There was a job posted on my site today that immediately aroused my suspicions. The job was “Part time job: editing texts”. Here’s the job description:
We will provide you with the texts for our employees with the important information and you will correct the texts as an english speaking person and send them back to us.
Salary:
We don’t have a fixed salary for this vacancy. We will pay you $7.00 for every 1Kb of the corrected text. You will get paid at the END of each month. Every month your salary will be different as it depends on your activity.
Example:
If you correct about 5Kb (5kb it about 2 pages A4) of texts per day you will get over $1000.00 at the end of the month.To apply for job please send resume to:
someladysname.marriage@gmail.comAs soon as we revise your aplication we will contact you within 24 hours.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.
Awaiting for your application.Requirements: -Location: only usa persons
-Age: 20+
-Home computer, e-mail address and Microsoft Word
-Responsibility
Salary: 1000
Website:
Contact Email: somelady.marriage@gmail.com
So, it looked fishy to me at first glance due to the awkward grammar. The second red flag came from the use of a gmail account. I then looked at the credit card that was used and the information didn’t match what was submitted when they registered to post a job on my site. The phone number given there was an international number.
After I voided the credit card transaction and deleted the listing, I plugged the first sentence of the listing into Google and hit the jackpot. Seems this scam is all over the place. A new twist on an old theme: Money laundering.
I came across an article by Grey McKenzie, National Cyber Security Founder about a woman who fell for this scheme out of desperation.
A tragic example of ordinary people falling victim to the predatory practices of unscrupulous scammers is the recent story of a Keller woman. She became involved in an Internet money laundering scheme and will have to repay over $38,000 out of her own pocket.
She responded to the ad and was hired to do text editing. They actually did send her work and she was paid for it, obviously to gain her trust. Eventually, they offered her another position, one that would pay more: about $2,900 a month in salary, plus a 5 percent commission. It involved her opening a bank account to be used just for this job and accepting wire transfers from people in the U.S. and then sending money via Western Union to people in the Ukraine.
McKenzie writes:
“I wasn’t looking at this as clearly,” Boothe said. “I had a touch of desperation.”
She was unwittingly using her bank accounts to launder stolen money.
The Ukraine scammers supplied stolen bank account numbers and routing numbers which can be found at the bottom of any check and she used them to transfer money from those accounts into the two accounts she had set up specifically for the business.”
At another blog, there’s a whole slew of people who responded to this ad. Some got so far as to actually complete some “text editing assignments” but thankfully none of them went so far as to open a bank account and accept or send payments.
As with the woman who did fall for it, it’s often desperation that clouds our judgment. Just doing a simple check by plugging part of the text of the job listing into a search engine can give you all the information you need.
If you feel that you have been a victim of this or any other scam you can file a complaint here.
![[Digg]](http://blog.2work-at-home.com/WordPress/wp-content/plugins/social-links/images/digg.png){kind=small}
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
Tags: Scams
Wow! Great article! I received this e-mail scam today!
I got this email this week. I did some research and found the information here that answered my questions. Could this be true/ Is this a real work at home job? I’m so glad there are people out there that are willing to share information with each other and stop this scams from harming more people. “THANK YOU SHARON”.
EMAIL BELOW:
Good Day,
We offer a part time job on your computer.
Job Description:
We will provide you with the texts for our employees with the
important information and you will correct the texts as an English
speaking person and send them back to us.
Salary:
We don’t have a fixed salary for this vacancy. We will pay you $7.00
for every 1Kb of the corrected text. You will get paid at the END of
each month. Every month your salary will be different as it depends on
your activity.
Example:
If you correct about 5Kb (5kb it about 2 pages A4) of texts per day
you will get over $1000.00 at the end of the month.
Requirements:
-Location: Has no value (the main good knowledge of English language)
-Age: 21+
-Home computer, e-mail address and Microsoft Word
-Responsibility
To apply for job please send us the following information to:
__________
FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:
___________
As soon as we revise your application we will contact you within 24 hours.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.
Awaiting for your application.
–
Thank you,
Love & Wedding
oh no…i responded to that email 2 days ago i think. i assumed it came from one of the temp agencies ive applied with. am i vulnerable now because i sent a response? i sure wish id seen this warning a few days earlier…
Susan, you are fine unless you accepted any of the payments, did any money transfers or sent them sensitive information like your social security number or bank account numbers, etc.
I have been working with a text comapany for a week now. ive done about 14 text now. i hope this isnt the same thing .i think its called wedding agency .i havent gave any personal info other then name and adress. Are there any legit text jobs out there
I would be very careful…that sounds like the same kind of job.
My brother just called me 2 days ago informing me my mother has gotten into this sort of thing. She had been doing what seemed to be a legitimate work from home job for the past 6 months or so, but all of a sudden she’s stopped doing that and got involved in something where she’s already faxed a copy of her drivers license, a blank check, and other info. They apparently Western Unioned her a couple hundred bucks to “show they’re authentic” that she could keep. Now they’ve deposited around 8,000 dollars into her account, that in just a few days she’s supposed to withdraw and go to a different western union and wire the money to someone else. Fortunately, with the exception of the first 200, she hasn’t done anything with the major money and has already been to the bank and gave them all the info about this “company” and they are working to return the funds or whatever. My concern is she’s given out too much info that will possibly cause her major problems down the road (plus they now know where she lives too :/ ). FORTUNATELY, she was able to recognize she may be in something quirky and contacted her “more technical” sons in time to prevent major financial damage (she definately cannot afford to have to mess with legal issues and all, let alone getting her money stolen).
So, basically, I’m just writing this to tell everyone PLEASE, PLEASE pay attention to people you may know, especially the elderly or whatever people who maybe aren’t “on top of their game” (i.e. my mother) but still have a little bit of computer/internet know-how and think they may be able to make some easy money. It’s that old adage (sp?) “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”. Seems there’s quite a few people who seem to forget that at the wrong time.
We should be finding out more info today or monday and hopefully she’ll be okay and good luck to the others that may have started getting into one of these and hope you can get out before anything happens (and for heaven’s sake, if you’ve already provide personal info like address, check, drivers license please take appropriate measures to protect yourself immediately, like putting fraud alerts on the 3 credit reporting agencies…you can do it for free by calling them or pay LifeLock to do it for you, bout to provide that info to my mom to have her do it).
Good luck all.
Thank you very much for taking the time reporting this scam. I really appreciate it. I too have received two or more of this same kind of email message. I almost responded to it, because it looks legit and something I could do at home while waiting for a permanent work.
Great reporting!!! This is out and out MONEY LAUNDERING.
I receive this email today 11/04/09 checked it out as I always do and came across your article explaining the type of scam this is. Thanks for the heads up. The website provided is the one that I am suppose to click on to send my information to.
stagebranch1985@yahoo.com
I just received the EXACT email from an Alexis Scala (alexisscala32@hotmail.com) though asking to reply to annhunter1971@aol.com, signed, ‘Thank you, Global Marriage agency.’
BEWARE
I am so glad I found this blog!! I have been editing texts for this email address for about a month now. The same email annhunter1971@aol.com has been sending me the work. I was hoping it would help to cover the grocery bill or gas bill you know. Today they just sent me a new job offer to transfer money from my account, etc. They offer me $2900 per month plus 5% commission. I am SOOOO GLAD I read this first! I was suspicious, but at the same time that amount of money is more than my husband and I make per month combined, so it was very tempting. Thank God I didn’t get involved. I don’t want to go to prison or anything!! Thank you so much for saving me!!
I did the text editing and told them when they offered the $2900/month and 5% deal that I would not give them any account numbers at all. I said that they could send me checks and I would deposit them and wait until they clear. They sent me a check for $7250 that came from what looks like a legitimate account in Seattle. I deposited it but now, after reading the blogs; have told them that I will not do anything further and that they should cancel the check. The bank that the check was sent from tells me that the account on the check is a valid account. I am fearful that this is money laundering so I am stopping right now. Let’s see if they come back to me since I have deposited the check. I will do nothing with the balance in the account so when the check eventually bounces; I am not out any money. I almost fell sucker to this scam!
Oh my god…. thx alot guys…. i jus started editing …. i got the text and just started doing that… and i thought they were from some job agencies which i applied…. but yesterday they asked me about the bank account but i thought money tranfering is bit dangerous and want to be far from that and replied them the same reply….
My worry is now i had mailed them my address in the very starting mail…. they l not cause do any thing with the address…???
Using the address they will not harm us right??? am scared about this….
Looks like I started to fall for this. I did 5 text editing jobs and received the “job offer” of accepting money. My gut told me it didn’t seem right, seemed too easy. Glad I found this before opening another account. I’ve got trouble enough without being involved with this!
Shew! I found this information just in the nick of time. I have been editing texts for 3 weeks now. I recently received an email about transferring money deal that everyone else has summed up, and providing them the bank acct information. I am so desperate to supplement my income and this IS to good to be true. I even went as far as opening a bank acct. to do business… and then I found this wonderful site while I was looking for a way to legitimize the company. I guess its back to hunting for a part time job.
Follow up from my February 23 post.
The check is in my account, I have not touched it and the balance remains there.
Once I send an e-mail to them that I would not send them any money and that I would do no further business with them, I have not heard a thing.
Yet the money remains in my account so the check has yet to bounce or come back with insufficient funds.
Bottom line is that if the check were real and this NOT a scam, I would have heard something from them.
Money in my account and not a further word from them…..
Needless to say the money will stay in my account until my bank pulls it out due to the check being a fraud. I alerted them of this and there is nothing for them to do until the check bounces.
hmmm.. I just started doing a text editing job that sound eerily similar to the stories I have just read here. It’s for a company named Elitepartner. I have only completed one assignment from them so far. If this is not legit work could some one please tell me where the legit work is. I am unable to go out and find work and I am in need of money. Are there companies out there that hire to do similar work? I don’t want free money or even easy money I just want to work at home and not have to pay for some “Start you own business” kit or something like that.
YIKES!!! I got this e-mail and did the text editting for 3 weeks. I am trying to supplement our income so we dont lose our home. This past Saturday, I got an e-mail from them saying that they were stopping the text editting job for a peroid of 2 months, but that I would be receiving another e-mail about another position with their company that would pay $2900 a month plus the 5% commission. I opened a seperate account and sent them the routing number and account number of the new account!! I was so excited to have this opportunity. Today, I got a call on my cell from a guy that said he was from Global marriage and that he wanted to welcome me and tell me that I would be receiving my first deposit in a day or so, and to make sure I checked my e-mails. I went on line and found this site. I am FREAKED OUT!! I called the number back and the guy answered. When I asked who I was speaking to he told me “This is Mike, how can I help you” I asked if this was a business and HE HUNG UP ON ME. I sent an e-mail to the ladies I have been dealing with telling that what I had read about their so called company and asking them to please explain because I am not interestedin going to jail or laundering money. I was looking for a legitimate home job that I could do to supplement our income. In the meantime, they do have the routing number and account number for the new account that I just opened, but I have not received any money from them. I did not give them any passwords or social security numbers, but they do have my home address and name. What should I do????
Nicole, report this to the bank immediately. You never received money from them right?
No I haven’t received a penny. Just the phone call today where the guys said to check my e-mail as I would have a deposit in the next day or two. When I called him back, and asked if this was a business, he hung up on me
I just called bank and closed the new accoun that I just opened for this. Bank says to contact the BBB, but other than that as long as I did not give them any other account numbers or personal information, I should be fine. I feel a little better although I feel pretty stupid that I beleive in this. I have not heard from the ladies that I have been dealing with for the last 3 weeks, I did send them an e-mail asking them to explain what I had just discovered here on this site. I guess its a lessoned learned for sure…Of course I will never get paid for the text editting I did. Thank God I decided to call that guy back and when he hung up on me, I went to the internet and found this. Thank you
Nicole, as you can see from the comments on this post you are by no means the only one to fall for this. I’m just glad you avoided getting involved any further.
I nearly got sucked into the same Dating Site scam, and actually went as far as receiving my first text to edit. I decided to search the web for scams before I sent it back, and I’m so glad I did! Of course it was too good to be true! At the very least I could spend a month editing texts and not receive any payment, so I have emailed them asking for my expenses to be paid in advance (electricity, internet, etc.) in the hope that they will not contact me again. Oh, and I’ll make sure to mark all their correspondence as ‘junk mail’! It’s such a shame that honest people wanting/needing to earn a bit of extra money are taken advantage of by such criminal activity.
Lizzie, thank goodness you did your research before you went any further. You might want to look into AccuTran Global. They are hiring people to do transcription and editing. I recently had the owner, Jennifer Lundrigan on my radio show. You can listen to it here on the blog. It’s on the upper-right under the heading Radio Show Podcasts.
thank god for this site!!! Is there anything further I can do to prevent this from happening again. I have apparently earned £48 of them, which I now know I will not receive, but there has to be something we could do to prevent this from happening
oh and i have only done the editing work, but after understanding what i was editing searched the web. Didn’t like what I was editing!!!
The best defense is to research before jumping into any opportunity. Unfortunately, the scammers are constantly evolving, so really checking into a company before making any commitments is the key.
I get these all the time. I just got one again yesterday from the wedding agency or something, what I dont understand is why they would send multiple email from different addresses and not change any of the text? Anyway I thought it was a scam but figured I should at least look up the company name, looks like I did the right thing. Wish I could find a job to work from home though…
Hi Sharon , thanks a million for your post.
i have been editing some texts , and they offered me the same job as to transfer money with my bank account,
They called them selves as global wedding agency,
The texts that they gave to edit actually made me believe that they are doing legitimate business.
But before i send my details , i wanted to know more abt their business , so i googled but couldnt find any company info , and luckily i found your article.
Believe me its shame to say , but i even typed the email with my bank details ,and thanks to you im safe now
Lahiru, I’m so glad you decided to do some research. It just goes to show you how important it is to look into any opportunity before making a commitment!
lhutchison@gmx.us Linda Hutchinson wrote me after I edited enough text to earn $170.00 in a few days.
Dear Annetta,
Thank you very much for working with us.
Your current Balance earned = $170.00
Please be in touch, as today later we will contact you once again.
You will be given an offer to work with us with different positions.
Please check email from us soon.
Sincerely,
Marriage Services Agency
I can’t believe I fell for this too! I feel like an idiot! Like everyone here that fell for this, I wanted to supplement my income, because of the economy and the fact that I hadn’t worked in 1.1 years. What a cruel world we live in.
I think the job agencies that send these alerts to those of us who have our resumes uploaded on their site should screen these so called companies a little better. It’s going to make these job sites look just as bad as those so called companies who are scamming innocent hardworking folks that just want to make an honest living and provide for their families. I am VERY upset about this!
OMG! I responded to this exact ad for text editing position. I completed 2 assignments from them and “supposedly” earned $85 in an account they have for me. They said it’s a trial basis for a month. I wasn’t asked to open an account or pay anything for this (so far). I am disappointed because this just proves if it sounds too good to be true then it must be…
OMG! I have been working for this company now for an entire month I did the text editing and i have done four transfers so for. I can’t believe this I am in so much trouble. I have been e-mailing Global Wedding Agency for the past two weeks about my salary and have gotten no response. But i have done four transfers for the already and today i discovered your post on this business, I wish i found this the first time i searched this company. I can not afford to pay back this money. I saw this has a blessing in disgust, I lost my job back in August and i am single mother I needed this money.
Ramona, contact your bank right away and tell them what has happened.
What should I tell them? How I was stupid enough to give out my info and unknowingly helped these people steal from innocent hardworking individuals like myself.
This is the two e-mail addresses that contacted me Marsha Thompson ; Melissa Felicio Felicio and when they called the number showed up weird on the caller id 0000123456