US
Postal Service
Work At
Home Scam
July
9, 2009 -- The
latest scam to hit the Internet has just arrived from Nigeria:
Jobs for people seeking part-time positions—called “mail assistants”—
for work done at home. Vacancies are posted on Craigslist.com
under the name of ABS Consulting. Based in the country of
Luxembourg, ABS purports to have facilities throughout Europe,
referred to as “Forward Luxembourg.” It claims to be a leading
global provider of risk-management services.
Job seekers—typically college students looking for summer
work—are told they will provide mail forwarding services for
expatriates, international travelers, and seasonal workers
around the world. They are asked to perform simple tasks:
* Receive mail at home.
* Scan the front of each envelope received.
* E-mail scanned images to the company.
* Ship accumulated mail biweekly, using
prepaid UPS or FedEx postage labels
provided via e-mail.
After two weeks on the job, assistants get an e-mail promising
an $800 paycheck, plus an extra $200 bonus. But to test their
“integrity,” they're told they'll get a check for $2,800—and
must mail a check back to return the extra money.
The $2,800 check may look legitimate but—big surprise—it's
bogus. So instead of getting paid, the college student now
has to pay the bank the full amount. Worse, the scammer now
has access to the student's checking account. And the student
is committing a criminal violation by scanning victims' mail.
The Postal Inspection Service is working to quickly shut down
this scheme by attacking the problem from several angles.
If you have information on this or similar scams report it
online at https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/
or call 1-877-876-2455, option 3.
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