Incident I'm Posting With The Intent Of Being Helpful,.

I want to make 100% clear to Jeff, Myriads, the mods, and all the members that I;m posting this thread with the intent of being helpful.

Something happened to me in the past 24-48 hours that I thought I should share.

This is particularly for the job seekers of the forum, like myself,.

I answered an ad on Craigslist, for a position that supposedly said.

"Administrative Assistant".

Which sounded like.. an office job,. or a position with a company.

Out of nowhere, yesterday, a "check" for over $2000, made out to me, arrived at my apartment via Express Mail.

I was like "WTF", because I hadn't done any consulting work, jobs, or sold any insurance, to earn said check.

I took the check to the bank, showed it to the bank officers, and explained that it had arrived out of nowhere, that I had not done any work or sold any legitimate items to earn said check, nor had there been any letter with the check saying I'd won a sweepstakes, or something, which would have been the only other reason I could have gotten a check such as the one I received. .

The "Check" it turned out, was fraudulent. Made out on a supposedly real bank, but in the name of a fake company.

They said to me "Mitchell, thank you for bringing this to us. We're going to take the check, and turn it over to the authorities. You dont have to worry about this anymore, thank you for telling us. ".

So, I thought, the incident was over. Not so..

Tonight, out of nowhere, I get another email from the same email address of "The Administrative Assistant" job.

It said. "By now you should have received the check for $2000. You are to take two thirds of said check, and give it to.. children's charity homes, etc, and keep $600 for yourself".

Since my bank said they were going to be in touch with the authorities about the check I showed to them, I'm going to go to the bank again tomorrow, tell them about the email, and ask them what they think I should do. I'm thinking, maybe forward the email to the officers of the bank, and let them deal with it, since they have the check, and said they would deal with it. This email is proof of communication from the people I got the check from.

A friend of mine suggested to never answer job ads on Craigslist.

I dont know if anyone else has had experiences like this, even though a couple of the vanilla people who I know in real life claim they have.

I just wanted to post this with the intent of being helpful, with the advice of being careful, and I hope it will be accepted as such.

Thanks.

I had a similar experience but with an item I had for sale on craigslist soon after a check arrives and I brought it to the bank and sure enough they told me it was counterfeit just like your experience, so I notified my towns police and the city in which the check was made out from. Its a real company but somehow they're system was hacked

Happened to me. Its a scam.

Happened to me too about 5 years ago. I was looking for a roommate. This person that answered my ad sent me a 2,000.00 check. Thankfully my Bf has worked as a Loss Prevention manager because I would have fell for it. Take pictures of the check, (back and front). Take it to the bank and your local police dept. This scam is nationwide but... every little bit helps catch one of them now and again.

Last night, I got an email with "instructions" of what to do with the check.

Supposedly, I was to have contributed 2/3 of it to children's charity homes, and keep $650 for myself.

So, this morning, I went back to the bank, just to inform them of the email.

They said they didnt have to see it, and to just trash it, and ignore said email, and any further ones regarding similar matters.

Of course I know there are many scams around, but I hadnt yet heard of or seen this one.

Luckily, no damage was done by it.

never heard anything good come from craig's list

Its a pretty common scam, especially on crwigs list and other job finding sites. The ads are usually similar, offering jobs as secret shoppers and setting you up with a stipend. The stipend comes in the form of a check that ends up bouncing, usually after you've finished following the job tasks of withdrawing and buying from / wiring money to wherever they say. Ends up with them having your money and you out of thousands.

Same thing happened to me when I tried to sell something on craigslist. I knew it was a scam. gotta love the internet!

The same thing just happened to me today, not sure how.

I must have answered an ad for an administrative assistant or some position on Craigslist, sometime ago, and once again today, out of nowhere , a "Check" for $1700 arrived via express mail in my mailbox, and some guy is instructing me to deposit the check tomorrow.

I'll do what I did the last time.. take it to my bank, show it to them, and let them deal with it.

It's frustrating that there seem to be these scams on Craigslist, because, the jobs websites I'm signed up for, seem to send me the same jobs repeatedly, that I've already applied to/interviewed for/ been turned down by.

Today the bank confirmed that the check was fake.

They also advised me not to answer any more jobs ads on Craigslist.

Unfortunate, because, the jobs websites I'm signed up for, seem to keep sending me the same jobs that I've already applied to/interviewed for/been rejected by.

Craigslist has so many listings for things.

Too bad their listings are apparently a waste of space/time/effort for job seekers like myself.

The bank suggested I look on Monster.com for jobs. I have searched some on there. I'll have to look further.

The scam job ads will all be worded similarly, so if you look out for that, you can avoid them.

Unfortunately, the scam is so common, it's likely you will encounter it many times over. Not really worth going to the bank every single time.

Not all jobs ads are worded the same way.

In fact, because the job ad that resulted in this check was just a few days ago, I remember exactly how it was worded.

It distinctly sounded like an office job, and being trained an an assistant to a CEO.

Mitchell said:

Not all jobs ads are worded the same way.

In fact, because the job ad that resulted in this check was just a few days ago, I remember exactly how it was worded.

It distinctly sounded like an office job, and being trained an an assistant to a CEO.

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Okie dokie. I know from my experience most were worded similarly. I could be wrong. I haven't job hunted for a couple years.

I already said that after what the bank told me today, I'm done job hunting on Craigslist.

I'll stick to other sources when looking for jobs.

Craigslist is a waste. The site should be closed down.

Only a couple of those things were said in some of ads I answered, chicago, not all of them.

It doesnt matter anymore because like I said I'm not answering ads on Craigslist anymore.

The "flavor" or "window dressing" may differ, but the scam is always the same. Any time anyone sends you a check and directs you to immediately send part of it somewhere, they are scamming you. Period. This is a con that (to make a long story very short) takes advantage of imperfections in the way that banks handle checks. The objective is to get you to send money before the check fully clears. If you had followed instructions, then you would have lost $1400. Depending on the circumstances, you could have ended up with a severe overdraft. In the nightmare, worst-case scenario, the bank could have accused you of being part of the scam, resulting in a serious waste of time and money on your part to untangle the mess.

I repeat: Any time anyone sends you a check and directs you to immediately send part of it somewhere, they are scamming you. Period.

Sorry to read about all these bad experiences. I've not used Craigslist to look for work, but I've advertised my professional services on there--yes, legit, vanilla services, shame on you for thinking otherwise--and I've gotten a few bona fide leads that I was able to separate from the scammy chaff.

luvgirlsfeet said:

I had a similar experience but with an item I had for sale on craigslist soon after a check arrives and I brought it to the bank and sure enough they told me it was counterfeit just like your experience, so I notified my towns police and the city in which the check was made out from. Its a real company but somehow they're system was hacked

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maniactickler said:

Same thing happened to me when I tried to sell something on craigslist. I knew it was a scam. gotta love the internet!

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My experience selling has been overwhelmingly positive. A few no-shows for buy meetups, but for the most part everyone who's contacted me has been real and followed through. Maybe it's because I've put up only small-time used stuff and asked just a pittance for it, and all the buyers so far have paid me in cash, which I always hold up to the light before spending and the Secret Service hasn't come around threatening to boil me in oil for passing counterfeit, so I guess that's a good thing.

Ticklerguy4u said:

never heard anything good come from craig's list

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Mitchell said:

Craigslist is a waste. The site should be closed down.

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As others here have cautioned, with the Internet you just need to play it smart and watch out for yourself. Craigslist's been around forever and is thus well established as well as partially corrupted and the no-hassle and most importantly the fee-free ad placing and selling is a huge plus. And it's hard to argue with its reach; yes, nowdays we have selling groups on Facebook up the wazoo, but Craigslist remains a go-to gateway for a lot of people and an excellent way to connect with the masses, for ill but also for good.