Apple Enterprise Sales Company (fake)

I believe we last saw a money mule scam following this pattern in the Camac Sales and Distribution Group scam. The general layout of the spam is similar, and specifically includes three fake endorsements from real magazines, plus a Gmail reply address which requests the keyword "interested" in the subject. Anyone who thinks that The Economist magazine would actually carry a phrase like "Employment situation has gotten on a new level" isn't paying close attention.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false, misleading)]
Date: , 10 Mar 2008 16:15:52 +0100
Subject: Best Position available Brought by Google.
To: [redacted (privacy)]

Greetings Dear Recipient of This Great Offer!

You have a chance to start making 1200+ AUD a week spending 1-2 hours a day Monday-Friday, working most of the time from home.

This opportunity is brought to you by an Apple Enterprise Sales Company and now is hiring!

You received this offer via Worldwide net of advertisement brought to you via paid ads by Google.

If you are looking for an additional job or just an extra income - this position is for you.

Designed for an ease of use and the best position available nowadays, time wise and income wise.

Although some requirements need to be met:

You are 18+ years old*
You have 1-2 hours of free time a day Monday-Friday*
You are responsible and dependable*
You are located in Australia only*

    -----

Some reference:

"Best offer on The Net" - "Money" magazine, -John Keppke.
"Employment situation has gotten on a new level" - "The Economist" magazine, -Laura Star.
"Amazing solution for Extra Income" - "Newsweek" magazine, -Dennis Coleman.

    -----

If you meet all requirements - don't hesitate to get more information on this great position called "Fund Operator".

Reply to:  apple.entinfo@gmail.com

with subject "Interested" to receive full information on this great position. Limited time offer, don't wait! And Good luck.

Osell International

I've recently received two of these in a spamtrap account, and I'll report it while it's still fresh. The job description talks about forwarding payments and receiving payments directly to a bank account, so this is almost certainly the usual kind of money mule scam associated with phishing.

   Domain Name: OSELL-JOB.NET
   Registrar: DIRECT INFORMATION PVT LTD D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
   Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Name Server: NS1.BIZHOSTING.RU
   Name Server: NS2.BIZHOSTING.RU
   Updated Date: 02-mar-2008
   Creation Date: 02-mar-2008
   Expiration Date: 02-mar-2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mr. Paolo [random surname] <[random address]>
Date: 5 Mar 2008 XX:XX UTC
Subject: work in Osell International
To: [redacted (privacy)]

Hello,

We thought that you might be interested in part time position to work from home with our company. My name is Paolo [surname], project coordinator and your direct supervisor at Osell International. Please read the information bellow about our company and your job description.

Osell International is an online-to-offline international money transfer service. Osell International currently offers a secure, fast, and inexpensive means to send money from any of 26 countries to recipients in 18 countries. Osell International's headquarters is located in Rome, Italy. For more information, please visit our website: www.osell-job.net

There are 5 openings for a representative to assist in creation our virtual local presence for the back office functions. Person, who is accepted for this position, will perform these tasks:


1. Facilitate the financial transactions from the clients. Osell International will organize the sales and marketing campaigns. Our manager will inform you when the transaction is expected to arrive.
2. Report to our manager on arrival of the payment.
3. Forward the payment to the customer at the destination. The instructions will be provided on the case-per-case bases.
4. The average monthly salary is about 4000 - 5000AUD. Your wages will be paid every month from the start of your employment by direct deposit to your bank account. You must have a bank account to receive wages from us. Plus you will receive a commission (3.5% - 4%) for the completed transaction. This commission will be paid out after every transaction. Also we have a rating system and bonus systems for the quarterly review. Dependant on your work results, you might be promoted to the management positions within 3-6 months.

To continue please fill in our online application:

http://www.osell-job.net/register.php

Your information will be used only within Osell International. Every employee, who satisfies our requirements, will be contacted by our manager. At that time you will be able to ask any questions you might have.

Best regards,

Mr. Paolo [surname]
Project coordinator
Osell International
http://www.osell-job.net

consumer-opinion.org (paid survey scam)

Since 14th February, 2008, I've been receiving an irritating barrage of spam (up to six per day) inviting me to get paid for participating in online surveys. Here's my earliest sample.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (random name and address)]
Date: 14 Feb 2008 XX:XX
Subject: additional job earnings available
To: Ideceive <ideceive@gmail.com>

Hi,

Are you interested in getting paid by major online retailers for completing
simple online surveys, participating in focus groups and to watch movie
trailers?
All you need is a little time and willingness to voice your honest opinion.
Our organization offers competitive remuneration for participating in simple
on-line surveys and forum discussion groups. What we offer is work from the
comfort of your own computer, determine your working time, express your
opinion freely about different kinds of products and services, and be paid
well.

If you'd like to become one of our highly valued survey takers, please
e-mail me back at maximilianwaytt@gmail.com and we will send you additional information.

Best regards,
Katie Anderson
HR

The contact address has varied continuously, but it has always been a gmail address. I suspect that they forward their various Gmail accounts to some other address which acts as an autoresponder, although they may possibly be using the built-in Gmail autoresponder. If you write away to one of the contact addresses (and the Gmail team hasn't whacked it yet), you get a response back like the following.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CONSUMER-OPINION.ORG <april@consumer-opinion.org>
Date: 3 Mar 2008 XX:XX
Subject: RE:RE: part-time job available
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Hi,
Thank you very much for your interest in the online survey jobs we offer.
For more information please go to our website:
http://www.Consumer-Opinion.org.
If you have any additional questions please fill in the form on our website or email info@Consumer-Opinion.org.
I look forward to doing business with you.
Best regards,
April Hofmann
http://www.Consumer-Opinion.org

Note that the domain "comsumer-opinion.org" was registered shortly after the spam run commenced (within 24 hours).

Domain ID:D151346870-LROR
Domain Name:CONSUMER-OPINION.ORG
Created On:14-Feb-2008 16:24:35 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Feb-2008 08:48:05 UTC
Expiration Date:14-Feb-2009 16:24:35 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)
Registrant ID:c8c3142d2e6cbb3e
Registrant Name:PATRICK LAWRENCE
Registrant Email:consopi@gmail.com
Name Server:NS19.SUPERHOSTING.BG
Name Server:NS20.SUPERHOSTING.BG

Paid survey scams are old news. The website itself does not offer you a job: it invites you to pay money in order to find out where these paid surveys are. There's no guarantee whatsoever that you will be able to make any money at all out of this, although they make big claims about the average payment that their members receive. The so-called "surveys" usually involve signing up for a trial of some kind of product, and may expose you to further expense. Your payment goes through ClickBank, so this is not an attempt to phish for credit card details -- it's just an attempt to get a thirty dollar payment out of any sucker willing to take the bait.

I don't usually report on this kind of scam, but these guys have been absolutely clamoring for my attention with their spam, so here you go. In my opinion, "comsumer-opinion.org" is just another scam which advertises by spamming and wilfully misrepresents ("lies about") the nature of its product. If you give these guys money, you are funding people who generate spam, and it's likely that you'll get nothing of value in return. Also, due to substantial unique overlap in content, I believe that "consumer-opinion.org" is a repackaged version of the older "planet-surveys.com". Compare the consumer opinion FAQ with the planet surveys FAQ, and look for overlapping questions and answers.

   Domain Name: PLANET-SURVEYS.COM
   Registrar: ENOM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.enom.com
   Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
   Name Server: DNS1.NAME-SERVICES.COM
   Name Server: DNS2.NAME-SERVICES.COM
   Name Server: DNS3.NAME-SERVICES.COM
   Name Server: DNS4.NAME-SERVICES.COM
   Name Server: DNS5.NAME-SERVICES.COM
   Updated Date: 04-oct-2007
   Creation Date: 04-oct-2007
   Expiration Date: 04-oct-2008

Arcandor

I should have reported this one ages ago, but I'm busy with other things of late. The scam is nothing special -- just the usual money mule job that makes up 90% of what I report on this blog -- but these guys are pretty darn persistent with this particular spam. They've been at it for four weeks now with very little change other than a continuously varying Gmail contact address. Only one such spam was sent directly to my contact address, but I am still seeing them arrive in other spamtrap accounts.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [redacted (false)]
Date: 5 Feb 2008 XX:XX UTC
Subject: start your career with us
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Welcome to the Arcandor Service!

We are very glad that you  wish to join our team, will be delighted  to have you work with us
The position of ?Assistant? provides support filling  the transactions of our customers.
We deal exclusively with private clients,- that have special requirements for high speed of receiving funds for their business .
  This way we can offer a new kind of financial and banking service to our clients - and we
would like you to work as an ?Assistant?.(part-time job 3-4 hours a day except holidays)

At first  your work  would be very basic,  yet meticulous -you will  make transfers for our clients  to suit their needs. Our managers will
assist you during the trial period and explain everything you will need to know.
We offer an extremely competitive graduated salary: for the first month you will receive up to
$2000 for your work  the next month your salary will be increased if you do your work accurately
and  on time.
Now you are only one step away from successful career.

All you need is to send  an e-mail to: arcandorservice3@gmail.com

with  phone numbers and times to reach you, and one of our representatives will contact you
and answer all your questions.

Thank you in advance,

Helen Jones
Manager
Arcandor Service

QD International

Just a typical money mule scam which targets Australians.

   Domain Name: QD-CAREERS.COM
   Registrar: ENOM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.enom.com
   Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
   Name Server: NS1.REMOVESE.COM
   Name Server: NS2.REMOVESE.COM
   Updated Date: 11-feb-2008
   Creation Date: 11-feb-2008
   Expiration Date: 11-feb-2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: QD International <[redacted (false)]>
Date: 2 Mar 2008 XX:XX UTC
Subject: Virtual Office - Careers
To: [redacted (privacy)]

QD International is currently hiring in Australia for the positions of Virtual Office Administrative Assistants, part-time and full-time available.  These positions focus on providing administrative assistance in online sales.

About Us:
Quik Drop Int. is an exciting business that simplifies the online auction process. We have established sellers who sell items through auctions worldwide providing higher sales profits to clients. These positions will be vital to the success of Quik Drop Int. as we continue to expand our business worldwide.

Part-time and full-time positions available, work at home, online.

Part-time: Three hours per day, during either one of these shifts:
9:00am-12:00pm        11:00am-2:00pm        12:00pm-3:00pm      2:00pm-5:00pm

Full Time: Six hours per day during either one of these shifts:
9:00am-3:00pm          11:00am-5:00pm

Salary
Part-time: $1,200/month and commission
Full-time: $2,400/month and commission

Professional Qualities:
- Customer focused decision maker
- Demonstrates a high level of personal accountability
- Thinks about the team first over personal agendas

Requirements:
- Internet Access
- Microsoft Office
- Proficient PC user
- Basic Accounting skills

If interested in the proposal please email your resume to Casey.Evans@qd-careers.com stating whether you are interested in a full-time or a part-time position.

Thank You,
QD Team
Casey.Evans@qd-careers.com