!

Wir haben eine offene Position "Regionale agent"; in unserem virtuellen Buro-und
wird sich freuen, Sie haben mit uns zu arbeiten. Specialized professionelle
Bildung ist nicht erforderlich.

Beschaftigung: Part-time
Vorzuziehen Zeit: 9 am - 1 pm
Ort: Deutschland
Beschreibung: Die Verhandlungen mit Kunden, Auswahl und Darstellung der
Objektdaten Objekte, nachgehen auf und geben Angebote, Vertrage.
Gehalt rate: $ 1200 + Bonus

Ausbildung und Erfahrung:
Hohe Schule, Hochschule oder eine gleichwertige Ausbildung und Erfahrung

Anforderungen:

1. MS-Office-Kenntnisse
2. US autorisierten beruflichen Status
3. Erwachsenenalter
4. Internet-Zugang
5. Handy fur dringende Aufgaben

Jetzt sind Sie nur einen Schritt davon entfernt erfolgreiche Karriere. Interessiert?

Bitte antworten Sie oly an unsere E-mail: estatevelso@yahoo.de

Senden Sie uns Lebenslauf und erhalten Antwort innerhalb von 1 Werktag.

Testen Sie uns und Sie werden glucklich sein!