Job Hunting Scams

In Times of Peril, Don’t Hide in a Carrel

Just the other day I was replying to some emails and I had one show up in my inbox titled – Program Manager.  I opened it without a second thought as I frequently receive job leads to pass on and apply to interesting positions and sure enough I did apply for this position directly. As I was skimming the details of the email I received, it seemed like a great dot com to be with  “selling at the biggest online auction eBay.com since 1999, and earned thousands of honorable mentions from our customersâ€� I thought wow, that’s pretty darn impressive for an organization I should check out their site to see what else is out there … guess I should have read the rest of the email (I’ll attach it below).

Reading further, I noticed they attached forms requesting my “Passport, Drivers License, Phone bill or other document that proofs your identity Employment Agreement should be signed, scanned to this email (or faxed 646-4969187).�

I immediately started doing searches on the company and course found nothing but scam warnings and no history of the company even in archive.org and saw the message “We're sorry, access to http://www.aucstrade.com has been blocked by the site owner via robots.txt.â€�  So much for being the biggest online seller.

Moral of the story, do research on the companies you send personal information to. 
Do not give out personal information (SS #’s, ID #’s, etc.) to people simply requesting it for an interview.  Although there is many legit job agencies that make you fill out an application – make sure you know whom you are signing your information out to.

In times of peril, don’t hide in a carrel – if you are on an active job hunt make sure you do your research when submitting personal information.  There are many scammers who are preying on individual’s desperation seeking employment opportunities.

Microsoft has a great write up on this (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/personal/resume_us.mspx)

The email I received:
“info@aucstrade.com to dakotta

Hello dakotta,

Thank you for the interest showed to our company. I was glad to consider your resume. We would like to offer you one of the open vacancies in our company.

Our company was founded 8 years ago. We pursue different types of internet-trading. Our company takes the leading position in the field of ecommerce.
We have been selling at the biggest online auction eBay.com since 1999, and earned thousands of honorable mentions from our customers.
Our head office is situated in Berlin, Germany, but we also have branch offices in Latvia, France and Russia.
Our company has official registration at Minnesota Secretary of State (USA), 11W-468.
The business is absolutely legal and it meets all standards and regulations established in USA for this kind of companies.
We work as an escrow company helping American and European sellers and customers to strike bargains safely.

Unfortunately, most of the vacancies are already occupied, since we did not expect such a huge interest to our company.
But at the moment we have a vacancy of project manager/professional representative. Time difference between Europe and USA makes it difficult
for us to stay constantly in touch with our American clients, and therefore we’d like to hire a person in USA who would help us to communicate
with our customers and process their orders.

You’ll be in charge of taking and analyzing our customers’ orders for buying/selling goods at Ebay auction, giving advice by email and phone,
as well as organizing payments.  At first you’ll be given an assistant, who will give you instructions regarding your work and answer your questions.
After training you will be able to process orders on your own and work on your own projects.

This job does not require any investments or upfront fees on your side. Your salary will consist of fixed $2500 part and commission $100
from every payment received due your efforts. This is a part-time job, it will take just 10-15 hours a week,
therefore you can do it without quitting your main job. As an employee of our company you will have an access
to our training programs and seminars. First of all we believe in teamwork. We are sure that the highest results
can be achieved only by smooth cooperation of our team members.

Our requirements for this position are:
1. USA citizens ONLY;
2. Over 21 years old;
3. Fluent in English (spoken and written);
4. A PC user (MS Office, MS Windows), Internet and e-mail skills;
5. Ability to state clearly (compose detailed analytical documents);

Additional skills are welcomed:
Associates degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
1-2 years of previous experience in an administrative support function.
Excellent organizational and time management skills.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Must be able to compose and operate correspondence.
Excellent telephone manner; ability to answer phone calls.
Computer skills, preferably Excel, Word.

If our offer seems to be interesting for you and you consider yourself to be the person we are looking for, if you are willing
to pursue new occupancies please read the Employment Agreement I’m sending you.
Necessary documents that should be filled:
1. Employment Agreement
2. Personal information form (PIF)
3. Proof of your existence: Passport, Drivers License, Phone bill or other document that proofs your identity
Employment Agreement should be signed, scanned to this email (or faxed 646-4969187).
Personal Information Form should be completed and sent to this email in MS Word format only.
Thank you for your interest in our offer. I hope that I gave you full information regarding the vacancy,
but if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I’ll try to send you the answers as soon as possible.
Also, you may take a look at our web-site www.aucstrade.com . Thank you and hope for a long-term relationship.