Looking for a job, I posted my resume on Monster.com. A couple of days later, I received a call from a recruiter named Julie. She said her client was looking for an experienced seller on eBay to sell construction equipment online.
The job was for an Oil and Gas Construction company. It paid $1,000 per week plus commission. I spoke with the owner, named Rick Cranford, of Cranford Oil and Gas Inc., and he said he was out of the area but needed someone with good feedback to sell items on eBay. He said his wife also had some jewelry to sell. Needing the work, I decided to take the job.
First he sent me two sets of pictures of Rolex watches and descriptions as if they had come right off eBay. It was a description like a store or experienced seller would write, not like an individual just selling their old items. It made me wary that the first two items were over $10,000.
His "manager" was named Michael Perry. He sent photos and descriptions of the construction equipment. The next pictures he sent me were a Peterbilt 330 construction truck and then a John Deere tractor.
He wanted me to sell the items using my eBay account and my PayPal account. I told him I wouldn't transfer the money to him until the buyer received the items but he didn't like that. He said I'd have to give him the money before he'd ship the item. I figured I'd say OK for now - but if someone sent me money, I was going to reiterate that he needed to ship the item before I'd give him the money.
To my surprise, someone clicked the "Buy-it-Now" on one of the Rolex watches. But when he contacted me, he told me that the pictures on the auction belonged to another seller and that the pictures on the second auction had been used on an auction where a watch was sold several months ago. This guy was a very reputable dealer with 2600 feedback selling expensive items such as Rolex watches and 100% positive feedback. I believed him. I asked Rick to explain.
Rick told me that he had hired someone to sell the watches a few months ago and they were unsuccessful. This was clearly a lie, since I had even told him that the second watch had been sold months ago. Also, the pics of the second watch included a cash register receipt, so it hadn't been sold online, so none of this made sense.
I ended all of the auctions and challenged Rick to explain - suddenly his website disappeared and he stopped responding. If you are contacted by a recruiter, saying they have a client wanting to sell construction equipment and maybe some jewelry, especially if they own a Gas and Oil Construction Company, it's a SCAM!
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