The Dating Group Internet Scam

In August an internet scam hit very close to home when, I was almost conned. It started when I went looking for a job online. There, I came across a posting for that said:

Good Day, 
We offer a part time job on your computer.

Job Description: 
We will provide you with the texts for our employees with the
important information and you will correct the texts as an 
english speaking person and send them back to us. 

Salary: 
We don't have a fixed salary for this vacancy. We will pay you $7.00 for
 every 1Kb of the corrected text. 
You will get paid at the END of each month. 
Every month your salary will be different as it depends on your activity.
Example: If you correct about 5Kb of texts per day you will get over
 $1000.00 at the end of the month.

Requirements: 
-Location: USA
-Age: 20+
-Home computer, e-mail address and Microsoft Word -Responsibility
To apply for job please send us the following information to: 
[email protected]
__________
FULL NAME: 
HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:
----------

As soon as we revise your aplication we will contact you within 24 hours.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.
Awaiting for your application. 
With respect 
Dating Group Team

Text taken from the James Miller blog on: Making the most of the internet @: http://www.jamesmiller.com/mtmblog/2008/07/dating-group-team.html

I applied even though, their ad was a bit strange. By the way, an employer asking your age, race or sex is illegal in the U.S! But in the posting it said; “if you have any questions feel free to ask” and I did. In less than a few days, I heard from them via email with an “assignment” but no answers to any of my questions! So, I Googled this company and boy, was I in for a shock. At the bottom of the results page was a blog at jamesmiller.com there, I found out this was a money laundering scheme based somewhere in the Ukraine. I learned that instead of paying you with a check, they ask for your bank account number so they can “deposit” your wages, or they offer to “wire” you the money. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s a spinoff of the Nigerian email scam. From what I’ve learned, they really do wire you small amounts of money for editing assignments to build a rapport with their victim. But little by little, they ask you do “favors” for them because, they want to expand their business. This usually requires that you handle more money for them via wire or bank transaction. You can safely assume the money is dirty, that’s why you’re handling it for them!

I contacted Cleveland.com and within 24 hours the ad was taken down. I have tip my hat to them for the quick action but then on Sept 19th, I saw the same ad again! I decided to do some investigating of my own and found out that the latest trends in internet scams are people posting jobs that promise work-at-home opportunities. It’s usually posted by someone in Africa, Eastern Europe or the U.K. They use electronic means to launder dirty money and get some naive person to help them do it. They’re using popular jobsites like: Careerbuilder.com to post their ads and lure victims in. So in response, many of these jobsites have places where you can now report them. These conartists are getting more sophisticated so, here are a few tips to avoid becoming a victim:

1. See if they have a real website and if not, proceed with caution! Most businesses have a company website not just an email address at a free service like Hotmail or Gmail.
2. Educate yourself on the place you’re applying to BEFORE, you actually apply. As you’ve learned, Google can be more than useful! Here’s a tip: when researching on Google or Yahoo, use the company name together with the word scam or fraud in quotations.
3. Beware of anonymous postings if they’re not using their company name, then something’s wrong!
4. Last, but not least, take your time! Don’t be in such a rush that you forget that you should be checking them out not, just the other way around!

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