Suckers Wanted

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, February 06, 2007

Acorn Exports Ltd UK

Job offer for "payment officer", also known as "money mule", or "sucker".

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Acorn Exports Ltd Uk <acronexport03@rediffmail.com.>
Date: 06-Feb-2007 23:36
Subject: COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED IN YOUR REGION
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr.Lawson Walker, managing director of Acorn Exports Ltd UK. we are a group of business men who deal on machinery and export into the Canada/ America and Europe.We are searching for representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our customers in the canada/America and Europe as well as making payments through you (as our payment officer) to us.

It does not matter whether you are in full employment or self-employed. This is a Part-time position that would become permanent based on your effort. It will certainly not affect your current job or business as the position is on part time basis. No payment or financial contribution at your end, whatsoever is required of you. The only requirement is for you to have a Line Of Credit (LOC) or Equity

Line of Credit as a guaranty, in case there is a misappropriation of funds and as proof that you are capable of acting as our company representative. Without it, our clients, corporate and individual would not be comfortable dealing with you.Please if you are interested in transacting business with us, we will be very glad. Subject to your satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of which we will pay you for your services as our representative in Canada/America and Europe. Having a functional bank account to receive payment (Company account is an advantage)

Note, there is no financial obligation required from you, and this transaction is 100% risk free.If this proposal is accepted by you, A swift acknowledgement on the receipt of this mail will be appreciated, furnishing me with your

(1) Your full names,
(2) Age and Sex
(3) Contact address and, Phone/fax numbers.

Please Reply me through this email:lawsonwalker01@yahoo.co.uk
or my fax number:+44-87-1715-1289

Thank you for your time and anticipated cooperation.
Respectfully Yours,

Mr. Lawson Walker.
MANAGING DIRECTOR
ACORN EXPORTS LIMITED
FAX NUMBER: +44-87-1715-1289

NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified thatany reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by electronic e-mail and delete this message and all copies and backups thereof. Thank you.

auseekjob.hk

This is the International Job Employee recruitment scam again.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mr. Landis wrote: <[redacted]>
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 02:26:41 -0060
Subject: Right now Right Here! Your Last Chance
To: [redacted]

SUPERIOR OPPORTUNITY TO EARN MONEY!
Introducing Financial Courrier position for ANYONE, be it a college
student or a busy businessman, you still need additional money for almost
doing NOTHING, right?
Simple requirements: 18+ y/o, couple hours free time a day mon-thu. Job
is very very easy and it's just a GIFT for you. If you need money start
working with us right now, visit http://www.auseekjob.hk click "
REGISTER" We are glad to see anyone and we are ready to start working
with you ANYTIME!

Best Regards,
Management Team
admin@auseekjob.hk

Superbag Co, Ltd (impostor)

This is just some random money mule recruiter using a (German) Yahoo! freemail address and pretending to represent an actual (Japanese) company. The scammer has made a fundamental error, however: he provides a link to the web page of the company in question. The company has, in turn, put up the following warning on their homepage.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Superbag received reports about scam mails that somebody pretends to be a Superbag's employee who said Superbag is recruiting company representative for North America and Europe. Superbag is not currently recruiting representatives in those areas and Superbag has nothing to do with those scam e-mails.

This sort of scam happens all the time, but most of them don't identify themselves as scams quite so clearly.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: YOSHIMITSU FUKADU <superbag13_company@yahoo.de>
Date: 06-Feb-2007 11:21
Subject: SUPERBAG COMPANY LIMMITED!!!
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Attn: Mr yoshimitsu fukadu,
It is my pleasure to write to you in respect of our organization,I am
Mr yoshimitsu fukadu / President and CEO( SUPERBAG COMPANY,LIMITED) a
japanesse based company,Superbag will soon be 100 years of old. Taking the
lead in the bag-making industry, Superbag has always been active to
develop bagging materials and implement up-to-date bag-making machinery
with new ideas and flexible thinking. Our efforts have also been
directed toward the wider use of new bagging materials, thus contributing
greatly to the progress of the distribution industry coping with today's
globalization, Superbag has launched into international business; its
overseas production bases so far implemented for more production and
enhanced technology include those in China (Shanghai), Taiwan, Thailand and
Indonesia..

We have just started the exportation of our products into the
Canada/America and Europe market.We are searching for representatives who can
help us create a structural base in this areas and .establish a medium of
getting to our customers in the Canada/America and Europeans as well as
making payments through you to us.Please note that we are aware of the
high frudulent checks on the internet now and all payments are going to
come via bank wire.

Please if you are interested in transacting business with us we will be
very glad. Please contact us for more information.visit our website :-
http://www.superbag.co.jp/e/index.html

Subject to your satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to
negotiate your mode contract of which we will pay for your services as our
representative in Canada/America and Europe.Please if you are interested
forward to us your,

FULLNAME................................
DATE OF BIRTH..........................
ADDRESS...................................
SEX............................................
AGE............................................
NATIONALITY. ............................
OCCUPATION..............................
TELEPHONE................................
EMAIL..........................................
DATE...........................................
SIGNATURE.................................

Thank in Advance.
Regards,
yoshimitsu fukadu

Monday, February 05, 2007

Radius Investments, LLC (impostors)

Summary

Money mule scam (see sidebar for more information). The scammers have simply copied a website belonging to a legitimate business, Radius Investments, LLC, and replaced one of the pages with their bogus "career" page. Like the Norden United scam, there are three job openings listed on the page, but the second and third are red herrings designed to make the money mule job look more attractive. If this scam evolves anything like the Norden scam, then we can expect to see this scam appear under a variety of domain names over time. The real "Radius Investments, LLC" are known to be associated (at this time) with the domain names "radiusinvestments.com" and "radiusgroup.com". Beware of impostors.

The Spam

The message is presented in a GIF image, accompanied by nonsense "filter buster" text coloured to be invisible against the background.

Representative image

Sender names encountered

Capitalisation and punctuation may vary.

Radius investments, LLC
Radius investments

Domain names involved

The following links have been encountered in spam, listed in order of encounter.

http://radiusgr.org/career.php
http://radiusgr.biz/career.php
http://radiusgr.net/career.php
http://radgroup.cn/career.php
http://radigroup.cn/career.php
http://radigr.org/career.php
http://radigroup.org/career.php
http://radigr.cn/career.php
http://radgrp.biz/career.php
http://radgrupll.cn/career.php
http://radiddrp.cn/career.php
http://radgrpp.cn/career.php
http://radgrpp.be/career.php
http://radiigrp.cn/career.php
http://radgrpp.hk/career.php
http://radgr.hk/career.php
http://radiusgrp.hk/career.php
http://radgrrp.hk/career.php
http://radgrup.hk/career.php
http://radgrp.hk/career.php

The above is not necessarily an exhaustive list of involved domains -- merely the ones we know about. The list is updated as new domains come to our attention. Please post comments below if you are aware of other domains involved in this scam.

Website

Here is a snapshot of the website taken at around the time this blog entry was first posted.

Since this "careers" page does not exist on the original website, the text has been plagiarised from other sources. Some of the text is reproduced here with comments to aid in understanding of the scammers' modus operandi.

Investing is a trillion dollar business. As the population ages and wealth grows, the demand for investing professionals will increase dramatically. This is great news for you if you are thinking of going in to investing. Jobs in investing involve helping individuals and business manage risk to protect themselves from catastrophic losses and to anticipate potential risk problems. Work in this area is not only personally rewarding, but can be financially rewarding as well. You could work in a variety of areas in investing including as an underwriter, a sales representative, an asset manager, a customer service representative or an actuary. A theme that is constantly emphasized by investing professionals is that the industry is ultimately about helping people when they need it the most. The stereotype of a slick, sleazy, fast-talking investing salesman is largely a figment of the past.

The exact original source of the above text is hard to pinpoint, since it has been widely plagiarised across the Internet, with the caveat that all instances of "investing" in the above text were originally "insurance". Take any key phrase, replace "investing" with "insurance" if needs be, and conduct a search to see how many times that paragraph has been copied.

At Radius Group Investment, you have the opportunity to learn, grow and make a difference. Work together with seasoned professionals to create ideas and solutions for a wide variety of commercial and residential properties and their tenants.

Our competitive advantage is a result of talented personnel. We continually search for highly motivated, multi-dimensional individuals, who seek opportunities for growth.

Opportunities abound whether you are interested in property management, asset management, architecture, development, lease administration, IT, commercial leasing, accounting or human resources. In addition to a rewarding work experience, our flexible work/life benefits are designed to meet the unique needs of today's ever-changing workforce.

Radius Group's employees enjoy competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits packages, matching 401(k), free parking, metro accessibility and the stability of a growing, diversified real estate company.

The above text is plagiarised from Washington Real Estate Investment Trust's employment page, with "Radius Group" substituted for the original name.

The responsibilities of the investment assistant consist of reception and sending cash assets and requires only the ability of counting the interest. The candidate doesn't need a special education of a financier. Of course, we welcome the presence of special education or experience of working in the financial field. On a position of our investment assistant, your direct responsibilities will be to deal with the financial means from our customers (these are the payments and prepayments for various services that clients order with us), which means the direct reception of the funds into your bank account, calculation of all the expenses and your interest, and transaction of the funds further to one of our regional branches, depending on the availability of the certain specialists or ordered securities in a particular regional office. In order to fasten the process of the delivery of the funds, you are supposed to transfer the money by means of Western Union or Money Gram systems (these systems give you a chance to have the funds available in any part of the world within the next 10-15 minutes after the money has been sent).

Please notice that you receive 10% of the sum for every payment made with your assistance. You immediately deduct your commission out of the received sum, and we pay all the expenses concerned with sending money from the sum that is liable to be sent.

You can fulfill our tasks along with your direct work, because they require only 1-2 hours of free time a day, 2-3 times a week, also you can plan your schedule with us in advance. You only have to warn us at least a week earlier about the day when you don't have any possibility to fulfill our tasks, and this day you won't receive payments.

The above text is written specifically for this page, rather than copied, but it shows all the usual hallmarks of a money mule scam. Note in particular the receipt of funds, deducting a percentage, and forwarding the balance via Western Union or Money Gram. Note also the broken English, suggesting that the author is not a native speaker. In particular, the phrase "to fasten the process of the delivery" is distinctively associated with this kind of scam.

Domain Information (for experts)

Limited WHOIS information is provided here, primarily for the purposes of trend analysis. Registrant details are included only to the extent that I believe they are relevant and not misleading fabrications.

radiusgr.org

Query at around 2007-02-05 04:08 UTC

Domain ID:D137742178-LROR
Domain Name:RADIUSGR.ORG
Created On:19-Jan-2007 23:52:01 UTC
Last Updated On:04-Feb-2007 15:23:34 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Jan-2008 23:52:01 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:CSL Computer Service Langenbach GmbH (R25-LROR)
Registrant ID:CORG-175635
Registrant Email:brad2602@hotmail.com
Name Server:NS1.JP-NANI.COM
Name Server:NS2.JP-NANI.COM

radiusgr.biz

Query at around 2007-02-05 04:22 UTC

Domain Name:                                 RADIUSGR.BIZ
Domain ID:                                   D16068645-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:                        CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:                113
Registrant ID:                               CNEU-145738
Registrant Email:                            ibp95412@hotmail.com
Name Server:                                 NS1.JP-NANI.COM
Name Server:                                 NS2.JP-NANI.COM
Created by Registrar:                        CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Last Updated by Registrar:                   CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Domain Registration Date:                    Fri Jan 19 23:41:27 GMT 2007
Domain Expiration Date:                      Fri Jan 18 23:59:59 GMT 2008
Domain Last Updated Date:                    Sun Feb 04 15:22:08 GMT 2007

radiusgr.net

Query at around 2007-02-08 03:46 UTC

   Domain Name: RADIUSGR.NET
   Registrar: COMPUTER SERVICES LANGENBACH GMBH DBA JOKER.COM
   Whois Server: whois.joker.com
   Referral URL: http://www.joker.com
   Name Server: NS1.JP-NANI.COM
   Name Server: NS2.JP-NANI.COM
   Updated Date: 04-feb-2007
   Creation Date: 19-jan-2007
   Expiration Date: 19-jan-2008

radgroup.cn

Query at around 2007-02-17 21:26 UTC

Domain Name: radgroup.cn
ROID: 20070120s10001s11669634-cn
Administrative Email: beaehrmann@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns1.big-bun.com
Name Server:ns2.big-bun.com
Registration Date: 2007-01-20 09:22
Expiration Date: 2008-01-20 09:22

radigroup.cn

Query at around 2007-02-21 14:34 UTC

Domain Name: radigroup.cn
ROID: 20070120s10001s11671759-cn
Administrative Email: walendialinda@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns1.non-st.com
Name Server:ns2.non-st.com
Registration Date: 2007-01-20 10:00
Expiration Date: 2008-01-20 10:00

radigr.org

Query at around 2007-02-22 17:04 UTC

Domain ID:D139801671-LROR
Domain Name:RADIGR.ORG
Created On:16-Feb-2007 22:05:50 UTC
Last Updated On:19-Feb-2007 13:27:38 UTC
Expiration Date:16-Feb-2008 22:05:50 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:CSL Computer Service Langenbach GmbH (R25-LROR)
Registrant ID:CORG-178462
Registrant Email:balesdlloyd@hotmail.com
Name Server:NS1.NON-ST.COM
Name Server:NS2.NON-ST.COM

radigroup.org

Query at around 2007-02-23 17:43 UTC

Domain ID:D137744307-LROR
Domain Name:RADIGROUP.ORG
Created On:20-Jan-2007 02:06:51 UTC
Last Updated On:16-Feb-2007 09:33:05 UTC
Expiration Date:20-Jan-2008 02:06:51 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:CSL Computer Service Langenbach GmbH (R25-LROR)
Registrant ID:CORG-175643
Registrant Email:racheltatton-brown@hotmail.com
Name Server:NS1.BIG-BUN.COM
Name Server:NS2.BIG-BUN.COM

radigr.cn

Query at around 2007-02-26 14:32 UTC

Domain Name: radigr.cn
ROID: 20070217s10001s21580434-cn
Administrative Email: selmaaugustin@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns2.non-st.com
Name Server:ns1.non-st.com
Registration Date: 2007-02-17 05:57
Expiration Date: 2008-02-17 05:57

radgrp.biz

Query at around 2007-02-26 21:48 UTC

Domain Name:                                 RADGRP.BIZ
Domain ID:                                   D16473806-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:                        CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:                113
Registrant ID:                               CNEU-147160
Registrant Email:                            jzwiekopf@hotmail.com
Name Server:                                 NS1.NON-ST.COM
Name Server:                                 NS2.NON-ST.COM
Created by Registrar:                        CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Last Updated by Registrar:                   CSL COMPUTER SERVICE (D.B.A. JOKER.COM)
Domain Registration Date:                    Fri Feb 16 22:16:39 GMT 2007
Domain Expiration Date:                      Fri Feb 15 23:59:59 GMT 2008
Domain Last Updated Date:                    Mon Feb 26 11:00:58 GMT 2007

radgrupll.cn

Query at around 2007-03-01 06:20 UTC

Domain Name: radgrupll.cn
ROID: 20070228s10001s25622689-cn
Administrative Email: blurdge1@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns1.non-st.com
Name Server:ns2.non-st.com
Registration Date: 2007-02-28 03:55
Expiration Date: 2008-02-29 03:55

radiddrp.cn

Query at around 2007-03-02 00:06 UTC

Domain Name: radiddrp.cn
ROID: 20070301s10001s25943492-cn
Administrative Email: freycarsten@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns2.hthead.com
Name Server:ns1.hthead.com
Registration Date: 2007-03-01 01:52
Expiration Date: 2008-03-01 01:52

radgrpp.cn

Query at around 2007-03-02 13:02 UTC

Domain Name: radgrpp.cn
ROID: 20070301s10001s25944036-cn
Administrative Email: austincoxhill@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns1.hthead.com
Name Server:ns2.hthead.com
Registration Date: 2007-03-01 01:59
Expiration Date: 2008-03-01 01:59

radgrpp.be

Query at around 2007-03-04 04:01 UTC

Domain:      radgrpp
Status:      REGISTERED
Registered:  Thu Mar  1 2007

Agent:
   Name:      Gandi Sas
   Website:   http://www.gandi.net

Nameservers:
   ns1.hthead.com
   ns2.hthead.com

radiigrp.cn

Query at around 2007-03-04 04:03 UTC

Domain Name: radiigrp.cn
ROID: 20070301s10001s25945648-cn
Administrative Email: jiraknorri@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service (d.b.a. Joker.com)
Name Server:ns2.hthead.com
Name Server:ns1.hthead.com
Registration Date: 2007-03-01 02:18
Expiration Date: 2008-03-01 02:18

radgrpp.hk

Query at around 2007-03-04 04:17 UTC

Domain Name: RADGRPP.HK
Email: karen_ebbs2003@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-02
Expiry Date:  2008-03-02
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1822244T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.HTHEAD.COM
NS2.HTHEAD.COM

radgr.hk

Query at around 2007-03-06 02:42 UTC

Domain Name: RADGR.HK
Email: blurdge1@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-02
Expiry Date:  2008-03-02
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1822250T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.HTHEAD.COM
NS2.HTHEAD.COM

radiusgrp.hk

Query at around 2007-03-06 14:12 UTC

Domain Name: RADIUSGRP.HK
Email: fredi-gansen@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-01
Expiry Date:  2008-03-01
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1822196T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.GET-MM.COM
NS2.GET-MM.COM

radgrrp.hk

Query at around 2007-03-07 13:51 UTC

Domain Name: RADGRRP.HK
Email: selmaaugustin@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-07
Expiry Date:  2008-03-07
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1824466T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.CODE-GO.COM
NS2.CODE-GO.COM

radgrup.hk

Query at around 2007-03-09 01:41 UTC

Domain Name: RADGRUP.HK
Email: balesdlloyd@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-07
Expiry Date:  2008-03-07
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1824463T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.CODE-GO.COM
NS2.CODE-GO.COM

radgrp.hk

Query at around 2007-03-17 12:34 UTC

Domain Name: RADGRP.HK
Email: bilatmsle@hotmail.com
Domain Name Commencement Date: 2007-03-02
Expiry Date:  2008-03-02
Name of Registrar: HKDNR
Account Name: HK1822253T
Name Servers Information:

NS1.YEOYANG.COM
NS2.YEOYANG.COM

Friday, February 02, 2007

Seamen’s & Oryx Cheicals Group Ltd.

This is a money mule scam, obviously enough, but WTF is with the name of this fictional company? Was that meant to be "chemicals"?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Seamen's & Oryx Cheicals Group Ltd. <foaccdptseamen@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: 03-Feb-2007 00:12
Subject: Job Offer
To:

Seamen's & Oryx Cheicals Group Ltd.
4 Portwell Street,
London, UK EC1Y 4UP
United Kingdom.

Would you like to work online temporarily and earn constant payment? We
are glad to offer you a job position in our company,Seamen's & Oryx
Cheicals Group Ltd. We permanently need new people to occupy the position
of Processing Manager, able to receive and send payments between our
partners' clients and our company. This part-time job does not require any
special skills. You do not have to spend much time to earn sufficient
money to be added to your main salary. Every payment will be accompanied
by detailed instruction. This is in view of our not having an office
presently in the United States/ Canada. You don't need to have an Office
and this certainly won't disturb any form of work you have at the moment.
We have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all around the
world especially the U.S.

*** REQUIREMENTS ***
- Honesty, Responsibility and Promptness in operations;
- PC with Internet and e-mail access;
- We don't work with persons under 21;
- Postal or Mailing address.

YOUR ROLES ARE:
1. Receiving payment from our Customers
2. Deduct 10%, which will be your percentage

Instructions on how to remit the company's balance 90% will be given to
you. We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job
takes only 3-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing your
permanent job,We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our
requirements and will be a Co-operative assistant. We are glad to offer
this job position to you if you are capable and fit to carry out the tasks
stated above, and you want to work for Seamen's & Oryx Cheicals Group Ltd.
---------------------------------
Please contact us for more information via email with informations filled
out: infoaccdptseamen@yahoo.co.uk

Full Names:
Occupation:
Company Name:
Marital Status:
Position in office
Age:
Sex:
Phone number:
Contact/Mailing Address:
Email:
Country:
----------------------------------

Sir. Collins Bradson
Managing Director
Seamen's & Oryx Cheicals Group Ltd.
4 Portwell Street,
London, UK EC1Y 4UP
United Kingdom.

©Seamen's Cooperation