Scam Type
Phishing Scam
Business Name Used
Imposter Altay Therapeutics Inc.
Date Reported
Sep 13, 2022
Victim Postal Code
60053
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
NOTE: I don’t know if the company itself is a scam or just the people I interacted with who may have been pretending to be this company.
Monday, September 12, 2022
I received a text yesterday, Monday September 12, 2022 at 11:11am from +1 (858) 221-7453 :
“Thank you for applying to our job post, We are impressed by your background and would like to invite you for the job briefing and interview at Altay Therapeutics Inc. You made it to the Next step for the position of Customer Service Representative/Data Entry, Are you interested in proceeding? You are required to download and set up TELEGRAM on your app store (https://telegram.org/) and if you have one already, use it. Add Mrs Raquel Alexandria (https://t.me/Raquel_Altay_Therapeutics) and connect with her for your interview. Your Job ID is (REQ-231). She will be expecting to hear from you soon. Best of luck!”
I followed the link, downloaded Telegram, and added the person linked in the text (Raquel Alexandria, HR) for my interview. I didn’t remember even submitting an application to this company, Altay Therapeutics Inc.(I have a spreadsheet of which companies and which positions I’ve applied to, but some companies/positions I forgot to put down in the spreadsheet), however, I applied to so many other companies that I thought maybe I just forgot that I applied to this company. Anyway, I was speaking with Raquel Alexandria, and this person was asking me questions about the position but also asked questions for personal information (name, home address, phone number, email address, citizenship status, which banks I have accounts with, telephone provider and plan, etc.), and, unfortunately, I provided this information because I thought this was part of the interview process (I don’t have much experience with interviewing). After all of this, they told me that I was hired for the remote Data Entry Clerk position, and I start training Tuesday, September 13, 2022 morning at 8am EST (even though they are a company that supposedly is located in San Carlos, California). Also, Raquel Alexandria said that the company would cover the costs and provide all office equipment, including a Macbook Pro, iPhone, printer, paper shredder, laminating machine, headset, and software. Raquel Alexandria also told me that for the first two weeks of training, Telegram would be the only way to communicate and that later I would receive contact information for the other departments of the company.
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
8am EST: Raquel Alexandria messages me via Telegram instructing me to add my training supervisor, Ronald Powell (https://t.me/Ronald_Powell), and continue training there. I started talking with Ronald Powell, and they sent me this message:
“Good. As members of our team, it’s our priority to invest in you so you can take care of yourself and your family. I believe your interview manger told you that the company will shoulder the bills regarding your full office set up that you will need to become a productive employee, in order to get that done you will be sent a CHECK the check is to cover the expenses of the working materials in which you will be getting from the company accredited and trusted vendor.”
Note: The vendor will be responsible for installing the software programs into the MacBook and configuring the iPhone to the MacBook before mailing them out to you. You will only be required to make the payment to the vendor once the check funds has been made available. The payment receipts and equipment will have your name on it because the equipment will become yours after a year of working with us.”
After this, Ronald Powell sent me an email with the Employment Letter. The email was from ” ronaldpowell@altaytherapeutic.com “. The email contained four documents I was supposed to “print, fill, sign, scan and send it back”.
Document 1: Background Check Authorization (asks to list my Social Security number, date of birth, name, address, phone number, driver’s license number/state)
Document 2: Offer Letter (asks to list passport or driver’s license/ID information and picture of these documents)
Document 3: Employee Direct Deposit Enrollment Form (asks to list name, signature, Social Security Number, bank information, bank account number, bank routing number)
Document 4: W4 Form Employee’s Withholding Certificate
Once I saw this email asking for all this information, I had a feeling it was a scam. I didn’t send any personal information (the information I gave to these people was what I listed from Monday, September 12, 2022). I blocked the two Telegram accounts and reported the email I received as phishing to Gmail.
