For the last week or so, I have seen a steady increase in the number of illicit work at home job scams arriving by email. So far, just this morning, I have seen 5 different subjects, with slightly different "reference" numbers, all spoofed as coming from one of my own email addresses. This coincides with the approaching Black Friday and Christmas shopping season in the US and Canada.
I have no doubt that my readers are also seeing more mysterious online job offers arriving by unsolicited email (spam). With so many of us struggling to make ends meet, in a middle that keeps getting farther apart, some of you may be tempted to reply to such an offer. Please don't do it! It is a scam and will get you in big trouble. Let me explain...
Work at home job scams have been around for well over a dozen years. In recent years the people running these scams have found that it is more profitable to recruit hapless individuals, in desperate search of a job, into a money laundering, or stolen goods reshipping scheme, than to cheat them out of a few dollars over a fake envelope stuffing, or medical billing position.
What is a money mule?
A Money Mule is a person who knowingly, or unknowingly receives stolen, or illegally obtained funds, allows them to be deposited into their own bank, then transfers that money from their bank to another one, located in another country. This act is known as Money Laundering. The illicit money comes to them by means of the use of banking key loggers, like the Zeus or SpyEye, or by illegal activities like arms or drug sales, or extortion. Sometimes, the money being laundered is done so on behalf of known terrorist organizations.
What is a reshipper scam?
A reshipper scam is where a person is recruited for a job where they receive physical goods delivered by the post office or a parcel delivery service, which they repackage, or re-label, then reship them to a specified, foreign destination. The reshipper may or may not be aware that these goods were obtained with stolen credit or debit cards.
In both of these "job" descriptions, in most civilized, law abiding countries, serious laws are being broken by all participants in these schemes. Money Mules are easily tracked down when victims notify the Police about money illegally transferred out of their bank accounts. The banks have a money trail for all money transfers. Most Money Mules are told to set up a direct deposit account, to receive and transfer stolen funds. As I mentioned earlier, this is known as "Money Laundering" - which is a Federal Felony in the USA and Canada, punishable by lots of time in a Federal Penitentiary and huge fines.
Reshipping job participants are involved in moving stolen merchandise (from auction sites, office supply, computer and electronics stores, catalog stores, etc) to offshore recipients. All reshipping mules are guilty of felonies for trafficking in stolen goods.
How can one tell if an online job offer is really a Money Mule, or reshipping scam?
Here is where you need some street smarts, as well as a good amount of awareness about Internet scams. Sometimes, a person's common sense may let them down when their back is against the wall, financially. Don't let your guard down! The little you now have may all be taken from you, either by the criminals you are working for, or the Authorities, when you are traced and busted.
The way that they get your name varies. Most of the time it is just a blind spam blast, to all recipients in a particular country, from a spam database they bought, or compiled. Sometimes, the recruiters pay underlings to search through job wanted ads where people leave a resumé and identifiable information and a contact email address.
The first thing to look for is the name and website of the sender. A legitimate job offer will include plenty of details about the sender's organization and how they came to contact you. All links will actually point to their domain and not some odd URL with no connection to an agency specified in the email message. Any reply to or contact information will be on the website mentioned in the email headers and body text. Finally, the sender's email address will definitely not be your own address! That is a dead giveaway that the message is a scam!
A typical Money Mule or reshipper scam email resembles the following one that I received earlier today.
From: ME! One of my email accounts
To: Same account
Subject: Work offer inside
Body text main key phrases:
We have an excellent opportunity for an apprentice applicant to join a rapidly expanding company.
An at home Key Account Manager Position (Ref: 41324-385/6HR) is a great opportunity for stay at home parents or anyone who wants to work in the comfort of their own home.
This is a genuine offer and not to be confused with scams!
You will be processing orders from your computer. How much you earn is up to you.
The average is in the region of US$600- US$750.00 per week, depending on whether you work full or part time.
Our contacts: [email protected]
The contact email address given in the message body is a known fake job domain. The current trifecta of Money Mule recruitment domains is:
jobsearchoo.com,
newstatejob.com and
usanewjobgov.com. They replaced many earlier domains and will soon be replaced with others. Most anti-spam filters are able to recognize known spam domain links and email addresses and blacklist them for your protection.
If you think you will get in, make some quick money and get out fast, think again! Most of the time, Money Mules and reshippers are cut loose before their first payment is due. The agencies who were in constant contact with you for the first few weeks will be nowhere to be found when your first payday approaches. Your bank account may also be fully emptied. Only the most valuable recruits are actually paid and allowed to continue. Those folks are not blind to what is going on; they are willing accomplices and criminals themselves. They also face long, hard jail time if/when caught.
The criminals running these scams leave nothing to chance. They have your real address, phone number, DOB, SS#, place of work, spouse's name and bank account on file, before they "trust you" enough to begin dropping stolen money into your bank account. Mules who contemplate taking the money and running would be better off in jail, in solitary confinement. The people running these scams may live abroad, in Eastern Europe, but they have powerful and dangerous contacts in most Western countries, whom they are willing to pay to track down people who try to scam them back.
Many of the Money Mule/Reshipper scams are now run by Russians, Latvians, Ukrainians and Romanians. The laws in those countries have yet to catch up with those in the US and Canada, regarding financial or merchandise theft committed in other countries. When a Mule transfers money, or reships merchandise, it is typically to one of those countries, or another in Eastern Europe.
Protection for MailWasher Pro users
If, like me, you use MailWasher Pro to screen your incoming POP3 email for scams, spam, and malware threats, I have written and published filters, that I keep updated as needed, which block Money Mule and Work At Home scams. All of my filters are available on my Custom MailWasher Pro Filters page. The spam filters are available for both the old and new versions of MailWasher, which use different formats. The ones relevant to this article are labeled: "Money Mule Scam" and "Work At Home Scam" (1 and 2, for version 6.x).
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