Sunday, March 8, 2009

KES Enterprise Job Opportunity Scam

Wow, where do these companies find me? Here's a verbatim email with yet another scam of a job offer. Here goes...

"Hello, this e-mail is an answer to your on-line resume.

We would like to offer you the vacancy from ElectrumX.
Our company is one of the world's top official e-currency exchange services.

During the hard time of world crisis we are glad to offer you
a good opportunity to increase your income.

Because of the expansion of our operations we require new employees
and we would like to consider this position of Regional Representative
of the company exactly to you. During the probation period you could earn
up to $2000 per month. After it you could earn up to $5 000 per month!

We would like to mention that it is a part-time job for the probation period!

And you must admit that it's a good payment for a part time job.
No fees involved, you are just to follow all our instractions.

If you are interested in our offer, please send your contact information to:

manager.electrum@gmail.com

this is an e-mail of our human resource advisor.

Thank you for your time.
Hope you'll find this offer interesting.

Thank You,
ELX HR manager"


More later. Have a safe and relaxing weekend!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Update to KES Incorporated

On a whim, I emailed back Mary Jones and told her I was unemployed and had lots of money to live on while I searched for new work. (Hey, this is the internet mind you.)

So I asked what is involved in working for KES Incorporated and she emailed me back the following email and a word document I'm bolding below.

Not sure if I'll proceed on finding out more about the company or not. But it is very interesting reading on the scam for sure. I don't want to divulge too much information to them so I'm a victim too you know? The only information I have changed is my name so this company can't google their own company and see my blog as one that is creating exposure to the scam that it is.

Anyway, here goes...

"Hello XXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for responding to our mail and your interest in our job offer.
So, the position we are offering you is a Client Finances Operations Department Employee.
Basically, it is very much alike customer support service. We are looking for an efficient and diligent person, reliable enough to trust him clients' money and customer service duties and obligations, including the financial transactions.
Your direct task, as being an employee of one of the finance departments, is to support and arrange for client's payments.
All the necessary training and support will be granted during the probation. Our managers will be always in touch with you and will be always ready to explain everything to you.
The starting salary is $5,000 a month. Plus, you will get 5% of commissions of each transaction. Moreover, you will get a pay raise every quarter. In regard to a career growth, our best employees may end up heading the local branches in their areas.
For your convenience, the job can be remote, off-hour, or even part-time. The schedule is flexible.

Here is the contract application form attached to the letter where you can find more information about the job offered and the terms of work. To start working with us, please, fill out the contract and send it back to us. As soon as we have it, our manager will get in touch with you to give you further instructions.

If you have any questions or need our assistance, please, feel free to contact us.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Mary Jones."





Now here's a copy in bold as well of the actual fake "employment application" they attached to me. If anyone out there has ideas of how to continue to expose the scam this is, realistically so we can string them along, please drop me a comment.

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT FOR EXCHANGE OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE

______________20___.
KES Enterprise, hereinafter referred to as «Enterprise», represented by Mary Jones, acting on the basis of the license № 000084942, of part 1, and__________________________________________________________________________, hereinafter referred to as «Employee» of part 2, have entered into the present Agreement as the following:

1. Subject of the Agreement.

1.1. _________________________ is being hired by the Enterprise as an employee of exchange operations department to perform duties related to the Enterprise exchange operations coordination, ensuring control of funds transferred from Client to the Enterprise, and taking active part in improving the efficiency of the Enterprise activities.

2. Term of the Agreement.

2.1. The agreement is entered between the Enterprise and the Employee for the period of one year and is valid from ______________ 20___ till ______________20___ . The agreement can be extended if mutually agreed by the Employee and the Enterprise.

3. General Provisions of the Agreement.

3.1. By entering this Agreement the Employee acknowledges that the Enterprise is working in the field of purchase, selling and exchange of digital currency.
3.2. Performance of the immediate duties by the Employee must be governed by the provisions of this Agreement.
3.3. The Employee is subordinate directly to the Coordinator of Financial Operations hereinafter referred to as «Coordinator».
3.4. When performing the immediate duties the Employee has the right to:

a) approve the time and the amount of a transaction with the Coordinator 24 hours prior the transaction start;
b) receive support, guidance and assistance from the Coordinator when facing difficulties performing a transaction;
c) request the Coordinator to provide the complete reports with all the documents proving the legitimacy of the transactions performed.
(the check of the digital currency purchase by a Client of the Enterprise).

3.5. The Employee is a full-fledged member of the Enterprise.
3.6. The Employee has the right to express his personal opinion in regard of any issue of the Enterprise activities.

4. Obligations of the Parties.

4.1. The Employee agrees to:
a) perform all currency operations in time and within periods approved with the Coordinator in advance;
b) receive payments from the customers, perform the digital currency exchange opperation and transfer payments to Enterprise under the qualified guidance;
c) perform his duties fairly, timely, qualitatively and accurately;
d) provide a copy of the drivers licence or any other ID;
e) inform the Coordinator promptly if any problems or emergencies arise to solve them as quickly as possible;
f) keep in touch with the Coordinator via telephone, e-mail, fax or any other means of commutation during the time approved with the Coordinator in advance;
g) consult clients by e-mail concerning the exact transfer options.

4.2. Telephone verification is necessary condition. The Employee must provide several telephone numbers to get in touch (cell\home\work phones).
The numbers, provided by the Employee is the strictly confidential information and can not be forwarded to any other person.

Please, fill in the numbers below ("telephone number - the name of the owner") and the best time to get in touch.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
("telephone number - the name of the owner")

4.3. The Enterprise agrees to:
а) provide the Employee with the work activities according to the provisions of this Agreement;
b) keep personal information of the Employee confidential, reserving the right to forward all the necessary information on a demand of the state authorities;
c) ensure work conditions necessary for the Employee to carry out his obligations under the Agreement, including the provision of the Employee with necessary equipment and the cover of all the expenses;
e) meet the provisions of labor remuneration, working and rest time standards according to the present Agreement and effective legislation;

5. Labor Remuneration.

5.1. The Employee is guaranteed a base salary of $5,000 a month during the 1st quarter of a year, $6,500 during the 2nd quarter, $8,000 during the 3rd quarter and $10,500 during the 4th quarter of work if he/she honestly discharges his/her duty in a month's time. Thus, the annual salary amounts to $90,000.
5.2. The Employee is entitled to receive 5% commission for each fulfilled transaction in addition to the base salary.
5.3. The following award is set for the Employee based on the results of his quarter work:
1) up to $40,000 per quarter - $1500;
2) up to $60,000 per quarter - $2500;
3) up to $90,000 per quarter - $4000.
5.5. In the case the work is not done in 1 day, the Employee will be fined at the rate of 3% of the transfer.
Every next day of the delay, the Employee will be fined at the rate of 10% for each day.
5.6. Please, underline the most comfortable way of salary enrolling for you:
Direct transfer to the bank account,
PayPal,
Western Union,
MoneyGram,
other (specify).
5.7. Salary is paid in case the Employee has no unfinished transactions.
This is explained by the high-financial risk of the Enterprise.

6. Work and Rest Time

6.1. The Employee has normal working hours, but due to remote character of work, the working day is considered to be a day of performing particular actions connected with transactions.
6.2. The normal length of working-day shall not exceed 8 hours. Rest and lunch break is not included into working day.
6.3. The time of working-day start and end as well as of rest and lunch break is determined from the occupancy of the Employee during working day.
6.4. The Employee is entitled to have two week-end day-offs.
7. Social Services.

7.1. Social services are provided to the Employee by the Enterprise management in accordance with the decision of general meeting of work collective out of the funds designated for this purpose.
7.2. If desired the Enterprise can provide the funds to pay the telephone calls and other communication means used for work and causing personal expenditures.

8. Employee’s Liability at Performance of His Duties.

8.1. The Employee is imposed with the duties related to liability for breakage or legal liability, in case the transferred amount is lost due to his neglectful attitude.
The following actions can be considered neglectful:
а) Closing the bank account by the Employee during transaction performance;
b) The Employee did not inform in advance (fortnight) about closing his bank account;
c) The funds to be transferred from a Client to the Enterprise were forwarded to a third party;
d) The funds to be transferred from a Client to the Enterprise were detained without a valid reason for the period of more than 24 hours.
8.2.After the transfer sum is withdrawed by the Employee and until the moment of taking out the transfer, send through instant transfer system, Employee is under full financial responsibility for the transfer.

9. Agreement Change, Extension, and Termination.

9.1. Change, extension and termination of the Agreement are possible at any time if mutually agreed by the parties.
9.2. The Agreement is terminated after its expiration.
9.3. The Agreement can be terminated before the appointed time on the Employee’s initiative in the following cases:
а) Illness or disability of the Employee that prevents him from performing his work duties under this Agreement;
b) Violation of labor legislation or this Agreement by the Enterprise management;
c) Other valid reasons __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
9.4. The agreement can be terminated before the appointed time on the Enterprise initiative on the following grounds:
а) changes in work management (dissolution of the Enterprise, reduction of staff, changes in working conditions, etc.);
b) Revealing of the Employee’s unsuitability for the job;
c) Wrongful acts of the Employee (systematic or prolonged nonfulfillment of his duties without valid reasons, disclosure of commercial secrets).

10. Special Provisions.

10.1. The Enterprise may be both primary and additional employment for the Employee.
10.2. All the materials created with the participation of the Employee and under the assignment of the Enterprise are the ownership of the Enterprise.
10.3. The Parties assume the obligation not to disclose the provisions of this Agreement without mutual consent.
10.4. The provisions of this Agreement can be changed only if agreed by the parties.
10.5. The Parties are responsible for fulfillment of the obligations under this Agreement to the extent permitted by applicable law.

11. Other Provisions.

11.1 You will be hired as a contract employee on a 1099 basis. The company withholds no taxes from you and issues a 1099 form at the end of the year. For registration and making Employee`s tax payments by Enterprise ,an additional information is needed: ______________________________________________
(date of birth- DOB)

11.2. This contract is made in two copies: one for each of the Parties and is valid only with the signatures of both the Employee and the Enterprise and sealed by the later.

11.3. This contract is made in two copies: one for each of the Parties and is valid only with the signatures of both the Employee and the Enterprise and sealed by the later.

11.4. Information and addresses of the Parties:

11.4.1 Enterprise Poland Warsaw, 00191, ul. Jozefa Lewartowskiego, 11
11.4.2 Employee _______________________________________________________________
(complete home address)

_______________________________
(home phone)
_______________________________
(cell phone)
_______________________________
(work phone)

Employee _____________________(surname and initials)
Enterprise _____________________(surname and initials)


Hey this is the blog author talking again. I must rest a migraine but I will return soon. Please help or suggest any comments, these will also be posted provided they are related to this particular topic.

6 comments:

h34lz said...

I receieved a similar email from ElectrumX LLC, and dismissed it as a scam. Looking over the contract info they sent makes it all the more clear. This is either a scam, or just bad business practice.

Look again at the compensation section.

It mentions "a year". No specific dates, no reference to "this" year or anything. There is also a "fine" on the employee if "the work is not done in 1 day", with another fine of 10% for each day after. This could be clever, as a company could make tons of "fine" money by just overloading the employees and making them pay up by legal binding contract.

Also, the fact that there is a mention of "normal working hours" puts a big red flag up for me, as does most of the casual language involved. This is aimed at people with a lower reading level (i.e. stereotypically poor people) who want to make a quick buck. Also: "withdrawed"?

There is no mention of what "valid reasons" for terminating the contract are. Also, there is no termination clause for the employee in a Right to Work state, like Colorado, for instance.

"10.3. The Parties assume the obligation not to disclose the provisions of this Agreement without mutual consent." Don't tell anyone about the contract? While there is usually a clause in most contracts about intellectual property, this one straight tells you that you can't bring it to a lawyer unless they say so.

I've worked a few contract jobs, and even the easiest ones were loaded to the gills with stipulations, exceptions, and legalese.

This one is classical BS- I would say string them along, but there is no reason to do so. This contract, if read carefully, should be proof enough to stay away.

Crystal said...

I recieved somerthing similar.. but it was from GEC inc. Enterprise. But the thing is, how do they find out whos looking for work and what not? I mean how the hell do they even know my email address? I mean, I have quite a few. Anyways, thanks for the post because now I'm getting rid of my yahoo email account. It attracks spam and all that crap.

Anonymous said...

I received the same exact contract (posted) from GEC Inc. Enterprise. Interestingly, I can't find any information on them (red flag #1). The end of the contract says that It is from MS Inc (pick a company, for crying out loud), which there also is nothing on, except for an address.

I had a ton of issues with the contract, not the least of them being, why do they want to know your friends and family and their contact info? That's creepy. The also ask for your children (section 12.3.2) The contract does not at all explain the job duties. It also does not allow for time off, other than weekends. If there is an emergency and you can't work, is that another penalty? Overall, it simply reeks of scam. I'm not sure how to go about bringing this one down, but it really is interesting how they got my name and seem to know that I am looking for work. I wonder if legit job sites are leaking information.

csberna said...

I just got an email from GEC inc yesterday on a "job offer". I never answer them. I do think they get our emails from the various job and resume sites. I gave my resume to a job site called Career Builder at least 4 years ago and I have been employed since then.
carla (csberna)

Vicki said...

I got the same e-mail from GEC Inc. with the employment contract attached, and I googled the city name as is written in the contract and is misspelled, hence, I don't think is even from Poland. A huge scam! I am glad that I found this blog and thank you for the information provided!!

Anonymous said...

I received a similar letter from GGS the same info as everyone else. I am forwarding mine to the attorney general to see if anything can be done