I posted my resume on a career finding website, and I got an email back from a Mr. Jeffry Hofmann, and he said he wanted me to cash checks for them, and become an agent for their company here in the U.S., claiming that he was from Austraillia. I was to keep 10% of the money that I cashed, and send the rest to him. It sounded easy, but I am not stupid, so I played along, and he sent the checks. $1,500 worth, but again, he not being so bright, sent them from someon in Florida? I immidiatly asked him who in the company lived in Florida? He couldn't give me a straight answer, but he wanted me to take my cut, and wire him the rest. He at first said it was going to his lawyer, then a customer in... Nigeria. Ding! An alarm rang, and I checked all the Nigerian false check reports. I read a bunch, but told him I would cash the check. The address in Florida is the one listed with the company.
Again, I was taking all saftey precautions, so I went to a local bank, and opened a new account, with only the checks that he sent to me. I took out the $150 he promised me, and waited for the checks to clear. He called me immidiatly and said "You have to send the checks now!" And then I asked, playing dumb, "why so soon?" He said they "needed it to pay of rent to their buildings, and equipment." So, of course I never sent the payment, and today I got a call from my bank, telling me that all 3 checks were fakes, and that the ink mark on them was fake, and that is how they could tell! Good thing I didn't send the money.
Some things that helped me stay safe is 1) His voice sounded like a Nigerian, so when he told me he was from Austrailia, I didn't buy that. 2) He was so urgent in wanting the money. 3) He ended his letters with "God Bless" Only a non-business person would write that, because an Australian business man would say "Good Day" or something of that nature. 4) He asked me to send the money to 3 different people, first his lawyer, second a client in Nigeria, and then when I told him I don't feel safe sending it to Nigeria, he gave me a "friends" name in the UK. I called Belkin textiles, and they said they don't know who Jeffrey Hofmann is, and so this is not a rip off report on them. Its on Jeffrey Hofmann, who claims to work for them, but he doesn't. 5) He called me once, but his accent was so thick, I couldn't understand him, and then he got one of his friends to call for him, but he still sounded like a Nigerian, but posed as Jeffrey! Hello, red flag went up, and I played dumb and went along, knowing all along that he was a fake.
Luckily, I didn't lose any money. On the other hand, the 3 checks that he overnighted me by FedEx probably cost him $20 Sounds like he is the one that ended up on the bad end! When he calls me, it shows up as "Restricted Call" because it is international, so I know there is probably no way to pursue him in a lawsuit, but warning to anyone else out there: don't cash any checks for anybody! I got another email yesterday, this one is from Zimbabwe! They just don't stop coming. I am going to try to attatch some of the emails that he sent to me, so everyone can see what it looks like.
Here is the 1st email:
"BELKINS TEXTILES LTD.
(Open only to US Citizens and residents)
Dear sir/madam
Would you like to work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly?
We are glad to offer you a job position at our Company, Belkins Textiles Ltd. Is a Australia textile company. We produce and distribute clothing materials such as batiks, assorted fabrics and traditional costume worldwide.
We have reached big sales volume of textile materials in the Europe and now are trying to penetrate the US market. Quite soon we will open representative offices or authorized sales centers in the US and therefore we are currently looking for people who will assist us in establishing a new distribution network there. The fact is that despite the US market is new for us we already have regular clients which also speaks for itself.
What you need to do for us?
The international money transfer tax for legal entities (companies) in AU is 25%, whereas for the individual it is only 10%. There is no sense for us to work this way, while tax for international money transfer made by a private individual is 10%. That's why we need you! We need agents to receive payment for our textiles (in money orders, check or bank wire transfers) and to resend the money to us via Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer. This way we will save money because of tax decreasing.
JOB DESCRIPTION?
1. Recieve payment from Clients
2. Cash Payments at your Bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed.
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to (Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer).
How much will you earn?
10% from each operation! For instance: you receive 7000 USD via checks or money orders on our behalf. You will cash the money and keep $700 (10% from$7000) for yourself! At the beginning your commission will equal 10%, though later it will increase up to 12%!
Advantages
You do not have to go out as you will work as an independent contractor right from your home
office. Your job is absolutely legal. You can earn up to $3000-4000 monthly depending on time you will spend for this jobYou do not need any capital to start. You can do the Work easily without leaving or affecting your present Job. The employees who make efforts and work hard have a strong possibility to become managers. Anyway our employees never leave us due to our excellent work condition.
Main requirements
*18 years or older
*Legally capable And Responsible
*Ready to work 3-4 hours per week with PC knowledge
*E-mail and internet experience (minimal)
And please know that everything is absolutely legal, that's why you have to fill a contract form!
EMPLOYMENT/CONTRACT FORM
Reference No: - LSLCA/2031/8161/05
Batch No: - R4/A313/2-60
FIRST NAME...
Middle name...
Last name...
Address line 1...
Address line 2...
City...
State...
Zip code...
Phone number...
Gender...
Marital status...
Age...
Nation of origin...
If you are interested in our offer, please respond with the following details inorder for us to reach you ONLY SERIOUS AND INTERESTED APPLICANTS/WORKERS SHOULD REPLY
Warmest Regards,
JEFFREY W HOFMANN.
C.E. O Belkins Textiles Ltd.
CITY POINT HOUSE,
RSD1395
TARRA VALLEY ROAD
TARRA VALLEY
VICTORIA 3971
AUSTRALIA
Tell 61 (0) 403960694
Fax 61 (0) 403960672
RC: 64793AU"
Here is where he asked me to send it to:
"On Nov 6 11:03 PM, Jeffrey Hofmann wrote:
Hello Representative,
I would like to inform you that your payment has been processed and you
would be recieving the payment on or before 10:30am on 8th of November
please make sure you are available for delivery on Tommorrow (8nd of November
2007) and once again these are the instructions you are meant to follow:
1}once the money orders have been delivered to you, i would like you to take
the money orders to your bank or preferably your credit union and deposit
them for 24hrs of verification.
2}immediately the money has been given to you after 24hrs, you are to
proceed to western union with either your credit card or debit card to remit
the funds to our lawyer via western union (when the money has cleared take
your credit card or debit card to any western union location near you to
send the money and if you don't have either of the 2 you can send it with
cash) to enable him close the lease agreement on the new and bigger
warehouse. Please make sure that your commission of 10% has been deducted
before sending the money via western union and remember to remove the
western union fee from the total amount left after your commission of 10%.
this is the name and address that the money would be sent to and when
sending them they should be sent to the name and address below via western
union money transfer.
name: thompson bade
city: ikeja
state: lagos
zip code: 234001
country: nigeria
When sending the money you would be asked to provide a security question and
answer to prevent from theft or scams, you should use this:
Question: pet's name?
Answer: thompson.
also after sending it pls send me the mtcn number (money transfer control
numbers and total amount sent after western union charges).
please take note of this urgent instruction:
please note: all correspondence should be made through this email address
alone {[email protected]}
any phone call you recieve from our agents should be immediately relayed to
this email address in full details with what was actually discussed, and
lastly any money processed and finally transfered via western union should
be relayed to this email address with the reciever's name used, amount
sent, senders name and address used and money transfer control number, this is
urgent because we need to keep record on the total amount sent to you
monthly by our customers.
I hope you have understood this fully and thank you once again, hope to hear
from you as soon as you receive this email.
have a nice week and god bless,
cheers,
presley gordon."
If this sounds like any email you have received, don't let them fool you. It is a classic Nigerian Check Scam.
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