I have had many dealings in the online community in the last few years, be it from social communications, job searches and housing searches. That means that I have also had my share of experiences with scammers, even the Nigerians. This newest one, however, is going to hit and hurt a lot of people who, in this job market, are desperate for a job.
I applied for a position that was listed on Craigslist and received a reply e-mail within ten minutes, at 10:45pm. It was sent from a Blackberry which suggested to me that they had not even read my resume, but they were inviting me to interview the next morning. This came from FESTIVA RESORTS (http://www.festiva.travel/). I found this article during my skeptical search and was not interested in them even if there was a job. They are ripping people off with fake timeshares and I sure couldn't be a part of it.
The second company, or two companies, are a bit more serious. I sent another resume out from Craigslist and received a reply the next day, saying this:
Hello A*******,
Thank you for submitting your resume for our receptionist position.
We have been getting a lot of applications for this opening, but I am happy to let you know that I have reviewed your resume and it looks good.
Before I can set you up with the final interview, you need to complete a short personality screening, which can be found at our web site.
Your resume has been assigned with a personal application code which is: XXXXX
Please go to http://faminu.com/jobs/receptionist/ enter your code and complete the personality screening, so we can progress with the application process.
Thank you in advance and have a great day!
Best regards,
Jeremy Timmons
Faminu
I clicked the link and saw that it asked for a copy of my credit score and if I didn't have a copy to upload, I could click another link where I could obtain one (I don't know what happens when you click the link to get your credit score. It may have been spam or virus, who knows. I didn't click it).
I started searching again and found their site (http://faminu.com/), which offers no information, and I found the much more telling information on Whois. If you don't know Whois, you should. Unless you're an actual creepy stalker, so I won't tell you any more. But Whois gave this info. Basically the company is in the Bahamas, has been moved around the net and had been on several servers over a short amount of time. Without the Whois information, it would have been harder to get info on Faminu because they are a coverup for another company called Viniva, which has been targeted for scamming before. People were sent the exact e-mail that I got, but from Viniva.
Also, for those in New Orleans area, there are often posts on Craigslist warning about job offers from Bruno Inc, a real estate company. He has been scamming home buyers and even companies- at some point he sold an apartment complex in Metairie that he didn't own. He operates under a few other company names, but they're usually listed together. So I would also suggest being cautious about renting from him/his company as well as any job offers he has.
I advise that everyone be cautious when using online resources and pay close attention to the information you receive from smoeone. If you feel like something's wrong, chances are, it is.
Monday, May 3, 2010
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I answered a craigslist employment posting yesterday and received the same letter as you. Job position was supposed to be in the Orlando area. I didn't put any info. in the link just started googling and found your post.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Glad I could help. I would really hate for someone to get screwed over. Good luck!
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