Job Seeker Scam Surfaces In Delaware

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 18, 2007

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There’s a new twist on the old counterfeit check scam. Criminals are targeting job seekers – presumably the very people who can least afford to be cheated out of more than $2,000.

The scam has surfaced in Wilmington, Delaware, where victims were enticed by a small ad in the News Journal, a local newspaper.

“No experience necessary – paid training,” the ad promised.

Wilmington police say that at least three readers fell for it, quickly discovering it was too good to be true. Those who called the phone number in the ad received an employment packet from Phoenix Direct Marketing Group, along with a check for $2,500.

Applicants were told the check was supposed to be for $250, to cover the applicant’s two hours of training. The applicants were instructed to deposit the check, then send back a check for $2,250.

That’s where this scam becomes just like all the rest of the fake check scams. When the victims deposited the checks for $2,500, which were clever forgeries, the deception was not immediately noticed.

It was not until the victims had wired $2,250 of their own money to the scammer that the fake checks bounced.

Police say the checks were written on phony accounts at the Kilowatt Credit Union in Jefferson City, Missouri. The credit union is real, and so is the toll-free number printed on the check, but the address and the account numbers are bogus, police say.

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