The "Job Opening" Scam

So I received this very interesting email offering me a job opportunity. The email was tittled "JOB OPENING" and it was about this guy from the UK who apparently sells products in US and Canada but needs a "bookkeeper" to receive and forward the payments and I get to keep a generous 10%

Here is a copy of the email:

^{Hello,
How are you,My name is Edmund Dowdall and I own a company that sells coated fabrics, industrial polymers, calendered compounds, polyurethane coated nylon, technical textiles, pvc coated nylon, pvc coated polyester, personal protective equipment, roller covering compounds, rubber roller coverings, adhesives, sealants, polymeric coated fabrics, hot melt adhesives, rubber plant lining, cured rubber sheeting, calendered sheeting,I am looking for a trustworthy representative in USA /Canada that can help as a link between me and my client over there.i would like to know if you are interested to work from home for us. My company needs a book-keeper or representative in the states,so I want to know if you will like to work on line from home and getting paid weekly without leaving or affecting your present job,I presently run this company and we need someone to work for the company as a representative/book keeper in Canada/USA.You can pls go through my website http://www.vitasalford.com.We have clients we supply weekly in the states and my clients make payments for our supplies every week in form of money orders or cashiers check which are not readily cashable outside the US or Canada,so we need someone in the States/Canada to work as our representative and assist us in processing the payments from our clients and I will pay him/her a weekly wage, by percentage. All you need to do is receive this payment in form of money order/cashier check from our clients in the States or Canada and get it cashed in your bank or a cashing center then deduct your 10% and forward t! he balance to the company down here via money gram or western union money transfer. Our payments will be issued out in your name and you get them cashed in your bank, deduct your 10% of the initial capital and forward the balance to the company by money transfer. So all I need is to forward your information to our numerous clients in the states or Canada and they will contact you before they issue payment in form of money order or cheques then send it via courier or mail to you. If accepted I will need you to get back to me via email with your info..}

^{NAME:
ADDRESSS:
PHONE NUMBER:}

^{NB:Please reply me to my personal email address
Thanks and I await your sooner response.}

^{www.vitasalford.com}

^{Edmund Dowdall"}

Wow, I'm so lucky!, I get to work for this huge company from the UK and I'll get to keep 10% of the sales in the US and Canada! I'm going to be rich. So I proceeded to answer my future employer as fast as I can. Here is what I wrote:

"Hi!!!
I'm very interested in this job offer! What do I need to get started?
I'm so excited that I get to work from home!

Thank you so much for this opportunity!

Don."

What makes me sad about this scam, is that people actually end up trusting this asshole and helping them with scams they pull on eBay, Amazon, Craigslist etc... and will probably end up with a felony charge for something they thought was a job. Here is a story about a victim of this crime who got charged with fraud:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5424542/

So Watch out...

He/She Answers Back 9:57:00 AM

Wow, like I thought, this bastard answered almost right away.

This is the new email i got from him/her:

^{"Hello,
How are you doing and how was your day?Hope everything is fine,I got your email signifying your interest in this job opening which i belive you understand all what this job entails,The job is a part time job which i beleive will not affect your present job because all you need to be doing is to be getting payment in care of the company and keeping record of all the payment you get that is you will be getting the ompany's payment from the company's US customer's which will come o you as a check,money order or a traveller's check on your name and which you will need to take to your bank and get it cashed and then after getting it cashed you will need to deduct 10% out of any payment you get which will be your own salary and that is you will be deducting 10% from any payment you get and then after that you will need to send the rest of the payment via western union to the company's representative anywhere the company wants you to send it to.I will send you a temporary emloyment form later after i receive your info which you will need to fill out and send it back to me as soon as possible and by doing this i will know that you are ready for this work which is meant to commence latest by this week so get back to me as soon as posible with the filled form so i can open a file for you under the company's name and then you will get started asap because we have some customer's already that are ready to send their payment so get back to me asap.}

^{FIRST NAME................... LAST NAME ....................................
ADDRESS.........................
CITY............................................ STATE.........................................
ZIP CODE...................................... COUNTRY....................................
HOME PHONE NUMBER .............................................
WORK PHONE NUMBER.................
GENDER................................... MARITAL STATUS..........................
AGE......................................... NATIONALITY...............................
CURRENT JOB.............................
ID NUMBER...............................}

No Replies 12:41:00 PM

After I asked them if they had a phone number I could call, never got an answer.

What would happen next, if I decided to accept the "job", they will start sending me fraudulent checks or money from eBay buyers who got scammed, making me forward the money through Wester Union to a country like Nigeria.

Another scam they would do is send me counterfeit checks that will clear until the bank gets it back. Then I'll be responsible for all the money.

BE VERY CAREFUL. If you buy or sell stuff on sites like Craigslist.com , you are very likely to get emails like these. Tell all the people you know who buys or sells stuff online so they won't become the next victim.