Complain about a product or service

Counterfeit Check Scam Targets Online Job Seekers

August 17, 2005
Job seekers should be aware of an international check forging scam that has targeted residents across 19 states. The victims have all been job seekers who have posted their resumes online, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett warned.

Corbett said the con artists, operating in Turkey and possibly Latvia, typically send an e-mail to consumers as soon as they post their resumes on job search websites such as Careerbuilder.com. The person sending the e-mail claims to be a representative from the European company "Void Computers Inc."

In the e-mail, the sender claims that the company has decided to hire the consumer and welcomes him or her as a new employee. The message continues with an explanation that the company needs help cashing checks from one of its "clients," the state of Arkansas.

Two separate State of Arkansas checks, one for $2,400 the other for $2,800, are made out in the consumer's name and mailed to the consumer at home with instructions to cash the checks and wire the money to an address in Latvia. The target is told to subtract a 10 percent fee, which he or she may keep.

The con artists encourage consumers to avoid banks and cash the checks at check-cashing outlets, liquor stores or other similar businesses.

Arkansas state and federal officials investigating the scam say the checks are counterfeit and the signatures are forged. The phony checks are excellent reproductions and contain the exact watermarks, colors and other identifying symbols found on authentic Arkansas state checks. The checks also contain the same check number, 05I-0614300, believed to have been copied from an actual state check.

The Arkansas state auditor reports that many consumers cashed the checks and wired the funds, however none of the checks were honored when they reached the state.

Corbett said a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, woman received an e-mail last month from the bogus company that found her name and address on her resume posted on Careerbuilder.com. She told the sender that she was not interested in working for them or cashing the checks.

When they insisted that she participate, she repeatedly stated that she would contact the police if they mailed her the checks. Two weeks later, two separate checks totaling $5,200 were mailed to her home and she immediately reported the incident to the Arkansas Attorney General.

"This Lancaster County consumer said that the con artist refused to take no for an answer, even going so far as to claim that she didn't have to pay taxes on her 10 percent take if she would cash the checks," Corbett said. "The woman said she knew right away that it was a scam and couldn't believe how brazen the thieves were even after she threatened to contact the police if the checks were mailed to her address."

Corbett said this scam is similar to the Nigerian counterfeit check scam. In that illegal operation, consumers selling products on e-Bay were mailed cashiers checks that were several thousands dollars more than the purchase amount and then instructed to wire the change back to the buyer overseas. In those cases the banks cleared the checks and consumers learned weeks later that they were counterfeits.

Forged checks have turned up in Pennsylvania, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |