Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Craigslist Scams

I hate scams! Today I received an email in response to a resume I sent out from Craigslist. The women, Michele B (no last name) from JTL Management said that they were very interested in me and if I was interested in the job to please fill out a credit report. What? Afterall, I hadn't even had an interview yet. Why would they need my credit report.

This is how the email read:

Hello,

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

Let me first tell you a bit more about the position I e-mailed you about.

* You will be answering the phone and taking messages when applicable
* You will be scheduling the company meetings
* Running errands for the company for things such as purchasing supplies and making bank deposits.
* You will be provided with a company car while working.
* While you are running errands, you will also be given one of our company credit card(s) for all business purchases.

I have gone through your previous resume and you seem more than qualified. I would like to take the next step with you. However, before I am able to schedule a formal meeting, my company will require that you acquire a recent credit report. Let's just say the person we just let go, took advantage of having access to a company credit card.

Both myself and the company will prefer that you use this company to acquire your check as they are offering the check at zero cost to you (unlike other places). I have tried their service myself and their scores contain the most accurate information I have seen, but feel free to use any service you like.

Once you submit all of the required information, they will show your personal report. Please print it out and save it for the meeting. Please do not email me the report, as it will have private content. We can discuss it when we meet in person. If you have a lower than expected credit score, it will never prevent you from a position with us.

Once your finished please e-mail me your phone number that you can be easily reached, and your availability to arrange an interview.

I am looking forward to your quick response.

Have a great week,
JTL Management HR Dept.

I have been applying to a lot of job posting over the last few weeks, and hadn’t had much luck, so I thought I’d look into this a little more and I am glad I did. What I found were a bunch of comments on the web from other people who had also applied for this job and who had received the EXACT same email!

This is a total scam that attempts to get you to use the credit services. I'm not sure if it's legal r not, but regardless, don't do it. Be careful of this and all others like it and don't click on the link the provide you either. If they are shady enough to send emails like this one, you'll never know what dangers are lurking behind the click of your mouse.

You can submit such complaints to https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/