The latest scam to make the rounds is an email that appears to offer the recipient an opportunity to apply for an admin position.  It looks like this:

The email comes from the Vice President of an organization called the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.  It is a real organization and the sender’s email address appears to be legitimate. Most likely, the sender has had her email account hacked and the scammers are using it to send out these fraudulent emails.  The poor grammar and hotmail email address are clues that something isn’t quite right.

Without responding to the email, it is impossible to know exactly what the scam is. However there are some standards tactics used. In the first one, once you send them your resume  they offer you an interview but charge you a fee of several hundred dollars to participate. No company will ever charge you to be interviewed.

In the second tactic, you are either given an interview through text or email or just offered  the  job outright based on your resume.  Once you accept the position, they send you a cheque. You are then asked to deposit the cheque into your account and then immediately transfer the same amount of money from your account to another.  Of course in a few days their cheque bounces and your bank account is minus those funds.

No legitimate employer will offer you a job without a proper face to face interview. Nor is there a legitimate reason for an employer to send you a cheque and ask you to deposit it in your account only to have you immediately transfer it to another.

To protect yourself from job scams:

1. Do not pay for an interview or for interview expenses.
2. Do not accept a position that does not require a face to face interview.
3. If you are asked to make purchases or transfer funds on your employers behalf, make sure any fund transfers or cheque deposits clear before you do so.
4. Research perspective employers. Make sure you can reach your contact person through the company’s main contact number or email listed on their website. Check for reports of fraud involving the company.

Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Just ask this woman from New Brunswick.