Job Offer from UK - is it real?

[daddybear]

Subject: JOB OFFER
> >
> >
> > I have a new email address!
> >
> > You can now email me at: mrterrywilliams2009@yahoo.com
> >
> > Dear Sir/Madam,
> >
> > Would you like to work online from home and get paid weekly ? H
> > & L LIMITED needs a book-keeper in the state,so i want to know if
> > you will like to work online from home and get paid weekly without
> > leaving or affecting ur present job? It's just that i presently run
> > a textile and fabrics firm i inherited from my late Dad in the UK
> > and we need someone to work for the company as a
> >
> >
> > representative/book keeper in the States.
> >
> >
> > My company produces various clothing terials, batiks, assorted
> > fabrics and traditional costume which we have Clients we supply
> > weekly in the states.
> >
> >
> > My clients make payments for our Supplies every week in form of
> > checks which are not readily cashable outside the United States, So
> > we need someone in
> >
> >
> > the States to work as our representative and assist us in
> > processing the payments from our clients and i will pay him Weekly
> > salary.
> >
> >
> > ALL U NEED TO DO IS RECEIVE THIS PAYMENTS FROM OUR CLIENTS IN
> > THE STATES GET IT CASHED IN UR BANK THEN DEDUCT UR WEEKLY PAY AND
> > FOWARD THE BALANCE TO THE
> >
> >
> > COMPANY DOWN HERE VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.
> >
> >
> > Our payments will be issued out in your name and u get them
> > cashed in ur bank deduct your weekly salary and foward the balance
> > to the company via western union money transfer. You give me a call
> > on my telephone number +44-7024092962
> >
> >
> > I AWAIT YOUR URGENT RESPONSE.
> >
> >
> > Warmest Regards,
> >
> >
> > Terry Williams
> >
> >
> > CEO H&L Fabrics & Textiles
> >
> > 104 Leonard Street
> >
> > London EC2A 4RH
> >
> > ph: +44-7024092962
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > CALL ME OR WRITE BACK URGENT
> >
> > - TERRY WILLIAMS
>
> >
>
>
> --
> _______________________________________________
> Get your free email from http://fastermail.com

>

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INFO AS TO THIS PERSON/FIRM?

[poirot]

Classic fake/forged check scam. You can see an exact copy of that same email by clicking here (http://www.419baiter.com/_scam_emails/419_emails_10-05_6.html) and scrolling about 1/4 way down the page.

Many people have lost a lot of money with that scam. Some have lost everything they had. Some have even been charged with fraud after depositing the cheques.

[daddybear]

As it happens, I got almost the exact same "offer" from ANOTHER addressee not an hour later!!!!!!:P Thanks!!! Who can we report such crap to?

[Nyla]

If you check out the directions at this link http://www.joewein.de/sw/419faq.htm#submit you can submit any scam mails you receive and help improve spam filtering. If the scam never lands in an email box, no one becomes a victim.

You can also lend a hand by making sure all your friends and family know about scams like these.

[topcop]

If you check the headers of the e-mail, you shoud be able to determine (generally speaking) the IP of the e-mail. Send a complaint to them with a copy of the headers and e-mail. They have the ability and should deal with it.

[FW Admin]

Just to confirm the "scam" points:

There is no such company as H&L Fabrics & Textiles - in another scam email of a similar nature, they add the prefix "Inc." which is not applicable for a UK company
H & L Limited is a company but their address is totally different; in addition the company is fully dissolved and therefore not trading (since 2004)
The address of 104 Leonard Street EC2 is in fact part of a block 100-106 which is made up of residential flats.
The telephone number is a "follow me" number that can be redirected to anywhere in the world.Additionally, Western Union cash transfers are indicated as a means of payment to them, which is the easiest and most anonymous method of collecting funds by criminals.

The worrying part of this is that these scammers are still advertising on legitimate job-seeking websites such as Smarthunt.com.

[babyboy 3926]

i dont have any information but i did have the money orders but i dont have a bank account to cash them but i did recive the money orders and a nother thing that botherd me and why i will not cash them is because the women sent me them is 86 years of age no really sure about this they are real i had them checked out from the bank and they are real so i dont know

[topcop]

TO: mr ---- If you are involved in the same kind of scam as at the top of this thread and the checks you are receiving are legitimate, then you are likely breaking the law by "laundering" the money. The money (checks) the scammers are getting from legitimate folk are coming to you to cash. You send the cash (minus your share) to the scammers by WU. You are now one of the scammers. Please give us more info and DON'T cash any of the checks until you speak with your local law enforcement....tc

[poirot]

TC is right. Possibly, the 86 year old lady is being scammed and was told to send her check to you to pay for some documents (lottery/inheritance/etc..,) in the hope that you would cash them and forward the money to them by WU.

If that's the case, you could be charged by local law enforcement as an accessory to defrauding this lady. Which in fact you would be.

The only people that are safe in all of this is the actual criminal who is probably sitting in a cybercafe in Lagos or Amsterdam or who-knows-where.

[Nyla]

Just to reiterate and posssibly clarify, there is no such thing as a legitimate job processing payments for any company in this manner. None. There is no practical reason why a company in any part of the world cannot directly receive payments from their own customers. None.

Personal and corporate checks are throughout much of the world. Where they aren't accepted, most businesses would be able to accept payment by credit card. And the most likely and preferred method would be bank transfer direct to the company's account. There is no reason whatsoever for any company doing international business to hire people as "payment agents", "payment representatives" or "payment processors". Every single "job offer" of this type that I have ever seen is a front for a forged payment scam.

Even in the unlikely event that a real company were doing such a thing and the payments were real, you would still be laundering money for them, which is illegal. So, yes, if you're supposedly "processing payments" for a company, it is definitely a scam and you'll need to talk to law enforcement and turn over the money orders and any communication (emails, for example) that you have from the scammers who approached you about taking payments for them.

It would probably be a good idea to contact the woman who sent them and find out why she sent them to you. It could be the scammers are running an entirely different scam on her and she thinks she's paying you to complete some business transaction, like a "diplomatic transfer" or to purchase something. Since you state that you know her age, I assume you also know her name, location and perhaps contact information? Notify the police about this woman and let them know she may be a scam victim as well. Make sure they contact her in an official capacity and find out why she sent the money orders.

DO talk to your local law enforcement about this pronto. You don't want them to contact you about it first when the woman who sent the money orders starts complaining to her local police that she thinks she's been scammed...

[Nyla]

Posting again to add, I notice you said you had the money orders checked out at the bank and the bank said they were good. If they are postal money orders, as I suspect they are, the bank is not the expert, here. In fact, the bank will quite often miss all but the most blatant forgeries of postal money orders. The bank will also not be able to tell you if the money orders have been purchased for a lower amount and altered (changing a $5 postal order to be $5000, for example) or stolen.

That's why scammers encourage you to cash them at the bank, not the post office. And frankly, bank tellers are not always able to spot forgeries of checks, either. Some of these forgeries are exceedingly good and don't come to light until they reach the issuing bank.

In future, it's a much better idea to have questionable postal money orders checked out by the post office, not a bank. I would still encourage you to speak to police as soon as possible about this.

[topcop]

Nyla - good points - good advise --tc

[Sam1182]

dont put any money for visa process or any thing else. they are professional cheater.....