Victim Location 59801
Type of a scam Employment
I was looking for a job on the recruiting website for my local university and found a listing for an Entry Level Mail Coordinator promising $300 a week for approximately ten hours of work. I sent an email and a copy of my resume to the email address that was provided and heard back within five days. The emails that I received were poorly formatted and at times borderline unreadable. Nevertheless, I stayed in contact hoping that the person that I was speaking with was simply lax about his grammar conventions. Eventually, I provided my home address and my cell phone number and the person that I was speaking with promised to be in touch with me. Eventually, he sent me an email explaining what I would be doing: I would receive a check in the mail and then deposit the funds into my bank account, keeping my weekly payment and taking the rest to give to a person who would later come to my address and collect the remainder while dropping off the materials that I would be working with. I was suspicious at this point, but the website seemed legitimate, if a little unprofessional and the toll free number is answered by an automated system that seems to be in line with what I would expect from other companies. Eventually, I spoke with the person via text. The number listed on the website is a California area code, the number listed in the emails is a Texas area code, and the number that I received the texts from was a Florida area code. The texts reiterated what I should expect and told me to expect a check in the mail later in the week. Later that day, I received a check in the mail (from Washington DC) expecting it to be a relatively small sum and was shocked to see that the check was made out to me for $5850. The names on the check were names that I had not heard before. One of my biggest concerns is that I do not find it feasible for a professional businessman to be making out checks for this amount to somebody who they have never met and who is not officially employed by their company. At this point, my suspicions grew to be too many and I contacted some confidants for advice. They told me that they found it suspicious as well and we agreed that it may be a scam. They said that it was possible to make out a check without having the financial backing in the bank with the expectation that the check would bounce. They said that through this process, one would be able to obtain my bank account information and potentially make checks that could be used in my name. Losing my own money was a risk that I was not willing to take, so I decided to get in touch with the BBB.