I replied to a classified job advertisement in my local newspaper for a driver/courier job. It offered flexible scheduling and a salary of $2300/month. The only contact information was a telephone number of 1-800-332-1520. I contacted this number and got a recording that stated "Thank you for calling the services. If you are calling regarding the driving position please write down the following information.
You will need reliable transportation and the position pays $2300 per month. A deposit of $295 is required and we are looking for only a select few individuals, so serious inquiries only. New drivers are allowed one referral. Please leave your name and phone number for more information."
I left my information and received a call back from a gentleman calling himself Steve Daniels from a telephone number of 713-665-9183. He claimed to be from Antel Services based out of the Philippines with offices in L.A. And Houston, Texas.
The job was emptying privately owned pay phones on a 50 phone route and depositing the coin boxes at a central bank. I was asked to provide 3 local zip codes where I would like for my route to be located within. I was instructed to send a $295 deposit for the coin boxes and equipment. I could also go on a waiting list and deposit nothing, but I would not be guaranteed a job or a preferred route.
He had all kinds of details such as this being a new 3 year contract, pay period dates, direct deposit information, information about taking off, description on how the boxes and services worked, referring family members for more income, etc. I called the 800 number several times and the recording changed a few times with less and less information each time.
I decided to send money and was instructed that the only way to send it was via Western Union. I was given a bunch of contact information and sent $295 that was to be refunded to a person named Jenelyn Tan in Davao City 8000 in the Philippines. I was given an ID number of N5, and instructed that my equipment would arrive one week later. I called later in the week and the recording now said that no new applicant were being accepted and again stated the date of package arrival.
No package arrived and 1 day later the 800 number was disconnected. The other number rings until it is eventually picked up by a fax machine or a modem. Both numbers can be traced back to the Houston, Texas area, but there is no public information about them. Neither my police, Houston Police, my attorney general or any federal agency seem to care about investigating that.
This is a large and expanding crime. I found the same advertisement in newspapers from across the country.in my searches I also found another reference to this scam on this web-site located at usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff154416.htm and a reference to it on an Ohio television news station's
Web-site at http://www.wdtn.com/dsp_story. Cfm? Storyid=16401&RequestTimeout=500
This guy seems to be doing this continuously in different cities across the country and using different telephone numbers, names and company names involving %Services each time. He also seems to be doing this out of Houston every time, and should be easy enough to catch, but nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it.
Someone that can should coordinate efforts with Western Union (always used, and the Philippines angle is also always used), Houston Police, the federal government, newspapers who ran and run the ads, and the telephone company. If he is able to get away with doing this from the same city, with the same pattern for a period of years, it should be possible to isolate and catch him.
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