As one of our daughters was busy looking for a job, she received an email from a company through LinkedIn.
He asked her for her CV, and after several emails, he offered her a job which surpassed the income she was receiving from her last position.
To complete the interview, he then asked for her personal identification, including social, address, phone, email, etc. She complied as he represented a very prestigious company offering a position in her expertise. She was over the moon, excited, feeling great.
After a couple of days, he came back with an employment contract she was supposed to sign and return via email. At this time, there has not been a face-to-face interview yet. In this contract, there was an offer to purchase the business equipment she would need to work remote for the company. She signed the various documents and return them via email.
Later, she received a check for about $4,000. Enough to purchase computer, and all the paraphernalia required for the remote project. The man in the email asked her to deposit the check in her personal account or open a designated account at their bank.
Then, she called me. She had looked at the check and has some questions.
The check was signed by one first name. The date was reversed, European style. The number on the check identification at the bottom, did not match the bank name on the top. I advised her to take it to her bank in the morning. The man on the email called again, urging her to deposit the check immediately.
The next morning, we both drove to her bank who identified the check as a forgery. DO NOT DEPOSIT THE CHECK, was the bank people advise.
Our daughter then contacted the County Sheriff, filled out all the papers relevant to the fraud and left the investigation to them. Her bank is in one county, the crime was committed in another county, so here goes another paper trail, another day to fill out more documents in another county. After going to the bank and changing her bank accounts, her driver’s license, her social security alerted and many other items throughout the week, she felt better.
The man contacted her again via email to ask what had happened to the office supplies she was to buy, and she continued to string him along so she could send all the information to the DA in the State, for them to follow up on their investigation.
She received another email asking for the receipt of her purchases as she continued to copy the DA. She informed him all the receipts were sent directly to the HR office at the company who offered her the job and she was currently in training for the position. It was a lie.
Beware of those offering the goods via email. If it’s too good to be true, it is.
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