Job Scam?

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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:25 pm

Hey, all. I've been active in the baiter community, off and on, for a while now, and I got something fishy yesterday. My partner was contacted by a company called Ardena (it's a legit European biotech company) and offered an interview in their field. I think it's a scam, and wanted other opinions.

1) The pay they were offering was fairly significantly in excess of what I would expect for this position.

2) The opportunity to work from home was a primary feature of the postition.

3) The 'interview' was conducted via Google Hangouts, over the space of about 10 minutes.

4) No application was ever submitted or requested - they claimed to have gotten her resume from an online job posting service (which she has utilized).

5) They are telling her that they will be sending her a check to pay for 'server fees' in order to access their system.

This all sounds like a fairly convoluted 'deposit this check and send us money' scam. What do you all think?

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:55 pm

I would recommend going to our sister site scamwarners.com and asking there as they are better equipped to deal with things like this, but the lack of real interview and wanting to send herva check to pay for equipment to do the job are both hallmarks of employment scams.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Jan 2020 Posts: 1

Dear Jacob,

The last couple of days we (Ardena) have indeed been contacted by a number of people verifying if those job offers/interviews were real.
We can confirm they are NOT!
The e-mail address that is being used is an @outlook.com address and is not affiliated to Ardena whatsoever.
One of the victims believed that the resume was found through Indeed.
Any additional info would be helpful for us.

Thanks!

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:28 pm

Dear Ardena,

Thank you for taking the time to register and confirm that this is indeed a scam. That is very helpful and considerate indeed.

However, if you intend on participating on this forum, I will have to ask you to change your username, as per our forum rules (as they don't allow advertising any business interest).

Quote:

We do not permit advertising of other websites or business interests, fund raising, or recruiting for other internet forums, whether baiter-related or not. Exceptions are made in rare circumstances. Please contact a Moderator or Admin for further information.

I have sent you a PM (private message) too. you can check this by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking on the "Messages (New)" icon.

Thank you again for taking the time to register and replying. It's very much appreciated.

ETA:

Scamwarners has a forum specific to this types of scams. It would be helpfull if information about this scam is posted there, as it might help possible victims .

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Feb 2020 Posts: 1

Hello,
My name is <Snipped> , and I want to confirm that there is most definitely a job scam where someone is impersonating a hiring manager from Ardena. My daughter is a graduate from <Snipped> in digital media, and she was contacted by someone who claimed to be from Ardena, offering her a work-from-home job managing their website. The scam, although there are red flags to people who are experienced with these things, was quite sophisticated. The rate of pay they offered was high, but not unusually high for freelance work. She is young, and did not see the warning signs (interview conducted on Google hangouts, the difference in email address from those on the Ardena website, etc.), so she went through the "interview process" and the "onboarding" These scammers even went so far as to to send her a "Welcome Letter" from Harry Christiaens, with his headshot on it! She was so excited to think that she had been recruited by such a wonderful company! They then told her that she would need software and equipment to be able to work from home, and the sent her a check to deposit in her account. After she had deposited it, they instructed her to wire the money to a vendor who would send her the equipment and software. On several subsequent days, they contacted her to say she needed additional software and equipment, and sent her additional checks, and instructed her to wire money to the vendor. On the 3rd day, the bank became suspicious and froze her account. Her "boss" then texted her and instructed her to go to the nearest store and buy Apple gift cards, scratch off the back, and send them pictures of the code on the back. It was only at this point that we realized that it was a scam, and she was so distraught that she became suicidal and I had to bring her to a 24 hour emergency drop-in center for counselling! When we went to the bank, we discovered that she had been tricked into wiring $2300 out of her account, and she had been charged an additional $15 for each of the false checks that had not cleared. The worst part of it was the realization that she did not have a job, as she had already given 2 weeks notice for her job at <Snipped>. She was so distraught that she could not function, and was not able to finish those last 2 weeks, and she is too ashamed to go back, and too ashamed to even put them down as a reference on future job applications. I am praying for these people to be found, and to brought to justice! We have filed a report with the police, and a fraud report with the bank.

Removed personal details. -Connie

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2020 5:31 pm

^^^ I am sorry that your daughter was scammed. Scammers are so ruthless and cold hearted. My only consultation is knowing that she has you to help her.

I redacted some personal information. I would suggest that you contact a Moderator, those people in green to have your user name changed if its connected to your real life.

Posting details up at Scamwarners will help others.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 28 Oct 2018 Posts: 90

Any contact info? Would be great to see these aholes stredded.