Scam Targets Job Hunters on Careerbuilder.com

May 29, 2006

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Consumers are being advised to watch out for a new scam targeting job hunters searching for career opportunities on the popular Web site CareerBuilder.com.

According to two consumer complaints received by the office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and reports from other states, the scam artists contacted job hunters through CareerBuilder.com regarding a "Donations Handler" position with an international housing charity.

The message claimed the charity was located in Norway and described the organization as being very similar to Habitat for Humanity. According to the job description, the responsibilities of the donations handler would be to accept donation checks, deposit them into a personal bank account and then send payment to the charity.

Madigan said individuals who accepted the bogus position received cashiers' checks sent in the mail from a location in Atlanta, Georgia. The victims were instructed to deposit the cashiers' checks into their personal bank accounts and wait until the funds were made available, then withdraw a portion of the money and send it using Western Union to an account in the Ukraine.

The victims learned a few days later that the deposited cashiers' checks were fraudulent and that the deposited money would be removed from their bank accounts, but by this time they already had withdrawn funds from their accounts and sent them to the fake charity account in the Ukraine. The victims reported losing between $500 and $2,000 in this scheme.

The scammers reportedly have used different charity names, including: Abantehome.org, Adeonahome.org, Adriahome.org, Alenahome.org, Alstedehome.org, Amalia Int'l, Amaliahome.org, Concordia, DWIO.org, DIO, PWHome and Public Wish.

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