Comments on: A new "Nigerian" scam?

Question: A new "Nigerian" scam?

clubfoote — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:22:59 -0800

Work at home as a Processing Assistant for a financial Company. Has anyone heard of this before? Seems like a scam.

So I answered this ad on Craigslist (post since removed b/c I notified C/L of its nature) and recieved the following instructions:
Per your request the following information has been sent in regards to this
position:
Please visit our site below for consideration for this position. Browse the
site to become more oriented with the company. If you feel you are or will
be a good candidate for this position ensure to view the Employment section.
Be sure to comply with the requirements before applying for this position
( requirements can be found in the employment section by clicking
"requirements"). Also view the assessment and faq section
(submit all information with the assessment to the email address on the
contact page). The assessment cannot be copied and pasted from the site
because the site is flash-based. You will need to open notepad while
viewing the assessment, and simply number 1 – 42 and annotate A or B.
When you have finished this, you can then copy and paste the answers from
the notepad and paste to an email. The form on the contact page is
non-operational at the moment, you will have to submit all inquires to the
email address listed. You will be contacted by management asap once you
have applied for this position.
www.liminex.biz

The requirements were that you have an egold account and a BOfA account. So I took thier test and sent it in and recieved this:

After review of your assessment results and work history, we feel that you will be an excellent candidate for this position. Congratulations and welcome to Liminex Inc. I am confident this position you now hold with us will bring much financial stability to you. Currently your information has been submitted to HR and is being processed. Documented paper work in regards to the position you hold is in transit to your mailing address (addressed Liminex Inc.) A scanned pdf printout will be provided for you via email within a few days. If you have not done so already, ensure to visit www.e-gold.com and setup your free E-Gold account. After you have done so forward the E-Gold account number via email so it can be annotated in our system. E-Gold will be used for a multitude of transactions in the future. E-Gold is the primary processing agent used by Liminex, however at the moment Speaciality Transactions (BofA Instant Transfers) are being honored and completed.

In the meantime please read below and comply that you understand your duties as a Processing Assistant with Liminex.

Processing Assistant Duties:

The processing assistant will receive and process transactions for the company. These transactions include but are not limited to: money orders, certified checks, cashiers checks, personal checks, bank wires, direct deposits, and paypal. The assistant will process the initial transaction using their bank account (BofA). Although it is recommended that the assistant setup a separate bank account for these transaction it is not necessary. The only requirement is that transactions of Liminex do not get confused with personal transactions of the assistant's. The finalization of the transaction will be completed with E-Gold, Western Union, or as directed. Compensation for transactions will be negotiated prior to employment by the hiring manager. If you have not done so already submit your BofA (Bank Of America) account details to be used for instant transfers (this information will be forwarded to HR and annotated in our system). This information can be found below.

BofA Information to be Submitted

1) Account Number

2) Last Name on Account

3) Zip Code on Account

Compensation for each transaction is 5%.

Please include your mailing address and cell & phone number in the next email.

Now I'm never sending account details via email, ever. So this really got my scam alert spidey sense going. I'm just curious, has anyone run across this before? I'm certain this isn't legit, but unsure of where the angle is. Seems like a great way to launder money or maybe its just a new variation on 419? Sorry if this is an old one that I just haven't run across before.

By: tdismukes

tdismukes — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:28:37 -0800

Sounds like a standard scam where the company sends you bogus checks (money orders, whatever), which you deposit in your account and then transfer the money to them. Once the bank finds that the original checks were phoney, the scammers are gone and you're on the hook for the money you've transferred.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:29:58 -0800

Read the responses to a similar question I asked.

If it looks like a scam & smells like a scam...

By: raedyn

raedyn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:32:30 -0800

What tdismukes said. There's more details in the thread I linked to.

(Which reminds me, after my old thread got locked someone e-mailed me their experience with that company. Now that Matt extended the open-period of AskMe questions, I should post the info from that e-mail to that thread. Note to self: do this when you get home.)

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:40:14 -0800

The assistant will process the initial transaction using their bank account (BofA)
Man...if that doesn't sound like money laundering, I don't know what would. Sounds like they would want you to first deposit all monies into your own, personal, bank account.

Walk away, man. Just walk away.

By: clubfoote

clubfoote — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:45:09 -0800

Is forwarding my email correspondence to the FTC/Icann worth the effort or just a waste of time?

I'm going to do it anyway, but it seems pretty pointless.

By: Malor

Malor — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:33:02 -0800

Well, it can't hurt to forward the info. You were right to be suspicious; it's either money-laundering, or they're just flat going to rip you off.

By: staggernation

staggernation — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:02:29 -0800

Just read the text on their site, especially under "About Us" and "Solutions." (Be sure to click on the "read more" links.) If that's a real company, I'll eat my Universal Expansion.

You could also forward your correspondence to their web host (looks like bluehost.com).

By: necessitas

necessitas — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:04:38 -0800

It has to be a scam. In the past week, I have received two separate spam "job offers" with the exact description.