Administrative Assistant ad on Craigslist

Thanks for the quick response and confirming my suspicions.

Now, what should I do about it?
Do I simply ignore his emails? I feel other people have tried this and keep getting contacted again and again...
Is there any way that I can actually report him somewhere, so that I don't keep getting bugged, and hopefully Others don't as well?

You can certainly report the attempted scam to IC3, but it won't stop him from trying to bug you. It won't get him arrested, either, as he is sitting in an internet cafe in another country.

The best thing to do is just ignore him and he will drop you when he realizes you aren't falling for it.
If he does try to bug you, simply ignore him or if you absolutely feel you must respond, tell him that you have reported him to the police, and anything else he sends you will be forwarded to the FBI. He won't believe that he is going to be arrested (they know the odds too well) but he will get the message that you are serious.

As if searching for a job isn't difficult enough, people taking advantage of hard-working people are scum. I sent my resume to an administrative assistant ad on craigslist and within moments received a response. Red flags went up immediately because the ad did not mention working from home, which I refuse to do for personal reasons. The majority of the email is written relatively well, though the emailer claimed to be a professor and some of the grammar/spelling was completely off. It was after 11pm when the email came in, which I also found odd. I forwarded it to my mother's work email to look at tomorrow, to get her opinion, before I responded again. But something didn't sit right, so I looked up his name and came across this forum. I found the exact email sent to another user. My first fear was that I had given him my contact information via my resume, but it seems most of these scammers are in other countries, so I won't fret too much over this. I will paste the letter, as well as his email address, in the hopes that other prospective-scamees will come across it and realize it is fake. I reported him to craigslist, but I doubt they'll do much. Thank you very much for a site that protects us from these jerks.

Application Details
............................
My name is Mark Ramsey, 49yrs old,married with 2 kids, I'm currently lecturing college students on constructions.

I need someone to work with me from his or her home as assistant to monitor and keep me up to date with my online activities that all.

Duties and Requirements:
Process all owner distribution batches – print checks, statements and mail on a timely basis.
checking store supplies and placing orders
Type various letters ,Prepare 3 Day Notices.
Retrieve and process faxes
Deposit and monitor payments of all owner contributions.

Available during regular business hours
Organized and able to take instructions well
Dependable, Reliable, Trustworthy a must
Excellent English language skills (both spoken and written)
Must have good attention to detail
Must be a problem solver and not a problem maker
Have great work ethic and attitude, as well as people skills
pay-attention to detail, capable of multi-tasking, and works well under stress at times.

Benefits:
- Yearly performance bonus
- Paid vacation/sick/personal days


Working hours:Mon-Friday

Total Hours (Per Week):25hours

Salary:$500 weekly($2,000 monthly)

This position is home-based and flexible part time job, you can be in any location you will be working from your home doing all the activities.

Am out of state for now on business, I'll be back in next two weeks as i want you to start working for me prior my arrival and I do have numbers of things you could help me with this week if you will be available to start.This can act as a stable foundation to our working relationship together.

I have first task waiting for you to know if you are ready to work.

I want to know if you own any of this office equipments list you need to start this position:

Printer:
Personal Laptop/Desktop:
Internet Access:
Scanner:
Calculator:

If you have any of this office equipments let me know also fill the application form below.

APPLICATION FORM

First Name :
Last Name:
Full Street Address(not po box) :
City, State, Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Email:
Age:
Sex:
Status:
Yahoo Messenger ID:
Note:If you do not have yahoo ID set-up one to chat with me online.

Nationality___________________

Current Job:__________________________
Are you eligible to work in the United States?Yes____ No_____

If you are under age 18, do you have an employment/age certificate?Yes___ No___

POSITION/AVAILABILITY:

Position Applied For_________________

How often do you check your email:______________

Specify the hours that you will be available if my schedule doesn't work with the hours i requested Days/Hours Available:

Monday____
Tuesday____
Wednesday____
Thursday____
Friday____
Saturday____
Sunday____
Hours Available: from_______ to______

What date are you available to start work?________________

Thanks so much.
Email: [email protected]
Mr Ramsey.

Welcome to Scamwarners. I'm glad you didn't fall for it.

Process all owner distribution batches – print checks, statements and mail on a timely basis.

Fake of course, which would leave you carrying the can when the fakes were spotted.

I sent in my resume in response to a pretty standard sounding ad on craigslist and got the following email back:


Hello,

How are you doing today and your Family,hope are all doing well?.I just received an email from Craigslist that you are interested in the job advert i posted on the web site.Resume has been Verified /Confirmed and i feel you can Handle this position,hence i really needed someone urgently to start working for me as my Personal Assistant as soon as possible.

My Name is Thomas Harries and Mr Wimi Jonx use to be my personal assistant and he just traveled back to his country (China) on an emergency.I would have loved to meet up with you to talk about this job,but I am currently away on business trip.I am currently in Australia so there will be no interview,till i get back to the USA in November ,then we can meet and talk more about the future of the job. All you need to do is follow instructions......I am an Artist.I just started my own art gallery here in Australia, I buy ideas and materials from ancient cities and I have got so many clients as companies, individuals and government and private museums.



I am looking for someone who can handle my personal and business errands at his/her spare time. Someone who can offer the services listed on the advert on Craig"s list such as receiving calls and reporting back to me what information you got from clients, replying emails and printing invitation for exhibitions, shopping for gifts and materials, paying bills as well as receiving payments from clients when am not around.



You will work on the average of about 5-10hrs per week and I will start by paying you $250 per week which will rise to $400 depending on how effective you are, the job will start from the moment you start running errands. This job is temporary and could possibly be a permanent one for you based on how you deliver your duties, we will talk more when am back and you can take part more in my successfully growing business.



I will email you the list and samples of pictures of what to shop for when I need you to shop for me and will be precise on what and where, funds will be giving upfront and the shopping must be reported in detailed manner. No heavy packages is involved! You can do the shopping at any nearest stores. I will provide clear set of instructions for each task I need done as well the funds to cover them.



Please provide the following information of you, (no mistakes in name as it will appear on payments):



Full Name:

Full Address:

Apartment number:

City:

State:

zip code:

(NO P.O.BOX)

Phone Number:

Age:

Current Occupation:



Once you send all this information,i will make a back ground check on your details and will get back to you within 48hrs to let you know if you get the job.

And you can get in contact with me on my cell phone number that i roam down here ( 518 239 2794 )

Thank you!

Thomas




I figured out it was a scam as soon as I read the letter and did a google search of the guy's name. Unfortunately, the resume I sent to the original craigslist email address already has my email, telephone, and home address, as well as a detailed work/academic history on it. Can/will that be used to scam me??

I emailed the scammer back, saying "Thank you for your offer but I have already found employment." I hope that doesn't make more problems.

The name and email he used were Thomas Harries and <[email protected]>, respectively. He gave the telephone number ( 518 239 2794 ) and I certainly don't intend to take any calls from him. I hope this information is useful.

I just got this one a second ago too. It looks like replying to one fake craigslist ad means I'm going to get email solicitations forever:

our resume was received and it has been reviewed, I did appreciate it. it's reasonable and acceptable. So I will give this a go.I'm looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable, someone with good understanding and working skills.

I am Taylor Ralf, 49 yrs of age, I'm Self employed.I am an importer by profession and I have been pretty successful in a handful of ventures I get involved in; from the Angle of importing fabrics to various welfare and community service programs. I most very often get my hands occupied, so it is imperative for me to have a worthy Receptionist/Assistant who can monitor and keep me up to date with my activities.This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following them. My only fear is that I may come at you impromptu sometimes, so i need someone who can be able to meet up with my irregular timings.

As my Assistant, your activities among others will include:
*Create and modify documents using Microsoft Office
*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring.
*Scheduling pro grammes, flights and keeping me up to date with them.
*Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I'm away.
*Making regular contacts and drop-offs on my behalf.
*Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities..
*Basic wage is $500 a week .

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:
*Good planning, communication and organization skills
*Must be honest, reliable & dependable
*Excellent verbal & written communication skills
*Must have strong problem solving skills
*Must be organized & extremely detail oriented
*Experience working with the internet, email.
*Ability to multi-task and self manage 24/7 mindset
*A willingness to do whatever needs to be done is a must

NOTE: The above qualification requirements can also be learned if you are willing to take up the challenges.

I'm sure you'll understand I tend to have a very busy schedule at this point as I am presently in France for a summit. I will be back in Three Weeks time. I think you're the right person for this post, Please note that this position is not office based for now because of my frequent travels and tight schedules. It's a part-time, work from home basis and the flexibility means that there will be busier weeks than others. So it's a little difficult judging the exact number of hours you'll be doing per week. If you can manage your time properly, this job may even give you some extra while you do something else on the side. As I have said, I'd want us to get a head start with things as soon as possible. I do have a pile up of work and a number of unattended chores which you can immediately assist me with. I hope we can meet up with the workload eventually. Permit me to use the coming week to test your efficiency and diligence towards all this, also to work out your time schedule and fit it to mine.

I really need to find the perfect person for this job and i am confident you can take up the challenges. On the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us.I'm online most of the time as I am hard of hearing so I prefer we contact each other through E-mails but if there is need for me to call, I will be glad to do that. I am glad you are willing to work with me and i promise to be a good boss. I am also glad on the commitment in working. I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me next week is to run some errands out to some of the orphanage home which I do every month. The funds will be in form of Cashier check, it will be sent over to you from one of my clients and i have some list to email you once you received the funds. You will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the nearest store around you so you can mail them out. I will get you more information on that.

PLEASE FILL THE APPLICATION FORM BELOW;

First Name :
Last Name :
Full Street Address(Not PO BOX):
City, State, Zip Code :
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Current Occupation :
Email Address :

Once I have received your application form, I will get back to you with the task for next week. Please understand that you will also be paid as well as its important for me to make the necessary steps before i get back from my business trip. I hope i am clear with that?

NOTE: This position is home-based and flexible part time job, you can be in any location, work from your home doing all the activities.

AVAILABILITY:

How often do you check your email daily___________

Please get back as soon as possible.

Taylor Ralf



The new scammer is Taylor Ralf <[email protected]>

Hello steph213 and welcome to Scamwarners!

Thank you for posting these scammers information it is a big help. It will help others avoid these scammers if they search.

As far as the scammer having your information it is not ideal but also not something to worry too much about. They are after your money and they ask for those things to legitimize your scam.

Justin

I received the same message today, applied for the same position on September 20th, 2011 (Toronto, ON.)

Hello Applicant,

Thanks for your response we are so sorry for the late reply we hope we can still meet up to your expectations . My name is Lori Willis . I live in Canada but presently in japan on a business trip and I need a part time Assistant urgently to run my errands until I return back to Canada by third week in October, am here to set up an electronics and clothing store in japan, below is the job description.

1. You will run errands for three times a week and two hours each day.
2. You will do my business shopping.
3. You will receive my packages which will be shipped to the nearest UPS office to you. You will go to the UPS office and pick up the packages.The content of the packages are electronics,clothes,my business and personal letters.You will open the packages and confirm the contents for record purpose.
4. You will ship out some of the packages where I want them to be shipped to. (You don't have to pay for the shipment.All expenses and taxes will be covered by me)
5. You will receive payments from my clients on my behalf which will be written payable to your name so you can cash them at your bank.The payments will be in either check or money order.The payments will be for the services you will be rendering and to do my business shopping.
Job Requirement
1. You must have good communication skill.
2. You must be efficient, reliable, responsible and trustworthy.
3. You mush be able to perform your tasks effectively.
Payment and Work Duration:

The Job will last for three months. I want to open another electronics and clothing store in the US when I return and If there is need to extend your services,an amendment would be made to your wages and you will be notified accordingly.I will meet you in person by October when I return back to the US, I am willing to pay $700 per week.Your weekly payment will be deducted from the payments sent to you by my clients.
I need the service of an Assistant because I am always out of town for business trips. The lists and pictures of what to shop will be sent to you via email when am ready.No heavy packages are involved! The shopping will be done at any nearest stores to you. You will be shopping for Electronics and clothes.My personal UPS account number will be provided for shipping.I will provide clear set of instructions for each task to be done and funds to cover them.
If interested, Please confirm the following details below.

Full Names:
Mailing Address:
Include Apt Number if Available:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Home Phone Number:
Cell Number:
Email Address:
Present Occupation:

please make sure all the information you gave is correct and completed in order not to lose any assignment mail to your address once you are been granted this job, hope to hear from you shortly.

Best Regards,

Lori Willis.

Welcome to ScamWarners t_lap. Please post the email address you received the message from. Many people search using an email address too.

Ok, new one for all of you. I found an ad on Craigslist, asking for a house cleaner, couldn't tell from ad whether it was private, or for some company. Anyways, after about two weeks, I finally got this response.

------

From: "Walter Smith": [email protected] ----

Hello ,

I just got your mail concerning the cleaning job that we posted online, I'm Mr. Walter Smith and my wife's name is Katerin . We are relocating to the city from Amsterdam Netherlands with our two kids (Johnson And Kim).I will be offering you $400.00 weekly at any convenient time of yours Two times in a week, probably (Thursday to Saturday).I will be needing your services for six months, hope two hours will be enough to clean a three bedroom apartment with one master bedroom and two standard size rooms, as well as one Living room and a kitchen as well?

I need someone who could help me in taking care of the apartment by doing some home work while am off to work because we are expecting our third child soon and it will be very stressful for my wife to do all the cleaning by herself.I want to believe you are fit for this position, but you will need to prove yourself to be a reliable, honest, and hard working person.Our arrival date would be early next month, and you will start working on same day.

You will help us to clean the apartment in the morning or a day before our arrival date, I will tell the Landlord to mail the keys of the apartment to you so that you can be able to clean it before we arrive.I want to know if there's any cleaning equipment that you will need me to provide, if there's any let me know how much it will cost.I will be spending about six months on an oil spillage research job, and you will be rendering us your services for that duration, if you meet up to our expectation with your services.

We have a client that is based in the states and he will be handling the payment and as well as our other expenses, so he will be the one that will be taking care of your payment, I will instruct him to pay for the first week before our arrival so as to secure your service.Actually, i should have paid for more weeks but i will extend the payment if we're satisfy with your service after the first one month.If you accept our offer,
my financier would be needing the following Information to make out the check:

Name to be on Check :
Home Address or Office Address(where payment should be mailed to.Pls no P.O Box) :
City :
State :
Zip Code :
Home & Cell Phone Number(Best time to call Day/Night) :
Active Email Address:

I want to believe you will be committed to the work, you can be sure a great time while of working with us.I will be waiting to read from you
Regards,

Mr Walter Smith For the Family


---

any ideas.... this one in some ways doesn't read as terribly spammy, certain things that make it sound authentic, but also certain things that sound a bit odd, or just not well clarified.
Wanting to know whether I should respond, or just steer clear of this one, thanks!

This is definitely a scam.
First of all it looks like they're offering a ridiculously high pay rate ($400 a week, two hours per day and two days per week - comes to $100/hour....).
Second, and a big red flag is the stuff about the payment arrangements. This does not sound usual for a cleaning job - it just doesn't quite make sense that you would be paid in advance, by some other person, and receiving keys by mail.
There are also some apparent inconsistencies in the background story, as well as aspects of the writing style that provide further evidence that it is a scam - Steer clear!


EDIT with additional information: I found a posting online that contains almost exactly the same script, only the names and locations have been changed ("Timothy D" and wife "sarah" with kids "Samuel" and "willson" moving from Turkey).

100% check scam. There are some dead giveaways in the English that point straight to an African author, as well as the issues Gus pointed out.

Look familiar?
http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about1902981.html

This is one reason we ask that the actual letters be posted. Often a scammer will reuse part or all of a script, even after changing names, and we can make the connection more quickly.

Just drop this scammer. If you feel you must respond, just tell him you are no longer interested. Don't try to "out" him--he will only tell more lies anyway, and if you educate him about his mistakes, he will improve.

Awesome, thanks Gus and Dotti for your help and confirming!

Got this email today, I now feel so stupid for responding, to it. Averone be ware

Your resume was received and it has been reviewed, I did appreciate it. it's reasonable and acceptable. So I will give this a go.

I'm looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable, someone with good understanding and working skills.

I am Craig Marcs , 49 yrs of age, I'm Self employed..I am an importer by profession and I have been pretty successful in a handful of ventures I get involved in; from the Angel of importing fabrics to various welfare and community service programs. I most very often get my hands occupied, so it is imperative for me to have a worthy assistant who can monitor and keep me up to date with my activities.This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following them. My only fear is that I may come at you impromptu sometimes, so i need someone who can be able to meet up with my irregular timings.

As my personal assistant, your activities among others will include:

*Create and modify documents using Microsoft Office

*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring.

*Scheduling programmes, flights and keeping me up to date with them.

*Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I'm away.

*Making regular contacts and drop-offs on my behalf.

*Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities..

*Basic wage is $700 a week .

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

*Good planning, communication and organization skills

*Must be honest, reliable & dependable

*Excellent verbal & written communication skills

*Must have strong problem solving skills

*Must be organized & extremely detail oriented

*Experience working with the internet, email.

*Ability to multi-task and self manage 24/7 mindset

*A willingness to do whatever needs to be done is a must

NOTE: The above qualification requirements can also be learnt if you are willing to take up the challenges.

I'm sure you'll understand I tend to have a very busy schedule at this point as I am presently in France for a summit. I will be back in Three Weeks time.

I think you're the right person for this post, Please note that this position is not office based for now because of my frequent travels and tight schedules. It's a part-time, work from home basis and the flexibility means that there will be busier weeks than others. So it's a little difficult judging the exact number of hours you'll be doing per week. If you can manage your time properly, this job may even give you some extra while you do something else on the side. As I have said, I'd want us to get a head start with things as soon as possible. I do have a pile up of work and a number of unattended chores which you can immediately assist me with. I hope we can meet up with the workload eventually. Permit me to use the coming week to test your efficiency and diligence towards all this, also to work out your time schedule and fit it to mine.

I really need to find the perfect person for this job and i am confident you can take up the challenges. On the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us.I'm online most of the time as I am hard of hearing so I prefer we contact each other through E-mails but if there is need for me to call, I will be glad to do that. I am glad you are willing to work with me and i promise to be a good boss. I am also glad on the commitment in working. I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me next week is to run some errands out to some of the orphanage home which I do every month. The funds will be in form of Cashier check, it will be sent over to you from one of my clients and i have some list to email you once you received the funds. You will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the nearest store around you so you can mail them out. I will get you more information on that.

PLEASE FILL THE APPLICATION FORM BELOW;

First Name :
Last Name :
Full Street Address(Not PO BOX):
City, State, Zip Code :
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Current Occupation :
Email Address :

Once I have received your application form, I will get back to you with the task for next week. Please understand that you will also be paid as well as its important for me to make the necessary steps before i get back from my business trip. I hope i am clear with that?

NOTE: This position is home-based and flexible part time job, you can be in any location, work from your home doing all the activities.

AVAILABILITY:

How often do you check your email daily___________

Please get back as soon as possible.

Craig Marcs

Welcome to Scamwarners Tanya. You realised it was a scam, which is all that really matters. Can you post his email address please, which may help alert other potential victims.