Scam Type
Employment Scam
Date Reported
2023-04-18 00:00:00
Victim Postal Code
49546
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
I was contacted through LinkedIn about a job for a Marketing position that I had applied for. However, they said that the marketing position had been filled, but they were going to open a second position in June, and until then I could serve as a virtual assistant and then transition to the other position once it became available. This would be a part-time position and pay $700/week. This was the email I received after I sent in a cover letter and responses to 5 interview questions.
“Hello, [My Name]
Thanks for providing answers to the interview questions. I am pleased to inform you that you’ve been employed as my Executive Virtual Assistant. Please find the employment agreement in the attachment and send me a completed copy as soon as possible for my records.
We need to set up your home office this week before giving you access to my emails, expenses accounts, and other confidential resources. I’ve already discussed with our authorized distributor to make all the necessary office equipment available to you. You’ll receive the equipment listed below:
1) Apple Macbook Pro 16″ Core i9 2.4GHz 4GB 1TB Radeon Pro 5500M
2) HP Laserjet M577f Laser All-in-One Color Printer
3) Fellowes Proteus 125 Thermal & Cold Laminator, 12.5″ Width, Putty (5709501)
4) Powershred MS-450Cs
The following software programs will be installed and ready for your immediate use once you receive the equipment:
1) BS 1 Professional Time Billing 2022.2 Norton ghost 20.1
2) Sage 3000 cloud 2022 (SAGE) US Patent Single User Pack
3) Microsoft 365 Home Premium Word, Power-Point, Excel, and Outlook
4) MyOB Business Essentials Pro
A comprehensive training video will be included in the package to guide you on how to utilize the software programs for your tasks. None of the programs is complicated or hard to use, you’ll find this to be so after watching the training videos.
I’ve instructed my accountant to make funds available to pay the invoice so the distributor can deliver the equipment to you next week. However, the distributor advised that they’re having their annual account audit at the moment. In order not to jeopardize their audit process, they are only accepting payments via money orders during the audit period.
For your first task, I will instruct my accountant to cut out a check from my other business account and mail it to you via FedEx to be delivered on Wednesday. The funds will include your first week pay of $700. Once you receive the payment, you’re to get money orders from a post office near you and mail it out to the distributor so they can proceed to deliver the office equipment to you within 24hrs of receiving payment.
Please confirm you’ll be available on Wednesday to receive and deposit the check in your account so the funds can be available to carry out the task. In addition, confirm your info below so I can forward it to my accountant and the distributor:
Full Name:
Mailing Address:
Mobile Number:
Regards,
Albert Lambert
Owner ”
After seeing the task involving money orders, I got a very bad gut feeling and confirmed with some trusted friends that this was, indeed, a scam.
