Craigslist job ad may have led to Post Office scam

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Master of Master Baiters Joined: 15 Jan 2010 Posts: 953

Video and full story at
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/craigslist-pob-ad-may-have-led-to-post-office-scam

Job ad may have led to Post Office scam
Man says he was taken in by Craigslist ad

Updated: Monday, 05 Aug 2013, 7:08 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 05 Aug 2013, 7:08 PM EDT

By Henry Erb

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - "I think I've been used in a scam," a Grand Rapids man wrote to Target 8 investigators in an email.

Saylor Loft says he answered a Craigslist employment ad seeking delivery drivers for what billed itself as an industrial design company. But now, he worries that he could become the target of a federal investigation.

The company calling itself Industrial Design Pros sent him to an office in the Calder Plaza Building in downtown Grand Rapids to fill out his application. That boosted the deal's credibility.

Loft says he never met his employer face-to-face. All their business was done by phone, text or email.

He says the man he dealt with on the phone started him running errands like getting quotes for paint and for 100,000 envelopes for a big mailing. He now suspects that was "bait" to so the next step wouldn't seem odd.

That step was to pick up some paperwork at a FedEx store. Inside an envelope was a check for nearly $6,000.

"This was a company check with their name Industrial Design Pros on the top, my name under that and the Monroe Street address," he said.

Then he says he was told to take the check to the United States Postal Service office in Comstock Park. He says it appeared the company had already placed an order because the staff knew what he was talking about.

"I didn't know what I was talking about," he said. "I didn't know what I was there to pick up and they said, 'You've got almost $6,000 worth of stamps.'"

He said his boss told him on the phone to sign the check and buy the stamps. He says he did and that he quickly heard that the company was "not going to be able to get our mailing out in time locally" and to send the stamps to a FedEx store in Burbank, Calif. to be picked up there by someone.

He said he had a few more contacts with the company after he mailed of the stamps, but it soon stopped. Now, no one returns emails or phone calls.

"These guys have just dried up and disappeared," he said.

Target 8 investigators could not find a web site for the company. There was no corporation registration for the company on the State of Michigan website. Investigators tried calling what appears to be a local phone number, but nobody answered.

And Target 8 investigators found that the place at the Calder Plaza Building where Loft went to fill out his application is a company that rents out both real and virtual office space.

"They rented a temporary space with us for a day and then they were gone," a receptionist there said, adding that about 10 people came in to fill out job applications, but that the company never picked them up.

Loft says the man he talked to, however, told him he had passed his application on to someone in human resources. It's just one more thing that worries him.

For Loft, it all leads to the concern that the check he used to pay for the stamps is bogus. Crooks can sell the stamps online at discount prices.

It's not yet known if the check is bad. The Comstock Park USPS says it might not know because such a matter would go to an accounting department. A Postal Inspection Service spokesman said he hasn't heard of this specific case. A Post Office spokesperson is looking into it.

Loft said he bought the stamps on July 26. It sometimes takes two weeks or more for a bad check to show itself, so it may be too early to know if the check Loft bought the stamps with was real or not.

Loft said he talked to the FBI, which sent him to the Grand Rapids Police Department, which he says wasn't interested. He says he is next going to talk to Postal inspectors, because if the check bounces they are the ones who will come after him.

On top of that, Loft said, "I turned down two other jobs to take this. Mind you, I'd been unemployed for a year. So that's a big deal."

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 3:31 pm

Wow. I would have fallen for that one easily. Darn those lads Sad

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