There is an age old axiom that when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Such is the case with unscrupulous companies that prey on the unemployed. These unsavory entities, and the people who run them, promise relief for the working people who have been laid off and out of a job.
When you are taking money from desperate people who have little funds, having seen their scant resources depleted from being out of work, you have to be some kind of low life. To even think that it is a good idea to be a scavenger, after the scant dollars of the unemployed is truly disgusted. But there are many people out there who see our economic downturn and the misfortune of others as their opportunities to scam the unsuspecting.
Such is the case in one scam reported by the Los Angeles Times. The scam artists send a letter, supposedly from Career Builder. They offer a part time job as a “trading assistant.” Sounds easy. The con artists have a front business and send you what appear to be legitimate checks from supposed customers that you deposit for them into your banking account. The victim is supposed to keep ten percent of the check and then remit a check to the company for the balance.
Sounds easy enough. Here is the catch. You send them the money while waiting for their check to clear. Later your find out their check didn’t clear, so you are out the money you sent to them. Give the example in the Times article you receive a check supposedly from one of their customers for $1,500. You keep $150.00 and send the scammers the balance of $1,350.00. You then discover that the check they sent you bounces for insufficient funds. You are out the $1,350.00.
Clearly, Career Builder or any reputable company would never represent or contribute to anything like this. To use Career Builder’s name in the solicitation letter is fraudulent. But people are desperate. Some workers have gone a long time between paychecks. The economic downturn has caused people to take action that otherwise they would never think as logical or prudent. They want to believe there is some relief.
Rather than be taken off for thousands of dollars, it is better to spend a few bucks up front and run the necessary background checks in the company or its supposed principles. If in running the kind of background checks that check corporate records, civil and criminal litigation and other background searches that should prove revealing, you find suspicious information, then don’t move forward. Don’t be tempted. There really are no get rich quick schemes out there. Especially in a bad economy.
Just recently a client has been promised the world by a group who for a mere mid-six figure investment would return a large percentage on their money every month. In a bad economy and when you business is doing bad, it may appear to be a good idea. It is grasping at straws. Doing due diligence and business research will often yield information that shows the group spurious at best, and often non-existent. That is it is all a front, false names,a fly by night company, and bank accounts that dissolve without notice.
Don’t be taken. Times are tough, granted. Money is hard to come by. But don’t lose what you have on some sleazy operation.
Check them out before you do business.
