Is this a scam?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

Hello all. This is my first time posting here, although I have been viewing this forum for about a month now. I am particularly enjoying Blah's "Tripoli or bust" thread.
Anyway, I am currently seeking employment and I responded to an ad on Craiglist asking for more info. Here is the response I got:

Greetings,

Thanks for the interest, my name is Martin White and I am the (H R manager of Kind Woods Beads Ltd) ,I am
contacting you because we are now in need of a Payment Representative in the United States.So I would like to
offer you a part time job as our payment Representative and you can earn between $2,000-10,000usd in a month
depending on your Speed, Accuracy and Devotion to your work.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR US?
My Company needs a financial representative in the United States who will serve Has our Agent in processing any
of our funds made out to us by our USA Customers And Clients which could be made payable in US money orders or cashiers check this is because this legal Entity takes a long period of time to clear in our banks in Japan and due To Frequent Request and supplies of product we decided to hire Honest, Trustworthy People with good character.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS?
1. Receive payment from Clients
2. Deposit Payments inside your account at your Bank
3. Proceed and 24 hours in which funds have cleared into your account for withdrawer of funds
3. Deduct 10 percent which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed.
4. Forward balance afar deduction of percentage/pay to any of the Offices you Will be contacted to send payment
to (Payment is Forwarded either By Money Gram / Western Union Money Transfer).

HOW MUCH WILL YOU EARN?
10 percent from each operation! For instance: you receive 7000 USD via checks or money Orders on our behalf.
You will cash the money and Keep 700usd (10 percent from 7000usd) for yourself! At the beginning your commission
will equal 10percent, though later it would be reviewed upwards depending on your character and conduct toward your duties.

DO YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THE TRANSFER FEE FROM YOUR PERCENTAGE?
No you do not have to; all necessary transfer fees should be deducted from the Balance after you must have
cashed and deduct your 10percent of total money Received.

ADVANTAGES
You do not have to go out as you will work as an independent contractor Right From your home / office. Your job is
absolutely legal. You can earn up To 2,000- 10,000usd monthly depending on time you will spend for this job. You
do not need any capital to start. You can do the Work easily without leaving or affecting your present Job. The
employees who make efforts and work hard have A Strong Possibility to become managers.

MAIN REQUIREMENTS,
21 years or older,
Legally capable,
Responsible,
Ready to work 3-4 hours per week. With PC knowledge
E-mail and internet experience (minimal)
If you are interested in our offer, and would like to work for Kind Woods Beads Ltd,Kindly fill the application below.

EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION FORM
Full Name________________
Residential Full Address_____________________________
Home Telephone Number______________________
Personal cell phone Number______________________
City____________________________________
State___________
Zip Code_______________
Gender ____________
Marital Status ____________________
Age _____________
Nationality ______________________
Are you a U.S. citizen or otherwise authorized to work in the U.S._________

Please note: Only interested applicants should respond. And check your email back for response within 24 hours......

Regards,
Martin White

Anyway, it seems extremely suspicious to me, and I was just curious if this is a common scam and if anyone has come across this particular scam before. Thanks for your help!!!

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:01 am

Yes, it is a check scam. They'll send you fake checks to deposit in your account, tell you to keep a percentage and send the rest to them as the payment you "collected" from a client.

Hellish Taskmaster Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Posts: 537

I am not sure. It mentions that the bank is international, and that they need honest, trustworthy people (a line commonly used in scams). But I have no idea. You should wait for someone with experience to give you advice.

EDIT: The guy above me beat me to it.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:32 am

SSA is correct. It's a check scam.

You will "cash" the checks and forward the cash (MG or WU = cash out of your pocket) to them only to find out that your bank wants the money back after a few weeks... from you. You will need to cover the defunct amount, and may face criminal charges for dealing with forged checks.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:50 am

Quote:

10 percent from each operation! For instance: you receive 7000 USD via checks or money Orders on our behalf.
You will cash the money and Keep 700usd (10 percent from 7000usd) for yourself!

Classic check scam. Don't go within 10,000 miles of this one.

Master Baiter Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 139

Although this shouldn't be the primary way to uncover whether its a scam or not, one factor I ALWAYS consider is grammar. Especially in the case of a job application, what kind of a "CEO" or whatever he calls himself would write paragraphs full of drivel? Just one of the methods I use. Anyway, a few things to keep in mind...

1. Check grammar
2. ANYTHING revolving around bank deposits and cheques is a scam
3. In this case, what kind of a job doesn't even ask for a resume?

Anyway, enjoy the site! Very Happy

EDIT: One more tip. Using the most basic logic will usually help you decide on the validity of an offer. If its too good to be true - it is.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:24 pm

I wouldn't necessarily say grammar is the big red light for me.

I have dealt with legitimate businesses located in China, Japan, and Europe via email and they often make grammatical errors when they are attempting to type English.

Western Onion and MoneyGr@m requests are BIG red lights for me.

Not to mention, just look at their proposal.
It doesn't make any sense that a company from across the ocean would be willing to so loosely "employ" someone and send them large dollar amounts without any kind of pre-employment screening, background check, interview etc.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:35 pm

Most companies strive to make 10% profit on their customers. I can't imagine why any company would pay anything to have checks cashed when they could simply deposit them to their own accounts for free.

There is no such thing as a job for an individual to cash checks for a commission. Even if there were, it would be an incredibly risky job since you would be personally liable for any checks that were returned.

The reason scams like these are so successful is that most people mistakenly believe that if their bank clears a check, that means the check is good. Banks are required to give you access to your money within a few days. It is very common for weeks or months to go by before fake or stolen checks are discovered and returned to your bank. When they are, the banks will not care where you got the check, they will assume you are the criminal, and they will hold you responsible.

I'm glad you were suspicious and thought to ask around. You saved yourself a lot of money and hassle. Thumbs up

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:43 pm

Check scam for sure. the checks are fake, but it takes sometimes weeks for the banks to communicate that.

Quote:

1. Receive payment from Clients
2. Deposit Payments inside your account at your Bank if it's a decent fake, the bank will deposit it
3. Proceed and 24 hours in which funds have cleared into your account for withdrawer of funds US federal law requires the money to be in your account in a certain time period, sooner than the check actually clears
3. Deduct 10 percent which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed.
4. Forward balance afar deduction of percentage/pay to any of the Offices you Will be contacted to send payment
to (Payment is Forwarded either By Money Gram / Western Union Money Transfer). And that's the scam, they get the cash and in a few weeks, you get stuck with paying the bank for a fake check

Juan Freizwidatt wrote:

Classic check scam. Don't go within 10,000 miles of this one.

what fun would we have as baiters if we followed that advise? Wink

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

Thanks for all the tips guys. I was 99% sure that this was a scam, just wanted to see if you guys had seen one similar to this. The bad grammar was a good tip off for me, but the grammar is still WAY better than what you normally get from the Nigerian 419 scammers. Another red flag is that the email sender name in my inbox is from an Alice Alexander, although the writer identifies himself as Martin White. What the hell??

I googled this "Kind Woods Beads, Ltd" place, and it looks like they actually have a legitimate web site. Although it seems suspicious to me that their web site is the only result I get when i google it with quotes (no sites with reviews from past customers or links to their site etc.) Very suspicious. Is it common for scammers to create a fake web site such as this? Or perhaps the logical solution is that this scammer has no affiliation with the company at all.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:51 pm

It's extremely common for scammers to make reference to real life companies .

Now post the scammers e-mail address so that the GoogleSpiders* can pick it up for anyone else to find if they search.

*Other spiders are available

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

spot wrote:

It's extremely common for scammers to make reference to real life companies .

Now post the scammers e-mail address so that the GoogleSpiders* can pick it up for anyone else to find if they search.

*Other spiders are available

\

The email is [email protected]

Elite Baiter Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 1006

Whois on the web site

Quote:

Company English Name : KIND WOOD BEADS LIMITED
Company Chinese name:
Address: G/F., Jordan Mansion, 37L
Jordan Rd, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Country: Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Domain Name Commencement Date: 21-02-2003
Expiry Date: 25-02-2009
Re-registration Status: Complete
Name of Registrar: HKDNR

They're also found here http://www.tradeeasy.com/supplier/28986/kind-wood-beads.html

Looks real. One clue that you're dealing with a scammer...most companies don't use free email services like hotmail.