Beware of Fraudulent Working From Home Job Offers
I have been alerted to a suspicious advertisement in which you are offered the opportunity to earn money quickly and easily. You do not need to possess any special skills to do this job. All that’s required for you is to have access to a PayPal account that has been active for at least 6 months and you can earn between 500 – 900 USD. An interesting sum right? Being able to earn almost 1,000 USD for nothing? Of course you can do this kind of work from the comfort of your home. I have answered this ad as well.
In this article, you can read about what it actually is, what reply I received and why I recommend avoiding these kinds of ads/job offers in the future altogether.
One of my readers came across this ad on the job search portal www.dice.com (FYI – the ad was deleted).
The ad text was relatively brief:
Flexible work from home. We are looking for the following services: accepting PayPal transfers from other users and money withdrawals. What we require: an existing and active PayPal account (minimum of 6 months old account). What we offer: After completing the task an immediate salary between 500 – 1,000 USD.
Based on the above description, it is clear that your job description will be accepting funds into your PayPal account from other users, and subsequently transferring this money into your Bank account.
The interesting thing is, that the company advertising this offer is stated as Event-Agent, however when you answer this ad someone else replies.
I Requested More Information
I stated that I am interested in this offer, but I would like more information. I received a reply from someone calling themselves Renata Menclova from Medical Students‘ Association, who also sent me further instructions.
This person basically confirmed pretty much what I have written above. The job will consist of receiving payments to my PayPal account and forwarding this money to other accounts. The company is offering a 10% commission for this service. In other words, if I receive 1,000 USD in my PayPal account, I can keep 100 USD in my PayPal account, send the rest to my bank, and from there to other users’ bank accounts.
Mrs. Menclova pointed out, that my PayPal account must be an active account which is at least 6 months old. It also needs to be verified and confirmed with my bank account, and also credit/debit card.
But that is not all. Apparently, if I am really interested in this offer, I need to send them an email to saektu@seznam.cz with the following information:
My Name and Surname, telephone number, my PayPal email address, and my home address.
In addition, they also require a personal verification, delivered as a scan or a photo of 2 ID documents – both sides of my ID card and another document (birth certificate, passport or driving license).
As if that wasn’t enough, they also require my address to be verified, using some kind of bill with my address (i.e. mobile phone carrier bill, with my address listed on the document). Put simply, they want all the information about my person.
At the end of this email Mrs., Renata Menclova stated, that unless I send the required documents, they will not sign a contract with me.
We Will Never Know Who’s Behind This Ad
All three parties – Event-Agent, the Medical Students’ Association, and Renata Menclova exist, but there is no actual link between them on the Internet. I can only assume that the person, who submitted the ad for this job offered, could be a completely different and unknown person, who is abusing the stated parties.
You will also fail to find any mention of the email address saektu@seznam.cz anywhere on the Internet (remember this is the email address, to which you are required to submit a copy of your ID card, personal information and other documents).
I did request further information about the company from Mrs. Menclova, so that I can verify not only her identity but also double check if she actually works for the organization she claims to work for. I have still not received a reply to my request.
She‘ s Not Even Known in the Medical Students‘ Association
As I have not received any reply from this individual, I decided to contact the Medical Students‘ Association and ask them if they have had any person with such name working for them. And guess what, they wrote back? They don‘t know anybody with that name.
“Thank you for notifying us about suspicious activity. We certainly do not have any such individual in our team. We have had similar reports of fake ads being posted on the internet. Our company believe these could be linked to a financial scam which uses the PayPal payment facility. We believe they were under a different name, which bore resemblance to the name stated. Therefore we would venture to guess, that no Mrs., Renata actually exists and the name is probably a fake. The individuals involved probably use the name of our association as it sounds reputable and they would also be aware, that we don’t have the time or resources to investigate further. “
Better Case Scenario – It Is Only Your Bank Account That Gets Emptied
The opportunity to earn 500 – 900 EUR in this simple way is truly tempting. But I assure you would be risking much more than you can get. If you decide to accept the request and send your personal data with the requested scanned documents to the above-mentioned email, you could find, that one day your bank account is completely emptied.
Another scenario is that she could use your details to obtain finance. After all, two forms of ID and proof of address is quite enough for someone to use, in a loan application bearing your name.
However, that would probably be the least of your problems. You would be running a significant risk of getting yourself involved with some kind of fraudulent activity, or something illegal (like promoting terrorism, etc.) which could later result in you having problems with the police. Because from the word go, this looks like a “money laundering” activity and you would be acting as someone’s agent.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why you should not answer ads like these. In this article, I point out several reasons to you. The owner of this ad is clearly lying and hiding their true identity. So think about it, would you give someone like that all your personal information?
Have not you found the information you expected? Read the discussion forum; maybe you find it there.
If you have particular questions or recommendations, do not hesitate to submit them to the discussion. Also, share with us your experience.
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My name is George and I currently work from home as a freelancer for a PR agency selling advertising. I also freelance as an online marketer for an e-shop, and I am actively involved in creating this website. I am always looking for interesting opportunities on how to make money online. I share my findings with my readers on this website. I consider this to be my hobby. I hope, that you can find some legitimate work from home, or perhaps you might be able to earn a little extra money.
