More and more people are turning to the Internet as a tool to find jobs. It’s almost indispensable, in fact, to any job search. Even if you don’t use the big job sites, you will need to visit your potential employers’ Web sites to learn all you can.

That’s why Jon’s experience caught my eye. He was laid off some time ago and did what millions of others do. He put his resume up at Monster.com, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and career-builder.com.

The result?

[I received] nothing but scam-scheme-fraud job offers left and right (which I spent the better part of every day looking for information on these companies sending job offers), reported them to their security dept. and several other agencies, and nothing was ever done to these scams-schemes-frauds.

After some BBB complaints I actually received an email from Careerbuilder saying that they are not responsible for scams-schemes-frauds and it’s up to the people using their site to find out what’s a scam-scheme-fraud.

Didja catch that? CareerBuilder.com says it’s not their responsibility to determine what is a real job offer and what is not. Buyer beware. Or in this case, broke and maybe desperate job seeker beware.

What-the-hell ever.

Is it the responsibility of these sites to hold your hand through the process? No. They’re not your mother. You’re supposed to keep your brain turned on.

But any Web site offering a job-related service messes with the real lives of people. They have a moral obligation to either (1) do something to prevent fraudulent use of their service, or (2) post a big giant warning that says, If someone says they found your resume on CareerBuilder, it’s a scheme. Don’t waste your time!

Jon continues:

With that said, I also believe that any legitimate company offering customers a product/service should check anything out before they advertise/offer it to anybody. They however don’t, come to find out their claim is there is too many calls coming in to check everyone , but have a dept. for after the fact situations of scams-schemes-frauds posted on their site. Isn’t that a little backwards? So basically as long as any company/person pays to advertise on your site they can put up any scam-scheme-fraud job posting.

What Kind of Junk Jobs?

When you post your resume at public sites, you are in a sense posting a target to your back. Not always, of course. Not everyone. But far, far too many people receive scam invitations disguised as job offers.

Here’s the kind of crap that CareerBuilder and other large job sites enable:

This is where I was contacted by wealthdci.com-Angela Penbrook productions for rebate processing, which at the time this company didn’t show Angela Penbrooks name or had any ratings with the BBB or any other consumer agency. So I kept reading their site and it looked like something I could do and signed up, which is when I then found out it was one of Angela Penbrook Productions out of Irvine,CA. A quick search lead me to numerous complaints websites going back for years, I quickly felt a punch in the gut feeling and emailed for my 90-day money guarantee. No answer to several emails then I called and called only to receive Lie after Lie that we are processing your refund that never came, so days before my 90 days was up I called my credit card company faxed copies of my emails and their answers to them for proof. I was lucky and received my refund through the credit card company ,which after a few days they acknowledged their investigating dept actually has known about this Angela Penbrook Productions companies.

Jon’s experience with fraudulent “jobs” doesn’t stop there:

Then the emails/calls for representatives out of country jobs> “We heard you were looking for a home business type jobs, since you filled out an application to our service/product” type of stuff was overwhelming. Every day almost 40-70 emails/calls. First I forwarded some of them to the FCC, FTC, BBB, SEC , Attorney General, but none of them had any registered business names with any county clerks office-using mail pick up places as company address’s-etc. etc.

Most stopped and then I recieved an email from HiringMax (Fountain Valley,CA) saying Careerbuilder gave me your info and I am posting your resume on our site for companies to view, you should also stop by one of our work fairs too. I checked this company out, but there is no business registered by that name either with any LA/OC county clerks office for 2 different main offices listed on their website, plus they were using hotel work fairs address’s as one of their company addresses.

So I confronted Careerbuilder about them sending my resume info to HiringMax and was told by a manager they never did any such thing. Then I confronted this “Fred” at HiringMax and he kept claiming CB sent him my info. I asked him how can that be when they said they never did any such thing and my resume was off their site for 2 months? Then he got really rude and, long story short finally said he would take my info off their site, but after searching this company/person out more, I found Ripoff Report complaints from employees and customers that said he would send employees to other companies job fairs to get/sometimes steal people’s info from their lists.

We have seen too many complaints like this about CareerBuilder for me to just cast it off as one person’s bad experience. Monster.com and Yahoo Hot Jobs post plenty of junk jobs (ever search for “telecommuting?” Don’t.), but I’ve never heard of people being directly contacted by fraudsters who say they got their resume from Monster.

Just be extra cautious. As the number of people searching for work increases, so does the number of scum-sucking bottom feeders who are working hard to take your last grocery money from you.

So here is a partial list of the “I was scammed” experiences we have collected over the past week from comments and e-mail. If you would like to speak up, share your experience in the comments section. You could very well help someone from making the same mistake(s) you made.

Herbalife and Partnerwithpaul.com

I’m worse….I did sign up for herbalife and got screwed! So let’s count…..
$9.95 – package, 39.95 to keep it, $149 to sign up, $88 in product, $118 in product ordered that I did not request (this is full price by the way), $20 for the on line traning………So that’s about $425 that I didn’t have in the 1st place. My husband was laid off in Jan 2009 – still not working, I was laid off in June 2009. So obviously I didn’t have a lot of money to throw at this thing. Once my sponsor found that out I shoved to the back corner. Also, I tried taking the products – I can’t handle them….I have a heart condition and they affect my heart. I tried to explain this to my sponsor and she gets all rude. I asked to return the products and shes mouthing off to me how I’m negative and if I REALLY have a heart problem I should take them. Honestly! Like I don’t know how to take care of my condition! On top of all that – my mail was stolen from my mailbox which had my completed application in it – no according to herbalife I don’t exist as a distributor because they don’t have a hard copy – and to get another app is another $50!

So Yes, stay away! Anytime you head the word ‘Parner with Paul, or Herbalife’ run the other way – hang up the phone, delete the email, etc.

FromHomeDataEntry.com

This company’s parent company is Plimus.com
If you paid through Paypal, look at the receipt and it will tell you where the money was sent. I am also one of the people duped by this site. I fully intend to allot a certain amount of money to advertise against this company. I am disabled and am in the middle of getting my disability and can’t afford to be scammed but it happened. These people have no conscience nor heart. I plan to post negative threads(the truth) about this company whenever the opportunity presents itself.

AboutFaceCorp.com

I was looking for a mystery shopper job and I applied for this company called AboutFacecorp. com and well this site is a scam and what they did was copy the companies exact site so when you sign up it goes to them and not the campany. They would want you to shop a western union and rate it. They would send you checks that look real but indeed they are fake checks. Would just like to share that info with you. I also let the company know that this is going on and she relpied and said thank you and check the email that is comes from and she said no company will have live, yahoo, or hotmail as their email address. Just would like to share that info.

Fake Checks from LightSpeed Panel

I called because I was sent two checks in the mail saying I won for taking a moneygram survey, when I asked the man who I called what to do he told me to go to my bank cash it and then call him, I then asked him if I could read off the internet about this lightspeed panel and quoted that the checks were fraudulant and from canada and another man was told to contact fraud department and he instantly hung up on me. Once I said your are a fraud he hung up. I gave him the wrong bank and everything. No personal info. This shit is a scam. They will screw you over. Do not take the bait! I personally find it quite cruel to offer money to people saying they won money when they are very poor and cant even buy groceries. Its like hope and then its smashed. These con artists should go to jail. Dont respond to a man called Mike Daddy.

Bogus Web site charges from IMC

I WAS SCAMED BY IMC I WENT TO PAY THEM $97 FOR A WEB SITE BUT AFTER I GAVE THEM MY BANKING INFO A MESSAGE CAME BACK THAT THEY COULD NOT PROCESS MY CREDIT CARD ,BUT WHEN I CHECKED MY BANK ACCOUNT 2 DAYS LATER THEY HAD DEBITED MY ACCOUNT FOR $197 DO ANY BODY HAVE THERE CUSTORMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER PLEASE RESPOND BURRUSROY@GMAIL.COM THANK YOU

I was scammed by Igomogul. I’ve finally figured out how this scam works. Igomogul gets you to contract a website design through them. Igomogul makes an account with godaddy listing you as the registrant, this is $10 a year. Once a person looks at the “who is” and sees they are the registrant they are convinced they control the domain name. If they look at the bottom they will discover that it says registrant can not delete, renew, transfer, or update the account.

Should you call godaddy they will tell you that only the person or company with the log on, password, PIN or account number has control over the domain account. As such the person or company with that information can delete, renew, transfer, update, sell, give away, or close the account at any time without consent from the registrant or their knowledge.

Should the website fail Igomogul simply tells the registrant is it their fault. Should the website prove successful Igomogul hs the legal right to sell it and keep the money. Furthermore the content placed on the website is copyrighted to whomever has the account information, so that also becomes the property of Igomogul. Igomogul can use GoDaddy design and development tools to create the site; this costs less than $50 a year.

At the end of the first 90 days Igomogul demands more money, if you do not pay then they remove the ads from the free AdSense program and the website now requires a membership log in fee. If you want links added to your webpage Igomogul asks for more money, again this is a free program that they do not pay for. The bottom line is that Igomogul takes advantage of people who do not have the experiance to realize everything provided by Igomogul is free or costs less than $100 a year.

Igomogul also uses your google account information to add Analytic, AdSense and the webmaster tool. All of these programs are free so Igomogul pays nothing to use them. The webmaster tool is the most important one for Igomogul to have access too. Should godaddy
agree to transfer the domain account to you then Igomogul still controls the website through the webmaster tool. Once Igomogul has the code to the webmaster tool you are locked out and can not verify ownership of the website or use it. At this point it is a standoff, you can sell the domain name however Igomogul is the only ones with access to what is added or removed from it. The website becomes worthless to both parties.

Igomogul knows the odds are in their favor that they will not have to refund any money.
Most people have used their credit cards to pay Igomogul and are accruing interest; hiring a lawyer and the added expense of traveling back and forth to Pheonix is also beyond their means. Arizona small claims maximum is well below what most people have paid so they will take a loss if they pursue small claims and win. When faced with the options most people cut their losses, give up and go away.

Should you file complaints with the Arizona BBB then Igomogul says that if you sign a different agreement they will release control to you. If you agree to sign then you forfeit all the money you have paid Igomogul and also agree not to pursue any further legal action against Igomogul. Why should you sign an agreement to take control of something that Igomogul was paid to create for you and register ownership for you in your name?

Igomogul claims that the Statement of Work protects them from lawsuits and being forced to give you a refund. If you read the SOW carefully you will notice that it says they are working on a website for the client. Since Igomogul owns and controls the website
they are their own client and they are using your money to develop and design a website for themselves.

When push comes to shove and you demand verification of anything via email or mail Igomogul refuses, they insist all conversations take place over the phone. If you should call them and you refuse to accept what they tell you they then begin playing a phone shell game with you, transferring you from one person to the next until you give up. They want to play he said she said phone tag so that you do not have any proof as to what was said over the phone.

A Better Way to Start Your Site

Did you know that Steve, our resident tech geek, has offered to help you set up your own site for free? You keep ownership of your work, no hassle, no hidden fees. Check out the free offer.

What happens is, once you give up your credit card info ($1.97 for shipping is no biggie, right?), you are signed up for a paid monthly membership. On the other hand, why do they need to charge a shipping fee for an electronic product? Rose tells the sad story:

I signed up for the free kit. No big loss @ only 1.97. I never had an opportunity to view the treasure chest information as some have explained above. I waited, and waited and…you guessed it waited some more. I finally opened an account online to view my credit card statement and saw the charges of the 1.97 plus the first charge of 70+ dollars. I filed a dispute with the credit card company and said I was responsible for the first charge. They may be able to get the refund for the second charge. I cancelled my card so I know it will stop. As far as calling the number for the refund, I get nowhere! To all who want to be self employed, this is not a way to get employment. Stay away from these schemes, they are not good for your emotional health! If there is any advice from anyone, I am willing to hear it!!

Pages like Joshmadecash and Coreyhasmoney are just funneling sites. That means when you click on whatever it is you have to click on to learn more, you are sent to the sales page of some flashy make money online program. In the case of Joshmadecash, you’re sent to buy Google Treasure Chest, one of the scammiest things we’ve seen in a while.

Here’s Carol’s story:

Initially this site came up and stupidly after reading this guys statement about how this was 100% trusted and guarenteed and totally risk and scam free, I entered my details. I was then connected to a video presentation about setting up a merchant bank account. An application form for IMAX Bancard Network then followed. At this point I became very suspicious and did not fill it in. However the next minute yet another link appeared re GoogleTreasureChest. It was at this point that the terms and conditions were made available for reading. I haven’t set up any password or acknowledged any membership number but I assume that because I had entered my card details re the shipping cost of $1.97 this could mean they are able to charge my card. I contacted Barclaycard who have blocked my card. This now means that nothing can be taken by anyone. Just tried to ring the 001-888-705-1275-001 but got no answer. Can anyone advise me if I need to do anything else or will what I have done suffice. Can’t believe I’ve been so stupid.

If you want all the dirty details on how these types of sites operate, read Battle of the Putzes. Reading the terms and conditions would be a good idea, too. But even if you do that, these jerks make it almost impossible to cancel. You’re much better of just staying away from them entirely.

The Oh-So-Friendly Knock

I was getting ready to go meet some friends for dinner last night when I heard a knock on the door. I assumed one of my friends decided to meet at my place first and I opened the door to an unfamiliar face. Before I could even get a word out Mr. Salesman had already begun his pitch.

Immediately, he started explaining his life story to me and how he wanted to go back to school to become a sports announcer and magazine sales were helping him achieve his dream. I told him that I wished him luck, but I wasn’t interested in any magazine subscriptions. Frustration swept over his face and he went off on how he was a top-seller and was only a few hundred points from winning a trip to the Bahamas. I again told him good luck and no thanks, but that wasn’t about to deter him.

He asked if he could write down my name and address so his boss knew that he was out trying to get subscriptions. I was in a hurry to get him out of here and started telling him my name when he cut me short. He needed something to write on. I turned around to grab a notebook off of my kitchen counter. I grabbed it and turned around to see him sitting on my couch. He said he could just use the table here to write as it would be much easier.

Okay, now I’m a bit creeped out. This stranger is in my apartment and isn’t very good at accepting no.

He wrote down my name and address and started his pitch again. This time he handed me a list of magazines that were available and told me to look through it. I again told him that I didn’t need a magazine but instead of acknowledging what I had said he asked me what type of music I listened to. I was a bit thrown off and regrettably replied “Rock.” And thus the final attempt at his pitch began.

“The Rolling Stone would be perfect for you,” he told me as he started rattling off prices. Initially he wanted me to sign up for 4-years for $125, but since “he liked me” he offered me the two year price at $52.00, which is still a ridiculously inflated rate.

It was about this time that I had found the cancellation instructions on the back of one of the papers he had handed me. Armed with these, I decided to play his game to just get him the hell out of my apartment. He was ecstatic to hear me agree and informed me that “you’ll be saving over $50 on the cover price when you order through us!”

He then informed me of a $15.00 “processing fee” as he handed me a $67.00 bill. I wrote out a check payable to the company listed on the order form and sent him on his way.

It had been a very uncomfortable fifteen minutes.

Immediately after he left, I started to Google as much information about the company as possible. I stumbled upon hundreds of complaints at Rip-off Report with claims of being charged and never receiving any magazines. The two companies in charge of handling magazine subscriptions are the Pacific Coast Clearing Services Inc. and Unlimited Sale, Inc. (253)851-8414 located at 5775 Soundview Dr., Suite 103C Gig Harbor, WA 98335. I quickly called Unlimited Sale Inc. to let them know that I had changed my mind about the order. They told me to mail away a copy of my receipt and assured me that the check would not be cashed.

A word of advice, if a kid comes to your door trying to sell magazines to win a trip or further his or her education, cut the conversation short and get them on their way as quickly as possible.

So, here I sit anxiously checking my bank account every 15 minutes to make sure that the $67.00 I sent away doesn’t leave my bank account. I don’t have much hope at this point. I’ll let you know of any further updates.

Leave a comment below if you’ve had an experience with these people or if you know how I can definitely get my money back.

We get bizarre e-mail messages sometimes, calling us to task for being shameless scammers, or from a victim of negative option marketing demanding their money back. Today’s “Huh?” moment came in the form of a comment on the Jordangetsgreen post. Kim writes:

Jordan,

I live here in Bentonville and I want to know if you are a real person and if this really works. I can meet you in person and talk about it.

Thank you,

Kim [last name removed]

Ummm….Kim? You do realize I’m not Jordan, right? And that the Jordan you see isn’t a real person? And that this non-real person doesn’t really live in Bentonville, just where you happen to live? (His page uses a script that detects where your computer is coming from and then reprograms the page accordingly.)

Of course you do. You were just giving a suggestion for a snarky reply to his cheesy Web site. I get it…that’s funny!

Anyway, because those messages are sometimes amusing, I figured I would toss this out and see if I can get some of the capitalist, Ayn Randian Kool-Aid drinkers to reply.

Stay Away from the Quixtar “Opportunity”

Quixtar is Amway’s reinvention of itself, which was necessary after the original name became more toxic in the 80s and 90s than collateralized debt obligations are today.

Why so toxic? Because disreputable and unethical Amway distributors have for decades made unrealistic claims about income potential and money-saving potential of buying Amway products. In short, they lied through their coffee-stained teeth.

I should know. I was one of the smiling zombies for about 4 years in the early 90s. I was trained to lie. (I just didn’t know I was doing it.)

But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of a high-ranking (Emerald) former distributor, who is now telling the truth about Amway/Quixtar. You can even download a free ebook about his experiences, called Merchants of Deception.

If you join the cult “opportunity,” you’ll be joining a business that boasts:

• A 99% failure rate (99% of the distributorships lose money)
• A 97% attrition rate (97% of distributors quit by year 5. There goes your downline!)
• Unabashedly higher prices than for comparable products at retail outlets
• Unrestricted opportunity to buy “training” tools and “motivational” tools to help you “build your business”

I could go on, but you should really go read the whole story for yourself, especially if you’re considering getting involved with a business whose legal status is constantly being challenged with litigation charging deceptive practices.

New game in town for Penbrook or Stevens or how about “thief.” I have been a victom of this company, which is now called THE SUCESS TEAM. How about losing 12 to 13 thousand dollars?! Yes, you have read right. I am disabled and wanted to bring in some extra income for my family and here I sit with Angelkissesllc.com. That’s it in a nutshell.

I responded to an ad for rebate processing and the next thing I remeber I was buying a website and then signing up with dropshippers. I did this for one year and made 00000 dollars.

I want to see these people pay for the damages they have caused me and my family. They take your money like that and then they run and avoid phone calls and faxes and emails.

Has anyone else had experience with Tria Media or The Success Team? If so we want to hear from you. There is no better disinfectant for Web scum than sunlight. Are you a representative of The Success Team? We would like to hear from you, too, if you want to address Beth’s complaints.

Career Renegade Announcement

One thing I failed to note in my Career Renegade post yesterday: The book has an excellent companion Web site where you can get a good taste of the book (and can download the introduction for free) and its philosophy before you buy it. Check it out at Career Renegade.com

I think I’m screwed because I did not read the small print from excitement about this program called Grant Research. Even my banker tried to help me. I guess I have learned my lesson the hard way. I have not even received their CD that I was suppose to get and they have charged me for S&h plus a $59.95 charge at two different times in the same month. I was talk ed to by their Manager so condenscending and still no REFUND. Thanks for sharing your website, a little late for me.

You’ve seen them all over the Internet: advertisements promising to show you how to get free government grants. (Maybe you’ll even see some advertised on this site, automatically generated by the keywords in this post.)

Free money?! Awesome! You click for info and before you know it, you’re paying for a starter kit or an exclusive Web site or processing fees, or whatever. Don’t be fooled. Here are the facts:

• Yes, the US government does give away free money in some circumstances.
• You don’t have to pay to apply or find out about grants or receive money. That’s why they’re free.
• The US government will never call you or write you saying you’ve been approved for a grant. These calls, letters, and emails are always scams.

We’re going to take a closer look this week at the “free grants” claims made online. We might even sign up for an offer and see where it leads us. Stay tuned, and remember: never pay for something that’s supposed to be free.

Checks from “Al Snyder” or “Smith Enterprises” Are Fake!

We wrote about this fake check scam back in June, shortly after it appeared.

In the last week, the comments on that post have exploded (19 comments since 8/25). Why? Because he has been sending checks like mad—like the crook he is. They are usually for $4,765, give or take a couple hundred, drawn on Washington Mutual. They are poor fakes, easily spotted as such by anyone who looks closely.

People who are financially vulnerable fall for the scam and cash the check, only to be badly burned days or weeks later when their bank says, “Hey! It was fake! You owe us $5,000 plus penalties!”

If you get a check from Al Snyder, or Blossom Homes Corporation or Smith Enterprises or Upland Product Development, take it straight to the post office and file a complaint with the Postmaster General. Maybe also the local FBI office. Yes, your ship has come in, but it’s full of holes and rats. Don’t get on it. Sink it!

Don’t Cash Checks from Awardchecks.com or .net!

Here are some of the recent comments posted around I’ve Tried That.

I received a Washington Mutual Bank check for $4,980.00 on MaY 30, 2008. It was from “Al Snyder”, a “grant broker” working for “Award Checks.” The check looks legitimate, does not have to be repaid, and required only a paltry 10% commission to Mr. Snyder to deposit or cash. Thanks to “I’ve Tried That” and Joyce, Johnny, Terry and BP, I kept the $498.00 that would have gone to “Al Snyder” in my pocket where it belongs. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

[Note by Joe: This commenter wouldn't have just lost $498. His bank would have held him liable for the face value of the false check he cashed—$4,980! See Steve's complete explanation below.]

I also got a check from this Al Snyder for $4980. Sounded too good to be true to me as well, and it didn’t take very long to figure out that is total BS. Mine was from Blossom Homes Corporation as well. Ill be reporting this to the authorities.

May 31,2008 also received check for $4970.00 from AWARDSCHECKS.COM aka Al Snyder. Yeah damn scammers always F’N UP real honest peoples day. But have too say very tempted to cash and havem’ make me repay a scammers fake check. Someone needs to find these people and makem’ pay every cent they scammed pluse more. A–HOLES.

I recieved a check from a Mr. Al Snyder, grant broker with Blossom Homes Corporation on May 31, 2008 for 4980.00. I googled Blossom Homes Corporation and thanks in part to I’ve Tried That,and a friend who works in a bank I found out about this dishonest scam. I will report this to the proper authorities,as all these people need to pay for thier lack of integrityand their dishoesty.

Order of Operations
All fake check scams operate in the same manner. The victim, you, probably received a large check in the mail. You have no idea where this check came from but it’s free money, right? What could be better? Well, accompanying that check is a list of instructions. You have probably been directed to go to the bank and deposit the check. Then you are to take about 90% of the money you deposited and send a moneygram via Western Union to whoever sent you the check. Lucky for you, the letter says you get to keep 10% of the check for yourself.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. The check, of course, is fraudulent. The check will bounce (maybe as much as a year later) and your account will most likely be thousands of dollars in the red. Unfortunately for you, the bank account the check was sent from doesn’t exist and now you’re solely responsible for the debt. Not the bank, not the scammer, but YOU. What was once a promising opportunity has now turned into a hellish nightmare. You are responsible for paying back the bank and the scammer now has thousands of your hard-earned dollars.

What Can You Do?
First things first, DO NOT cash that check. Listen to me. The check is fraudulent. Don’t let yourself become another victim. The thousands of dollars is tempting, but they do not exist. You will lose that money, be deeply in debt, and could even do jail time. The check may have successfully deposited into your bank account, but that’s only because banks have to make any deposited funds readily available to you. When the bank goes to withdrawal the money from the bank account listed on the check, it won’t be there and the check will bounce. Report the fraudulent check to the proper authorities immediately.

You can also spread the word about this article. Link to it wherever you think it will be helpful. Send it out in emails or post it on forums. We need to educate as many people as we can about this scam.

Update 9/13/08
Readers have been writing to tell us about other names involved in this scam. Here are the ones we know about so far, and we’ll add to this list as we hear about them:
Smith Enterprises
Tabatha Clark
El Cajon Consulting
Davis Software Concepts
Upland Product Development
Jim Walsh