Would it be worth it to report this scam?
January 29, 2020 5:24 PM Subscribe
Good evening Mefites. I was contacted on January 20 by Lowell Eifskumm (not his actual name) of Company X, a company based in Australia. He said he had seen my resume on the Career Builder website, and that he felt I would be a good fit for a remote job working as an Administrative Assistant. He interviewed me via online chat, and I was offered (and accepted) this "job".
I was surprised and somewhat suspicious when I was given assignments to do without having gone through the usual onboarding process (i.e. submitting paperwork, providing ID, etc.), but figured perhaps that was simply because as I mentioned earlier this company is located in Australia, where for all I know things may be done differently. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it's clear that I disregarded my intuition based on my desire to believe that I had found a legit opportunity – and a well-payed one at that – after months of being unemployed.
Anyway, I became far more suspicious when I received a check yesterday, sent via Fedex Express, for $3,340.00, simply signed "Karen". When I asked Mr. Eifskumm what it was for, he was fairly vague. Against my better judgment – desperately wanting to believe that this wasn't the scam it appeared to be – I deposited the check yesterday per his instructions. This morning, he wanted me to obtain money orders in the amount of $2,800, which I was to leave blank and send to someone whose name and snail mail he gave me. He repeatedly attempted to assure me that the check had cleared, requesting updates as to how things were coming along. As much as I wanted to believe this whole thing was on the up and up, there were so many red flags by this point that I ignored these requests. I may occasionally render myself guilty of wishful thinking, but not to the point of sending my own money to some stranger based on an obviously empty promise that a check from "Karen" is going to clear. When I went to my bank this morning, my fears were confirmed: the check was counterfeit, and this is all a scam. (Shocking surprise, I know.)
My question is this: seeing as this Eifskumm person (and Company X) are apparently real based on my online research, should I attempt to contact Company X's CEO to notify him that this is going on, or assume that he's in on it and not bother? For the record, I've notified local and state police here and e-mailed them all of my online exchanges, in addition to giving my bank's branch manager transcripts of those chats, by the off-chance it can make some semblance of a difference.
I was surprised and somewhat suspicious when I was given assignments to do without having gone through the usual onboarding process (i.e. submitting paperwork, providing ID, etc.), but figured perhaps that was simply because as I mentioned earlier this company is located in Australia, where for all I know things may be done differently. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it's clear that I disregarded my intuition based on my desire to believe that I had found a legit opportunity – and a well-payed one at that – after months of being unemployed.
Anyway, I became far more suspicious when I received a check yesterday, sent via Fedex Express, for $3,340.00, simply signed "Karen". When I asked Mr. Eifskumm what it was for, he was fairly vague. Against my better judgment – desperately wanting to believe that this wasn't the scam it appeared to be – I deposited the check yesterday per his instructions. This morning, he wanted me to obtain money orders in the amount of $2,800, which I was to leave blank and send to someone whose name and snail mail he gave me. He repeatedly attempted to assure me that the check had cleared, requesting updates as to how things were coming along. As much as I wanted to believe this whole thing was on the up and up, there were so many red flags by this point that I ignored these requests. I may occasionally render myself guilty of wishful thinking, but not to the point of sending my own money to some stranger based on an obviously empty promise that a check from "Karen" is going to clear. When I went to my bank this morning, my fears were confirmed: the check was counterfeit, and this is all a scam. (Shocking surprise, I know.)
My question is this: seeing as this Eifskumm person (and Company X) are apparently real based on my online research, should I attempt to contact Company X's CEO to notify him that this is going on, or assume that he's in on it and not bother? For the record, I've notified local and state police here and e-mailed them all of my online exchanges, in addition to giving my bank's branch manager transcripts of those chats, by the off-chance it can make some semblance of a difference.
I'm reminded of 419eaters and wonder if you might get A) better information there or B) a bite if you wanted to turn over information to one of the hobbyist scambaiters there for them to attempt to flip the table on the scammer. It's a bit odd in this case since your information (at least whatever you put on your resume) is already in the scammer's hand, which is obviously less than ideal, but those folks over there are serious about enacting vigilante justice on scammers that, for the vast majority of interactions go unreported, let along unpunished.
Just a thought.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:05 PM on January 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
Just a thought.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:05 PM on January 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
or assume that he's in on it and not bother?
He/the company is not.
You can drop them a heads up but even if they take you seriously, there's not much they can do about it. If the scammer is using the same company repeatedly in their ploy, at most they can send out a tweet or whatever warning about it, but most people aren't ever going to see it.
Good for you for listening to your instincts and not going all the way with the instructions.
posted by Candleman at 7:46 PM on January 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
He/the company is not.
You can drop them a heads up but even if they take you seriously, there's not much they can do about it. If the scammer is using the same company repeatedly in their ploy, at most they can send out a tweet or whatever warning about it, but most people aren't ever going to see it.
Good for you for listening to your instincts and not going all the way with the instructions.
posted by Candleman at 7:46 PM on January 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you everybody for your feedback. I'm sure you're right – not much point in contacting the company's CEO. I may consider RolandOfEld's 419eaters suggestion, however.
posted by DavidfromBA at 7:54 PM on January 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by DavidfromBA at 7:54 PM on January 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You absolutely should let them know! The company I work for just had a huge spate if these happening and we wouldn't have been able to work with LinkedIn and others had people not let us know. If they don't take you seriously that's on them, but yeah give then a heads up would be great.
posted by Carillon at 10:09 PM on January 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 10:09 PM on January 29, 2020 [6 favorites]
I would want to know if my company's name was being misused. I would report this because many people are getting screwed. I'm so glad you were too smart for it.
posted by theora55 at 5:55 AM on January 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 5:55 AM on January 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
I'm sorry this happened to you, but please let the company's HR department know! Somebody recently saw my organization had a job listing, managed to hack into one of our employee's LinkedIn accounts, and started contacting prospective employees on Linked In. They "interviewed" the prospective employees via skype, offering them the job, and asking the victims to send gift cards so my organization could buy their computers for them. (!?!??)
We never would have known this was happening if we didn't start getting phone calls asking when they could start and if the hacked Employee didn't start receiving questions via email. Our employee regained access to their LinkedIn account, and we ALL changed our passwords. Please let them know.
posted by kimberussell at 6:16 AM on January 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
We never would have known this was happening if we didn't start getting phone calls asking when they could start and if the hacked Employee didn't start receiving questions via email. Our employee regained access to their LinkedIn account, and we ALL changed our passwords. Please let them know.
posted by kimberussell at 6:16 AM on January 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Yeah, please let the company now. My husband was targeted for a similar scam and he called the company - they appreciated it as they were aware of the issue and had been tracking incidents. They have grounds for action based on misuse of their logo and identity, etc., so they wanted the documentation.
And good on you for letting the authorities in your country know. These scammers depend on locally based helpers to send that stuff in the mail - take photos and turn over all the FedEx envelopes, checks, letters, etc. That results from what you've probably seen as "Make money stuffing envelopes at home!" job ads - and those people are based near where you are to save $. The FBI and local authorities like to know about that.
posted by Miko at 7:13 AM on January 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
And good on you for letting the authorities in your country know. These scammers depend on locally based helpers to send that stuff in the mail - take photos and turn over all the FedEx envelopes, checks, letters, etc. That results from what you've probably seen as "Make money stuffing envelopes at home!" job ads - and those people are based near where you are to save $. The FBI and local authorities like to know about that.
posted by Miko at 7:13 AM on January 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Update: After careful consideration, I decided to notify this company after all, explaining that someone posing as one of their employees is perpetrating this scam. If they ignore or dismiss me, so be it. Thanks again to all of you for sharing your thoughts and suggestions with me.
posted by DavidfromBA at 7:02 AM on January 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by DavidfromBA at 7:02 AM on January 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bfranklin at 5:38 PM on January 29, 2020 [5 favorites]