Friday, October 1, 2010

Customer Service Scam Job philip.frank2@gmail.com Fake Craigslist Jobs

Here's an interesting discovery while browsing Craigslist for job opportunities. Notice the salary is huge for the Dothan, Alabama market...and if you copy and paste the email address of the person who wants your resume you find out the scam itself.

Below is the job description in bold:

customer service help needed (dothan )
Date: 2010-09-29, 2:01PM EDT
Reply to: job-arryc-1980061921@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

Summary
Answer email inquiries to respond to orders, general customer inquires, invoice questions,
and customer complaints. Project a professional company image through online interaction.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Answer email inquiries and respond to customer requests.
Place customer orders in computer system.
Provide customers with product and service information.
Explain products and services.
Transfer customer inquiries to appropriate staff.
Identify, research, and resolve customer issues using the computer system.
Follow-up on customer inquires not immediately resolved.
Complete call logs and reports.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS

Basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills required. This is normally acquired through a high school diploma or equivalent.
Computer literate with the ability to learn customer service software applications. Duties require professional verbal and written communication skills and the ability to type 30 wpm. This is normally acquired through one to three years of office experience.


WORKING CONDITIONS

Working conditions are normal for an online office environment.


HOW TO APPLY EMAIL philip.frank2@gmail.com

* Location: dothan
* Compensation: 18/hr
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.


Then someone went back and listed more information on the details of the scam. From what I've seen when I googled philip.frank2@gmail.com he has quite a collection of fake jobs all around Craigslist to apply for that do not exist except as for a scam. Below is a reply to the job offer from a Craigslist applicant for this fake job above who encourages us all to be careful when applying for anything from Craigslist. Below is that email in bold too:

Customer service with philip.frank2@gmail.com (Be Careful)
Date: 2010-08-30, 8:06PM EDT
Reply to: xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com

Please be very careful when responding to ads here on craigslist.

This ad was posted...
Entry-level customer service and order processing position for persons with little to moderate experience in the field of regulatory compliance and transportation. This position will be responsible for the processing of city municipality permit requests, as taken via email, Internet or system to system, from a specified customer base. This position is necessary to take, process, and support the customers’ orders and inquiries involved in the permitting process. Excellent oral/written communication skills. Must be detail oriented, with the ability to handle multiple assignments promptly and effectively.
Interested and qualified candidates please respond to this email ( philip.frank2@gmail.com ) with resume attached.

After I replied to the job, I got a check for $3800 via UPS overnight Sat. deliver mail. On the check it said Dover University. I checked the "barnes and noble" return address in NY and there is no such business there. We were going to cash it, but thank goodness we thought twice. I received an email saying to keep $200 for myself and send the rest via money order to someone in Las Vegas.

So, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Be very careful when you reply to ads here.

* Location: Be Careful
* Compensation: You will lose money if you reply to the cust service ad.
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1928180986


I sure wish there was a way to shut down these fake jobs on Craigslist. So far, Craigslist warns us about job scams but does very little to make job people posting for work or help wanted to validate themselves as legitimate companies.

Anyone contacted Craigslist and got a feeling of goodness when complaining about fake jobs?

Be careful as always...if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is for sure!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I went through the same thing as well. This person had a gmail address too. I called the money gram company first to verify the 2 money grams I received by Fed X over night. Both Money grams were fraudulent. I called the police. Thank God I did not put them into my account. Plus this man did not speak English very well and he wanted me to wire him $900.00 too. I also got in touch with the FBI. Just be careful