Gryffyx's blog

Just another scam

Gryffyx — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:27:00 -0700

Just another money laundering scam. The company itself looks real, but the job offer probably is not. Bad grammar aside, this type of deal is almost always fraudulent.

***

DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY LTD,

I am unable to download your resume from monster...

Gryffyx — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:03:15 -0700

I'm sorry. This is just bad. It's clearly a blast-to-everyone email. This company may be 100% on the level, but it doesn't look like it from the unprofessional way things are written. Please, please, PLEASE!!! Don't run your business from a roadrunner email account. Or AOL for that matter.

Excellent Job Offer

Gryffyx — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:58:28 -0700

Adea Solutions, Inc
7701 Las Colinas Ridge/3rd Floor
Irving , Texas 75063

Another "Just as received" for the Ohio position, you'll notice the text is identical to the Hello Good Day posting. Internet job portal? Wow... This one is only 7 months instead of 8 months, even though it was received the same day as the Hello Good Day posting. I'm still not interested in short-term contract only positions. How many times do I need to say that?

Hello!! Good Day!!

Gryffyx — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:51:54 -0700

Radiants System Inc.
109A Corporate Boulevard
South Plainfield , NJ 07081
Tel (908) 548 -0700

Just as I received it. I'm not qualified for this position, and I clearly state that I'm not interested in short-term contract only positions. Another case of blast-it-out email tactics.

Jewell & Co.

Gryffyx — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:41:07 -0800

The website for this company is a really slick looking legal services company, that doesn't sem to list any real or head office. The broken English seems to say something else is going on. Either way, I'm not planning on replying. This email came directly from the monster.com internal email system.

"Real" spam emails and how to deal with them?

Gryffyx — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:57:54 -0800

Recently, I have started to receive a lot of emails that start out with something like "This may be a shot in the dark, but I'm hoping you may be interested in or know someone that is interested in this position..."

Cooking up a scam

Gryffyx — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:09:01 -0800

Just another scam job posting.

GEORGE WESTON FOODS COMPANY

WORK WITH US
7%-9% from each sale/resale operation! For instance: you receive 1000
USD to your bank account. You will withdraw the money and keep $70 (7%

Pluggin' your zip code in!

Gryffyx — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:36:28 -0700

CyberCoders
42 Discovery
Irvine, CA 92618
info@cybercoders.com
ph: 866.421.0200
fx: 949.885.5150
Various recruiters

I received this email some time ago:

********************************

This is one for the "Um, I think it's real" files

Gryffyx — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:43:54 -0700

Shore Corporate Recruiting
Point Pleasant, NJ
732-295-1163
http://www.shorerecruiting.com/

I really wasn't sure that this was even real. It's not well worded, has a generic link to a social website, has an AOL address for the reply-to, and really just looks, well, phony. It does appear to be a real company, but I really don't feel like taking that risk. Except for the location, this is exactly how it came to me, stray colon and all.

Contractors I have Known (and blocked)

Gryffyx — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:26:59 -0700

Most of the job boards allow you to block certain employers from finding your resume. The reasons vary a lot, from you don't want your current employer finding out that you're looking for a new job, to the fact that some of the users of job boards are useless and generally make themselves annoying.

pls be more keen

Gryffyx — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:53:35 -0700

Kritika Saxena
kritika@mindlance.com
MindLance, Inc
80 River St Ste 4A
Hoboken, NJ , 07030-5619
www.mindlance.com
phone 877 965 2623 X105

This is a good example of poor communication. I'm guessing this recruiter triggered on the word "embedded." I did use that word in the profile this listing came from, but in a completely different way. I have no experience with any of the items listed.

Kindly be submitting the details!

Gryffyx — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:14:59 -0700

Hurix Systems Private Limited
3rd floor, Simran Centre,
30/H, Parsi Panchayat road,
Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 069.
India
Tel: + 91-22-66774888/Fax: + 91-22-6677 4899

Another Indian recruiter. This one was thoughful enough to include a lifetime supply of "Darr Full-Floating Portable Apostrophes" for my use.

Mutual of Omaha: How the mighty have fallen.

Gryffyx — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:37:16 -0700

Mutual of Omaha
John.Mazzini@mutualofomaha.com
Omaha, Nebraska (of course!)

Mutual of Omaha used to be a fairly well respected company. If you're over 30, you probably remember spending Sunday afternoons watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Always a treat, since the rest of the programming schedule consisted of Bowling, Golf, and The Wide World of Sports (Oh, Mr. Agony of Defeat. How many times must you tumble off that slope?)

The worst bang for your buck!

Gryffyx — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:59:31 -0700

I received this in my email a while back:

please contact me for possible interview / opportunity...
harrymccreedy@inservco.com

That's it. Nothing else.

Does this person believe that he/she is going to get a lot of responses? The company appears to be real, but this looks too much like spam. It was rescued from my bulk folder for that reason.

JEM Consulting Services - Columbus, OH

Gryffyx — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:52:42 -0700

JEM Consulting Services, LLC.
2101 South Hamilton Road
Suite 208
Columbus, Ohio 43232
614-322-1650 Ph
614-322-2824 Fx
www.jemcs.com

This company gave me the appearance of guys doing nothing but wanting to make a quick buck on your back. They lie to get you interested, and then play dumb and get mad when you call them on their lies. Probably the worst experience I've ever had with a recruiting firm. Don't bother going to the website, it's been under construction for years and has no actual jobs posted.

General Employment and the case of the Missing Subject

Gryffyx — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:42:49 -0700

Linda Neece
General Employment Enterprises, Inc.
88 East Broad St # 1450
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 228-5192

Gotta love Linda and her crew. I've called once or twice. They won't tell you about any openings they have. You *HAVE* to come in person for a prescreen meeting. Can't do it over the phone or email. Too bad the hours are better than banker's hours. I never found it worth the time to drive 20+ miles into downtown to see them. Did I mention I'd have to pay to park?

Spam spam spam spam spam!

Gryffyx — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:35:47 -0700

Another spamtastic idiot. No qualifications for this job, and a line in my profile that actually says that I have NO interest in financial positions of any sort. It seems they can't read. I love the confidentiality notice. This email was blasted out via monster's anonymous system. Morons.

Your profile is on file!

Gryffyx — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:29:39 -0700

Candidate Seeker, Inc.
510 Horizon Center
Robbinsville, NJ 08691
ph 609-584-5499

Ok. I'm not qualified for this position. There really isn't any way that they could have mistook me for a qualified individual, unless they did a keyword search. And what's with my profile being on file? This is the first time I've heard of these jokers. Since this came through the Monster.com email system, it's funny to read the part about removing myself from the mailing list. Sure guys, let me give you a GOOD address.

Good Marketing always turns you...off?

Gryffyx — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:23:18 -0700

I really rate contacts like these no better than spam. This is the first impression. Why should I answer this email? I really can't find a reason to. No information about what, where, or how much. In my area? I've had some recruiters call me with jobs 2 hours away that were "in my area." My experience? What part? I have performed a lot of jobs over the years. C'mon Scott! I know you can't tell the company, but at least give me something that would make me WANT to call you.

I'll give Scott credit. At least he sent an email, instead of a "PLZ CONTACT ME" email with only a phone number and address in the body.

Yay! Another Insurance Company Spam!

Gryffyx — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:11:40 -0700

I guess I'm supposed to be impressed that they "works hand in hand with Monster.com."

I guess I'm not.

Good Morning.

I represent Combined Insurance, a subsidiary of AON Corporation. Our

Intermedia Group and The Broken Job Board

Gryffyx — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:05:20 -0800

INTERMEDIA GROUP, INC.
Ms. Jennifer Kowalski, Recruiting Manager
5 Hanover Square
New York, NY 10004
voice: 212-248-0100
facsimile: 212-248-0600
email: jkowalski@intermediagroup.com
www.intermediagroup.com

With all the talk recently about how job boards are broken and often don't work, it comes as no suprise to me when I get emails like the one below. This one comes from Monster.com.

It seems that one of the reasons job boards are not effective, is that it is too easy. Too easy to just send out mass mailings, and too easy to send mass replies. There is no incentive for the recruiter to tailor mailings to a target group, and, if you've been around for a while and know the game, little incentive for potential applicants to do anything more than send generic replies.

Take this email from Intermedia Group. If you'll read the job description, you'll see that it *requires* a US Governmental security clearance. An active one, not an expired one. So, you've probably already worked in/with the government before.

Now, Monster.com has a specific field for security clearances. You have to answer Yes or No. Employment history is also listed on Monster's resumes as well, and it's pretty easy to determine if an entry is a government position or related item. Pretty easy to find good candidates, yes?

Scam, Inc. brought to you by Monster.com

Gryffyx — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:18:31 -0800

This is a good one, a pure and simple scam that comes from Monster.com. Note that I do not have my email public on any of my profiles, so they would *have* to use the built-in email system to contact me. I would guess that certain keywords in my "monsters resume" triggered this one. The keyword where I say "I'm breathing." I doubt that complaining to Monster would do any good, but I've forwarded a copy of this email to abuse@monster.com.

I guess even scam artists are good business, as long as they are paying the fees.

From Monster Mon Feb 5 17:35:05 2007
X-Apparently-To: ***nameremoved*** via 209.191.85.103; Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:34:09 -0800
X-Originating-IP: [63.112.170.13]
Return-Path: anonredir@route.monster.com

Sonoma Solutions, or How To Look Like a Phish

Gryffyx — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:01:25 -0800

Sonoma Solutions
Southfield, MI
www.sonomasolutions.com

This email came to an address that I haven't used for job contacts in over 3 years. This company appears to be real, but do they expect tech people to just send off personal details to a company they may have never heard of? Not exactly the thing to do in the age of phishing scams...

Hello-

We are contacting you today because you may have worked with a recruiter here, sent your resume to us, or we considered you for a position in the past. We would like you to update your resume profile on our site www.sonomasolutions.com because we have many open positions not posted anywhere. In general, we usually have about 100-130 open positions that are never posted anywhere and are confidential. Updating your resume should take less than a minute or two. We appreciate you doing this for us.

Yet Another Insurace Company

Gryffyx — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:53:12 -0800

A little different than the average bear, this one actually promises a salary. I guess as I'm still breathing, I'm still a good match for doing something I know nothing about. My online resume profiles indicate that I have no interest in sales, financial, or insurance jobs. Maybe those words aren't in the standard dictionary. That would explain why I keep getting these emails...

Hello,

I have reviewed your resume from Monster.com, and I compliment you on
your qualifications! You have exhibited an excellent history of success.
I would like the opportunity to discuss a career with my firm that you
may find interesting. Please allow me to share some details with you.

This is a professional sales position (salaried with full benefits day
1) in the Lancaster area with the Western-Southern Life Company, a

Easystreetbiz.com - SPAM telling me I shouldn't SPAM.

Gryffyx — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:30:54 -0800

Easystreetbiz.com
4170 Canyon Crest Road
Altadena, CA 91001
No phone number given
www.easystreetbiz.com

This isn't technically a job offer, but a way for you to secure clients for your work-at-home or other business. It comes to me via a catch-all address that I have posted on a website that I maintain for the clients of my tiny enterprise to contact me. Nothing more. This is the 8th email I've received to this address, all in a series of emails designed to help me.

Now, my name isn't Corey Miller. I'm not sure who this person is. I'm sure there is a Corey Miller somewhere out there that wants to know about email marketing, but he isn't me. If anything, these emails should read "Dear lbinfo." I'm guessing that they believe I am stupid enough to look at this email, decide that even though it's not addressed to me, I would believe the information to be of enough value to use. Using easystreetbiz.com's services, of course. There has never been a single piece of email sent from the address these are coming to. It's in-only, replies come from an email account that is targeted towards the particular group. Easier for me to keep track of.

They also have to be the biggest example of chutzpah I've seen. This "installation" being the worst of the batch. All have dealt with targeted campaigns in some way or another, but this one is the best. A bulk, unsolicited email coming to an address that did not sign up for them telling me that bulk, unsolicited emails coming to an address that did not sign up for them is a bad thing, and you should never do that because you're going to tick off the person receiving them and it's best not to harvest addresses off the internet because you want to target to your audience. Ok!

Remember: When you send an UNSOLICITED EMAIL to someone -- when you invite yourself into someone`s emailbox without invitation or permission -- that`s called SPAM.

My hat is off to you Janis Yu. You have bigger balls than I do.

2learnmore.net - SPAM / SCAM

Gryffyx — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:24:30 -0800

www.2learnmore.net
Aaron Halstead
586-797-9651
Dwight Halstead - MI?
1-888-333-5018
Independent National Executive
contactus@teamhorizon.biz

Your resume has just crossed my desk. I would like to know if you have already found your dream opportunity or are you currently searching?

If you still have yourself on the market, I wish to invite you to consider our posting at www.2learnmore.net. Please review the details of the position and post your resume directly onto our site. I believe we may find a mutually beneficial relationship as you discover more about us and we continue to evaluate your qualifications.

To your future success with us,

Aaron Halstead

586-797-9651

This email came as somewhat of a suprise, since I've taken most of my resumes offline for a while. It came to a new address, so they harvested it during the short time I had a resume posted on Monster.com.

Three Rivers Career Management (3rcm) - Pittsburgh, PA

Gryffyx — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:30:46 -0700

Three Rivers Career Management
707 Grant Street - Gulf Tower Suite 1140
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412-261-6166
3rcm.com

Expanxion - San Mateo, CA

Gryffyx — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 04:43:46 -0700

3182 Campus Drive #227
San Mateo, CA 94403
(650) 261-0211
expanxion.net

900 A Hampshire Rd.
Westlake Village, CA 91361
(805) 370-8200

Pryamid Screening Technology - Pleasanton, CA

Gryffyx — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 14:02:46 -0700

5994 W Las Positas Blvd
Ste 225
Pleasanton, CA 94588
925-847-9171
Pyramidst.com

INSYST - Fairfield, NJ

Gryffyx — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:30:43 -0700

INSYST INC.
973- 486-0461
271 Route 46 West, Suite A 201
Fairfield, NJ 07004
http://www.insystus.com