Another day and another scam. I recently received an emailed job offer allegedly from the "Derby House Fabrics" company. I'll spare you the suspense. It's a scam. Let me start off by saying that there may actually be a legitimate company named "Derby House Fabrics".
Scam artists are like a viruses they spread and adapt quickly. Because they know most work at home seekers are naturally skeptical (as they should be), a con-artist tends to use real legitimate company names in their emails. The hope is that it will disarm you from thinking it's a scam when you do your research. But I'm going to show you my 3 strikes method on how to determine when these emailed job offers are a scam. But first we need to do some self reflection about this so-called opportunity that has appeared out of thin air.
Here are some questions you need to ask yourself.
1. Did you apply to be a bookkeeper?
Is there anything in your resume to indicate that you have this skill set? I know I'm awful with numbers so immediately I know this guy is full of crap by asking me to be a bookkeeper for his company. Me doing bookkeeping is like asking Britney Spears to be a good mother. (Ooh, I'm sorry that was wrong of me. But you get the picture.)
2. Why isn't their any experience or references being requested?
After all this bookkeeper job involves the handling of money. Why would anyone trust you without any references or prior experience? Would you go to an OBGYN that had no prior experience or references from other doctors or women you know. I would hope not.
So why the heck is someone going to let you manage their money? Duh!
3. Why is this person referring to me as Sir or Madam?
Presumably if they knew me and I applied for this position they would refer to me by my first name Or Mr. Salomon if you're nasty. (Sorry, Janet Jackson pun.) But seriously, who uses addresses people by Sir or madam? What are we in the Victorian times?
3 Strikes To Look For!
I've included an image of the email I received, please refer to it as you read the items below. Just click on it to enlarge it.
Strike 1.
We now live in a very small world .There is never a situation where people from other countries can't access money from international locations. This is pure BS! So as soon as you read "our clients can't readily process payments because … blah blah", You can go ahead and file this email in your trusty trash bin.
Strike 2.
Why would a company pay you a percentage of each check cashed? You're not a check cashing place. Financially this wouldn't make much sense for the company because it would be far more most cost effective to pay you a salary. Can you really picture an employer saying, "Hey, I have a million dollar check for you to cash, you keep 10% and I'll take the change!" Get the hell out of here! Not ever in this life time will this happen!
Strike 3.
A professional company isn't going to be emailing you from their free yahoo account. The bastards that sent this email think they're slick. They included reference to a company's real website address (which might actually be legitimate) but they aren't emailing you from that company's listed email address. For instance when I visited www.derbyhousefabrics.co.uk the email addresses listed on the site weren't any damn yahoo addresses (derbyhousefabrics@yahoo.com). Busted!
You're out of here Mr Tomas Cooper, Aka Fake Ass Recruitment Manager!
Don't Fall For The Hype!
Guys I get these emails everyday. But fortunately for me they end up in my spam box automatically. If they do actually happen to reach your inbox, please don't fall for them under any circumstances! They're all just variations of check processing and wire transfer scams that we've covered here many times.
Have you ever received any of these emails? Did you get duped into this so called opportunity? Inquiring minds want to know. So please feel free to share below.
I realize this is an old post for an old scam, but since I still see something very similar to it at least once a month, usually on Craigslist when applying to a job that looks legit because now the scammers copy a real job post listed for ABC City and repost it in XYZ City, I thought it worth commenting. Especially since I am a freelance small business bookkeeper.
Aside from all the items you pointed out as clues to a scam, bookkeepers do NOT do anything like this! Never, ever, EVER do bookkeepers cash money orders or checks, and especially do not deposit a company’s money in their own bank account. That is called embezzling, and it’s how bookkeepers get discredited if not arrested – yes, we do have professional associations and yes, we are credentialed. Trained, tested, required continuing education, the whole bit just like any other professional.
What bookkeepers do is deposit checks and money orders, into the company’s accounts ONLY, and because we are trained we know that banks all over the world routinely handle deposits in foreign currencies in business accounts. The bank charges a small fee for currency conversion and that’s it; it’s all automatic, and it makes no difference the payment method (check, money order, etc.)
But we also know that in this computerized age paper drafts are used less and less. A legitimate business of this type would almost certainly deal with electronic funds transfers, and probably even require it of their customers before shipping any goods!
I noticed a post above from someone called “donald” who deposited one of these fake checks and said it cleared and $20,000 was in their account. I wish I knew what happened with that person, but most likely they spent some of that money and found themselves in big trouble 2-3 days later when the bank discovered the truth of the check and reversed the deposit.
Yes, you read that right – reversed the deposit. As in took the $20,000 back out of the account. Yes, this is a real thing and can happen to you! Never think you are going to scam the scammer and deposit one of these scammer’s checks because the bank will find out, and not only will you be out the money you’ve spent but there will be bank overdraft charges and such as well, and you could even find yourself being prosecuted for check fraud!
You see, by law the bank is required to make funds available within a certain number of days of deposit, which varies depending upon the type and amount, but it could actually take about a week for the fake check to make it to the point where the banking system realizes it is a fake. Bank routing numbers are common knowledge; it’s the bank’s electronic address and the banks readily publish it. If the routing number is all the scammer has and the account number is fake that bad check will be reversed quickly, if the funds were even made available at all. But sometimes the scammers have also copied a real account number off a real check, and it takes longer for the system to get to the point of confirming the check to be fake. But make no mistake, the fake check will be discovered every time. Save yourself a lot of grief and just don’t do it. Go to the police with the check and any other info you have.
Hey Diane,
Thanks for chiming in and providing even more details.
I recieved something like this from another company titled Eliot Frabics company me being nieve and work I complied with the email and I was sent the check from the company however something was telling me dont cash it and wire the money to the locations listed and so I did not. What I did was open a seperate checking account depositing the whole check into the account and thank God I was not able to withdraw the money until five days. After waiting five days I called the bank and not much to my suprise the check bounced and I guess it was sent back to the fake bank or company so the only thing that I lost out of the deal was only the money needed for me to maintain that bank account. Its ashame how people take advantage of sometimes a desperate situation. Once again the companies name is Elliot Frabics
Thanks for sharing this scam. You’ve probably helped someone else avoid it. You live and learn. At least you found our site and have the opportunity to discover real and legitimate opportunities:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
So there is a silver lining here.
thank you very much!!
You’re welcome!
Guys, I\’m so stupid…. I don\’t know why I didn\’t look this up before… I received a Mystery Shopper email from gabrieldarcyayy@aol.com and I replied to this email with my information…. what do I do?! I received a money order from him but have not cashed it yet. Please tell me what I should do. Not too long ago, he called me on my cell phone, I have his number in my call record and tried to call him, but it seems that he\’s never available… I was wondering what would happen if I gave him my information. Please help. Everything here is helpful information, thank you all for sharing. Now I know that I need to be more careful.
Houh,
Don’t feel stupid. It happens to the best of us. Just learn from the experience. If you haven’t cashed the money order, you should be fine. This con artist will probably move on to another victim. But be mindful they keep your information and may sell it to other scam artist. Or they may try to contact you in a few months or years to try to scam you again. Just stay in the know. Study our scam pages: http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams from top to bottom, watch the video listed there, read the comments. The best way to avoid scams like this is to become educated on how they tend to work. Because they pretty much repeat themselves.
Focus on our trusted resources like our jobs page and recommendations page and you should do just fine:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/jobs
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
You might want to read our work at home guide as well:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/workathomeguide
I hope this helps.
@Michael:
There was an ad listed in our local paper for nanny needed, was told to contact via email….reply comes back that nanny position has been filled but contact their friend Gabriel Darcy because he is looking for part time help. He wrote back asking me to cash checks for him!!! YEA RIGHT…I\’m sending both email addresses to attorney general.
@Phyllis:
I also work as a mystery shopper for multiple authentic companies. I received this exact e-mail today. I thought it sounded fishy – not only do very few mystery shopping jobs pay this much, but I am almost never contacted by a company unless I have applied for a position via their website. When I noted the e-mail address did not contain the actual company name, I knew it could not be legit. I googled it and found your sight. Thanks!
Here’s what Gabriel Darcy’s up to now. I received this email today and googled his name; you’re the first site to come up – thanks for confirming my suspicions.
1. Note the clumsy wording – the company title should be plural, incomplete sentences, addressed to “Candidate”; the word “venture” should not be capitalized, etc.
2. email id does not reflect a corporate entity.
3. I work as a secret shopper. The companies I work for do not initiate communications via email. Applications and all communications (except for while on specific jobs) are completed on their website. They usually have a good standing with BBB.
4. Mystery shopping orgs do not send out blanket emails requesting shoppers. I was contacted directly once via email by a legitimate org, but it was clear from the start that they were responding to an application I had filled out on another legitimate site (I could list my info there for others to see, but in order to apply for specific jobs they wanted me to pay – I didn’t pay, but a couple jobs came to me anyhow, hah!).
WARNING TO MYSTERY SHOPPERS:
——————————————————-
Fri, August 6, 2010 8:09:40 PM
Mystery Shopper Wanted
From:
Gabriel Darcey
Add to Contacts
To:
Dear Candidate,
We are actually looking for a Mystery Shopper who will be working for our company.(Lapmat Service Concept.)
Mystery shopper needed earn no less than $150.00 need extra income!become our (Mystery Shopper):earn (No Less Than $150.00) Per Venture:it is very easy and very simple:
No application fees:
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS TO CONTACT THE EMAIL BELOW,
gabrieldarcyayy@aol.com
Full Name:
Mailing address (including City, State, Zipcode):(NOT PO BOX)
Contact Phone number:
Age:
Email:
Your response would be highly appreciated
Warm Regards,
Gabriel Darcey,
Genral Manager,
Lapmat Service Concept
Phyllis,
Great observations about the actual email. I really hate when the con artist mis-use legitimate companies or opportunities like mystery shopping because the misinformed run around assuming that whole industry is a scam because of one bad apple. Hopefully many more people will do their research and come upon this article like you did.
i recived a email similar to the one in the article. it was from a different company. this company does not have an website, maybe not even an email from what i noticed when i searched the company. this company is in the US. the name of the company is Evergreen Textiles. the name in there was Rick Butler. from the way it was worded it does seem like a scam. i’m unable to copy to here, i’m using my mobile phone
Tiffany,
Thanks for sharing. Many of the con artist use very similar wording in their emails and make slight changes. It’s great you were still able to recognize it as such. Feel free to post the scam email when you get home if you want.
Thanks again.
@Eddy Salomon:
Eddy,
Thank you so much. I’m happy that I found your site. I put it in my bookmarks. You’re doing a good job.
Thanks Patricia.
Be sure to subscribe as well if you haven’t already:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/subscribe
I applied last night to a book keeping position online and today received a response. Here is what it says:
Thanks alot for your reply to my ad.. Yes im in need of a payment representative online and the Job is still available. since you own a personal computer and a printer to yourself. No charges fee is needed to start this Job. All i need is you to be online so we can chat and give u directions of what to do. this is a Part time job as it doesn’t affect any other jobs that you are doing presently..
You are to work as a Payment Dispatcher. We have clients mostly in the United State/Canada and we send Payment to them all via UPS/Fedex. Also i will need to know if your location owns a UPS/FedEx drop boxes because this is what we use in Mailing Payment out to our various clients. we have a UPS/FedEx account which we used to create a Labels and u can print and paste it on the envelopes then drop them in there various drop boxes.
If interested please reply with the following information below so that we can start working immediately…
Name in full…
Address….
City…..
Zipcode….
State…..
Phone Number….
Cell Number…
Current Work…
Work Address in full…
Your Picture….
Mother middle name….
Date of Birth….
Age…..
Sex……
Best way you like to be contacted….
This offer is open to any;
1.Honest and ambitious.
2.Keep to time.
3.Always available to work.
4.Truthful
I will need you to get online on Yahoo Chat and if you don’t have one try downloaded on your computer (www.yahoo.com) and add me to your friend list so that we can chat and give you more directions and more information better than i have done in my letter. The Salary of this Job is so attractive and you will fall in love with the Job when we started.
Hope to read from you soon. and i will be online waiting to chat with you.
The simple fact that were are so willing to let me mail out payments without a back ground check and knowing me made me think and asking for my mothers middle name? I think they meant maiden name but asked for middle instead. I went online searching for similar scams to this one and found this site. I’m searching for an actual job and these scams make it all disheartening.
Hi Patricia,
Don’t fret. At least now because of this scam you have found our site.
We list new leads that have been researched daily here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/jobs
You can also visit my recommendations page where you can find oother non-traditional
opportunities that can be started here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
At the end of the day, you did the right thing by using your common sense and doing research.
If you keep following those steps, you’ll continue to avoid nonsense. But staying on this site pretty mmuch has eeverything you need to start working at home safely.
Good luck.
Rat here,,was sending reply to John….fergot to mention that.
I got an email about like yours today,,actually went om Yahoo messenger and spoke with them. Yeah,,wanted same damn info as listed in your feedback,,I feel better now and will forget it. Thanks!!!
@Lisa:
I received an e-mail from him also, what did you find out about this place.
I received this e-mail from Derick Hanes
Hello