It's A Jungle Out Here

At least one LJ flist friend has posted this and vowed never to comment on LJ again.


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Having just avoided a Craigslist job scam by the hair of my chinny chin chin (response to resume includes "screening" to be completed ASAP before HR admin leaves for vacation next week, which apparently leads to request for SSN# and credit card info: Melvin Careers and Partners (HQ in Belize, riiiiiiiiight) fingered on scambook), I'm interested in how dangerous this really is.

Deconstruction: Craigslist Job Scammer Catherine Fleetburn and Melvin Careers and Partners

Here's how it went down.

I replied to a job listing on my local Craigslist and almost immediately received this email:

Text of Melvin Careers and Partners Craigslist job scammer response to sending resume:

Hello,

We would like to thank you for sending your resume to Melvin Careers & Partners. After reviewing your initial credentials, I think you could possibly be a great fit for our company.

Our Human Resource manager would like to schedule an interview with you before she leaves for vacation early next week. You need to complete the pre-interview screening before we can schedule an interview, which can be found at http://work-with-melvin.info or the career link on our homepage. Your applicant code is xxxx41.

Please write down your code, as that is the only way you can gain access to your application and employee profile. Once you complete your screening someone from HR will contact you within 72 hours to schedule an interview.

Respectfully,
Catherine Fleetburn
Melvin Careers & Partners

Seven things made me uneasy. That 1.) my name was not specified in the greeting, that 2.) the job was not specified in the body of the text, that 3.) the HR director was going on vacation and needed my immediate response, 4.) the breezy bullshit "good fit" business language, and 5.) the not-standard-American-English "hello" as greeting, and 6.) that the website's "careers", "services", and "solutions" pages were under construction, there was no contact info, and the HQ was listed in Belize. Further scrutiny reveals their offer to help you incorporate your shit offshore:

Additional Services Offered

Melvin Careers & Partners is pleased to inform you that in addition to the formation of International Business Companies, AISL also facilitates in the formation of Local Companies, formation of Panamanian IBC’s, Registering of Overseas Companies, establishment of Trusts, registrati of Trademarks/Service marks, Industrial Design and Patent.

Feel free to contact us if you require our assistance with the
above-services.
http://www.melvin-careers.com/

Good luck with that.

I then clicked through to the screening interview, and found that it required me to say why I wanted the job that had not been specified. I couldn't remember which one of the three similar jobs I applied for that it was, and replied to Catherine Fleetburn (uh yeah, clue #7) that she needed to specify the job for which I was giving private screening information to over the intarnets.

Another applicant in Baltimore clicked through the screening page number one and found after giving the private info, her SSN and credit info was asked for.

Deets here:

http://www.scambook.com/profile/index/181
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=catherine+fleetburn+melvin+careers&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100915184228AAGErby

Same scam reported in Jacksonville:

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/hea/2431364082.html

Nine-Year-Old Robert Jeffrey Vogues My World

Here is what young Jeffrey was doing in 1991. What were you doing?

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER '91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.

The Queen Meets 188-Year-Old Tu'i Malila, the Oldest Living Animal

Tonga, 1954. I think I detect a glint of empathy in her eye.
http://www.tongaturismo.info/rt/index-e.htm

Her hostess is the 6'3" Queen Salote, the only royal at Elizabeth's coronation who did not have the top put up on her carriage in the procession to the ceremony. It was raining, and Salote said if the people can come out and stand in the rain for this, so can I.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Fasi_fakafonua.mid