Speaking of Scams: The Speech Writing Job Scam
And the 5 Red Flags I caught
The opportunity sounded great!
A company was looking for a Speech writer. As a newly self-identified Freelance writer, the excitement overwhelmed me. I previously thought Speech writing might be the niche that I would be able to excel at, and had already included some examples in my portfolio.
I noticed the listing didn’t mention an industry, however with my background, I believed I could adapt. I wrote a quick email with links to my portfolio, a taped speech I gave at a Medical conference, and my resume. If only I had realized the waste of time for which I had just signed up!
I noticed the email address was a Gmail account. I took a quick pause, but thought, my email address was a Gmail account as well. Perhaps they were using the Gmail to screen the responses. Sounded reasonable, didn’t it?
I did a quick internet search for Thomas Wurster in Houston, TX to see if I could get an idea of the industry, but came up empty.
And within 20 minutes, I received a text message for an interview! BUT the message was addressed to someone else… I asked if they were sure they wanted to interview me, and they assured me they were. Now even more aflutter, my large hubris made me think I was perfect for the job! During the back and forth, I had also received an email, and began the steps to be interviewed.
$65 an hour? Flexible hours? MEDICAL BENEFITS?
I expected that the position would be project based. Now they were talking about actually hiring me? Well, isn’t that a dream come true?
Not sure how to prepare for an on-line interview, I thought perhaps it was a working-at-home test, “Am I reasonably dressed with hair combed?” I quickly ran to the bathroom to pamper and add some lipstick.
Still reasonable, right? Read on, dear reader!
Turns out there was no video. Ended up all being in chat in Google Hangouts:
You don’t need to be uncomfortable with the means of communication
Why did that statement make me very uncomfortable?
After introductions, Rhiannon Didas provided me with background information of the company and a link to their website.
And didn’t this just sound better and better?
Could I be employed by a better company?
I had a history as a Chemical Engineer, and had been involved with Clinical Trials. The in depth website had an abundance of press releases. No wonder they needed writers!
I detected the shift from speech writer to “writer” when he described my work responsibilities. But I decided that they had a plethora of openings, and they wanted to start me in the other position. At $65 an hour, working from home… well, sure, I could work in this other position. Couldn’t you?
Even a week of training. Seemed like this company had all their ducks in a row. If I had only known how the interview would turn!
Two sections of questions for me to answer were next. A total of 13 questions, things like “Why do you think you’re a good fit for the role” and HR questions, “How often would you like to be paid”, “Does your bank have direct deposit?” etc. (But didn’t ask for the banking info. Innocuously asked only if I did have direct deposit).
And I’m not sure why his comments here also gave me pause. Was it because I was hired so quickly? Was it the HR platitudes? I brushed off the sappiness. We had an additional discussion about benefits.
And then talk about setting up a home office:
I could understand that they would want the work done on their own equipment. But the clincher was the check.
Why wouldn’t they purchase the equipment from the vendor and have the vendor send directly to me?
He said he’d send the check FedEx and give me the tracking number the next morning.
I stewed all through lunch.
Although the Sabinsa website was in depth, the only contacts I had had Gmail accounts and not Sabinsa.com addresses. The Sabinsa website said they were located in New Jersey — not Houston as the original ad stated. But perhaps the recruiter was out of Houston….
I knew about the 5 common swindles and how to avoid them. If this were a scam, this was more involved than any of those!
I googled “Sabinsa” and “scam”. Nothing came up. But I still wasn’t satisfied.
I called the company. Stumbling through the introduction, I finally figured out how to explain what had happened. The startled receptionist promised she’d look into it and call me back.
Yup. She called back and confirmed. A scam.
My turn — Reporting the scam
That night, my law enforcement friend told me to contact the Secret Service to investigate the scam. I called the next morning, and they wanted nothing to do with it. They told me to tear up the check when I received it. Disappointing.
I find the next step quite laughable; however, I’m sure that many people wouldn’t be aware of the illegality of an email check.
I am truly amazed after this exchange that they didn’t realize I was on to them.
I figured at least they were wasting their OWN money on the FedEx package! I never expected that they had that part of the scam covered too.
I brainstormed additional ways to mess with them…. And began bothering him about in what state I’d have to pay taxes, vacation time and other questions. I gave his information to some friends so that they’d mess with him too.
I began to get bored with him. I waited for the check to call the bank to notify them.
Rhiannon finally provided me a FedEx tracking number.
Yet another state, California, entangled into the scam.
The package arrives, and I’m shocked.
The check looks like it’s written on a real company’s account!
They stole the checks from a second company! Here’s the check and accompanying letter outlining my next steps:
I like the touch of not shredding or destroying the instructional note.
So you WANT me to keep the proof of your scam?
In addition, the complexity of this scam comes into further focus. They sent the FedEx package on yet another company’s account!
I figured at least they were wasting their OWN money on the FedEx package! I never expected that they had that part of the scam covered too.
I contacted the company on whose account the check was written, the bank, and the company who may have been billed for the FedEx package.
I found where to report scams to the government through a website. I went ahead and reported the scam, even though the Secret Service has already said they were not interested.
To keep the scammer from realizing I had found them out, I told them that I was at the hospital with my grandmother. I hadn’t been able to pick up the check, and I’d get back in touch with him the following Monday.
I hoped that would provide enough time for the companies to look into issue. But I decided that I had wasted enough of my time. I had done my due diligence and had tried to notify all I could. (And now, you’re also notified.) My work here was done.
In summary: The 5 Red Flags
From this experience, the red flags I would like to pass on to you are:
- The contact had only Gmail accounts and not a company email address.
- The location shown in the ad, and the location of the company were different. By the end, none of the company names matched!
- Sending a check to purchase equipment, instead of purchasing and shipping the equipment themselves.
- Sending a check via email (not legally viable).
- And in general, trying to allay fears that at the time were nonexistent. The quote “Thou doth protest too much” comes to mind.
An amazingly elaborate scam!
Nice touch using a real established company to impersonate! Of course, they lost the nice touch when multiple company names became involved. However, I can see where others might overlook the different company names, or believe that they’re all part of the same large company.
What a network they have! Tapping into that many companies. A multi-day venture. And they didn’t use one of the main key red flags; they never asked for my personal banking information. Perhaps they would “fire” me and ask for the money back? But my guess is that the “authorized vendor” is the true part of the scam to get my credit card number.
Joke would have been on him. My credit card was already maxed out.
I wonder how many people fell for this!
