Is this an advance payment scam? Ronald West LTD

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 12

This is one I haven't seen before, but it sure has all the markings of a scam. It was forwarded to me through Careerbuilder.com as I currently have my resume listed.

I checked the WHOIS info for the website relating to the reply email address ([email protected]). It is connected to BEIJING INNOVATIVE LINKAGE TECHNOLOGY LTD. DBA DNS.COM.CN. This group appears to be big into spamming and phishing, but I'm not sure it's outright fraudulent, although my better sense tells me it is in fact some kind of scam. Curious to get some feedback on this.

Here's the header along with email body.

Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from rly-ya05.mx.aol.com (rly-ya05.mail.aol.com [172.18.141.87]) by air-ya02.mail.aol.com (v115.17) with ESMTP id MAILINYA24-168466d90e4133; Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:14:30 -0400
Received: from mailsm1.CareerBuilder.com (133.26-128.112.45.66.in-addr.arpa [66.45.112.133]) by rly-ya05.mx.aol.com (v115.17) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYA510-168466d90e4133; Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:13:56 -0400
Received: from mail pickup service by mailsm1.CareerBuilder.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:13:56 -0400
From: "William A. Matteson" <[email protected]>
To: "xxxxxx" <xxxxxxx>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:13:56 -0400
Subject: CareerBuilder: New Business Oportunity
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="_=aspNetEmail=_6c36ada515e54edab98564c67a4b44b1"
X-Mailer: aspNetEmail ver 3.2.0.18
X-CBEID: EN820C693ZD08WTZ9DQ
X-CBOrig: Rebelsm1
X-CBEmailType: CandidateEmail
X-CBEmailPriority: High
Message-ID: <REBELSM12922b0d7bdc6493abddda227f9e01177@Rebelsm1>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 Jun 2007 18:13:56.0162 (UTC) FILETIME=[46654220:01C7AC54]
X-AOL-IP: 66.45.112.133
X-AOL-SCOLL-SCORE: 1:2:386086500:6710886
X-AOL-SCOLL-URL_COUNT: 7

New Business Oportunity
Dear xxxxxx,

The Ronald West team place professionals across temporary, contract and permanent markets within Investment Banking, Asset Management and Financial Services organizations.

Operations are a key area within Investment Banking and Asset Management. Operations departments focus on the accurate and timely processing of trades, in essence supporting the sales and trading activity of the Front Office. Through their operations department, banks can ensure that their clients receive an efficient and comprehensive after sales service and that the Firm's proprietary activity is supported at low cost and minimal risk. Our Banking Operations team specialize in recruiting junior settlements clerks all the way through to a Global Head of Operations within Investment Banking, Custody and Asset Management.
Ronald West LTD is now looking for USA based business owners willing to become our collaborators and take part and help us structure our worldwide investment program.
You participation does not require any investment. We are looking for people that own a business in the United States of America and that are willing to collaborate with our company in order to place strategic investments in the name of our company and by doing so also increase their incomes.
All collaborations are contract based. A percentage of 5% from funds transaction handled by you as a business owner will be paid to you. (Investments values varies from $100.000.00 and can go up to $1,000.000.00 weekly.)
The funds following to be invested will be transferred by us to your corporate account trough wire transfer or ACH. Your part of the contract will be to invest the funds following the instructions we will send you.
This collaboration does not require any broker or any kind of financial license. All transaction are insured trough a contract that both parties will sign at the start of the business venture.

Responsibilities:
Manage certainFunds Transaction
Receive and Forward Documents and Papers from partner in your region.
Place strategic investments following the instructions you will receive from our company.
Requirements
Qualifications:

Own a business or have access to a business account in USA.
Extremely ambitious self-starter with high energy and motivation
Excellent communication skills
Effective time management skills
DISCLAIMER

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by collaborators within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of collaborators assigned to this position.
In order to find out more about this business opportunity simply reply to this email and our HR department will contact you shortly with details about your application. You can also email our investment manager: [email protected]

You are receiving this employment opportunity email because you uploaded your resume on CareerBuilder.
If your employment status has changed or you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can update your privacy and communication preferences by going here:
This email was sent from Account ID AA7FP1ML53J67BLYZS and by this logged in User U34751MKKRWNZV8XVB
DISCLAIMER
Please be aware that the content of this email has not been reviewed or approved by CareerBuilder and is in no way endorsed by CareerBuilder. You are solely responsible for any response you choose to provide to this email and you do so at your own risk. If you have questions regarding the legitimacy of the position being offered please contact the CareerBuilder Site Integrity Team by submitting your inquiry at: http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Help/Feedback.aspPlease also review common scams and tips for protecting yourself on CareerBuilder's Fraud Page. If you have questions or comments for and CareerBuilder, please use our feedback form.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:35 pm

Pretty standard check mule stuff.

Read up on check mule scams, get yourself a drop box, then go get him!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 12

Thanks Mugatu. I thought so, but wanted to be sure. I'm not yet brave enough to try baiting, but have reported it to Careerbuilder.

I'll definitely go check out the mule scams section. Thanks again!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 10

Sounds phishy to me.

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:03 pm

^^

Quote:

A percentage of 5% from funds transaction handled by you as a business owner will be paid to you.

A good sign of a check mule scam.

I see no link with phishing. The website address at the bottom of the page seems to be a partially broken link to a genuine website to add credibility.
However most phishing scams provide a link to a site where you can "confirm" your bank details. This one doesn't.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 27

Deifinately bad. The domain was registered in February for one year only. The London address does exist. It belongs to an aparently legit counseling consultancey with "West" in their name. They have existed for a few years. The verbage and imagery on the ronaldwest.com site screams Vlad to me. The english is too good even if they are way too verbose for a legit company.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Mugatu is spot on- this is a standard check scam.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 12

Good information all. Thanks for taking time to look into it.

Beeman writes... "The verbage and imagery on the ronaldwest.com site screams Vlad to me." Vlad? Is that Russian?

I don't completely understand the finer details of phishing, but the BEIJING INNOVATIVE LINKAGE TECHNOLOGY LTD. appears to be somewhat shady from what I can tell. The WHOIS info seems deliberately brief, ie, no valid address, phone number, etc.

Honestly, this "job opportunity" is not something that would have interested me, however, if it was in fact something shady or fraudulent, I did want to be sure to report it to the proper authorities, in this case Careerbuilder. I doubt they will do much about it, but at least I can say I properly informed them.

Like I said, I'm not brave enough yet to want to try baiting them, but if any of you want to have a stab at it, please feel free. Since I've had my resume online, the amount of stuff I'm receiving has increased tenfold. That there are so many of these scammers out there just makes me sick to my stomach.

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:32 am

DB: http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=15820
Bullet-proof Chinese hosting, always fun in a real UK company Laughing

Beeman is quite correct. The site is fake, although a better job than most. Here is the hook, from the careers page:

Quote:

Representative Financial Agent
REQUIREMENTS:
Residents of United States/Canada. Computer and E-Mail access.
DESCRIPTION:
Employment Type: Contract.
Salary Range: $2500 Monthly Plus 5%.
Relocation Required: No.
Payroll: 5% commission plus $2,500.00 monthly
Part time job, large commissions available, bonuses, no other obligations or charges.
Apply now..

To answer your questions:
* A vlad is an eastern European scammer. Many seem to specialize in job scams with fake websites just like this one.
* This isn't phishing, its a cheque mule/ money laundering scam. Here's a link to an article that explains these scams and how they work:
http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/moneymule_explained.html

[Edit] Goodness, this site looks familiar, doesn't it?
www.b-eonline.com
Clone site's DB: http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=15822

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