I just got scammed

[Ex-MA Hole]

Sigh. I'm usually good at sniffing this stuff out, but not this time. Lesson learned, and fortunately it was a cheap one...

My Wife is looking for a job to bring in some extra money. She responded to an ad on Criagslist for a data entry job, working from home. My Sister's best friend does a data entry job at home for a local hospital, entering billing information. No red flags.

The woman's email address was a from an internet company that is owned by AT&T, so it looked legit. Everything lined up. We paid a small fee for the (a whopping $10 for their "training materials"), to find out that it is a scam. The fee raised a bit of a flag, but my Wife has had a few other hair- brained indeas in the past, and all of them had some sort of small fee to get started.

$10, whatever.

Well, what the job is, is placing various ads on various job sites, to sucker people in to paying the $10 fee. When people pay you the $10, you send them instructions on how to screw people, just like you were screwed.

Sigh, I feel like an idiot.  Oh, and I left her email address below, if anyone feels like emailing her to say hi, that's be fine.


"Hello,

Thank you for your interest in the part time typist position. This is a legitimate offer for self-motivated people wanting to make some extra income. Work when you want and how much you want. This is a great way to make money for college students, pay off holiday debt, or just supplement your existing income.

Position Description:

Work at home Part-time or Full-time, and earn $300-$500 per week. You do not have to contact anyone by phone. You will be processing responses from ads on line, which will be explained to you in the step-by-step training materials. All you need is a computer with a valid e-mail address and basic typing skills. Each ad takes approx. 15-20 minutes to process. There is no contract to sign, and the amount of work you choose to do is up to you. This opportunity has unlimited possibilities. Work how much you want--and at the time you choose. A perfect option for stay at home moms or dads or anyone who wants their work to revolve around their life, and not the other way around.

Compensation:

You will be paid $10-$20 for each application that you process.

Method of Payment:

You will receive payment for each application you process though Pay pal. You are paid for each application you process as soon as you process them. No waiting for a weekly paycheck. The amount of money you make depends on how much time you choose
to put into it.

Training:

The training materials you will receive give you step-by-step instruc tions on how to get started. You may begin working the same day you receive your materials because everything is done on line. There is no special software requirement.

There is a "ONE TIME FEE" of $10.00 to begin. This is the cost of the Training Materials. Many companies charge more for their training materials, but we understand that you are
here to make money, and not spend it. Your one time payment will also be made through Pay pal. Pay pal is one of the safest most secure financial sites on line. After you have made your payment, training materials will be sent to you and then you can get started. If you do not have a Pay pal account you can open one for FREE at www.Paypal.com and use Jobsforu@sbcglobal.net as your reference for signing up. . Please send your payment for the training materials through Pay pal to our account address at Jobsforu@sbcglobal.net and join our team! Thank you. We look forward to getting you started.

Best Regards,



S.C. McGowan
jobsforu@sbcglobal.net

[Devonai]

Seeing these ads on Craigslist last year, I Googled some key words and found out the score.  I'm sorry you lost ten bucks, but at least it wasn't a Nigerian 419 scam.

[member1313]

That sucks.

At least it was only $10. That's a relatively cheap mistake to make.

[DJJ]

I saw an ad in the classifieds of one magazine or another years ago that read, "One million people will send you $1! To find out how, send $1 to..."

[Perd Hapley]

This is legal? 

[thebaldguy]

The old school scam was "Make thousands stuffing envelopes!". Same trick, different time.

[CNYCacher]

I m sure Paypal would love to hear this

[GeoJAP]

The internets is serious business.  Unless one has some acceptable level of street sense applicable to the interwebs, don't get in the pool.  Don't open email, plug an ethernet cable from your PC to the WAN, nothing.  You need to be full-on prepared because the internet is proof that the world is a dog-eat-dog place.

These are the abbreviated rules of the internet by a group you don't want to know.  I won't post the rest of the rules, but you can find them if you want.

11. All your carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored
12. Anything you say can and will be used aganist you
13. Anything you say can and will be turned into something else - fixed
14. Do not argue with trolls - it means that they win
15. The harder you try the harder you will fail
16. If you fail in epic proportions, it may just become a winning failure
17. Every win fails eventually
18. Everything that can be labeled can be hated
19. The more you hate it the stronger it gets
20. Nothing is to be taken seriously
21. Original content is original only for a few seconds before getting old
27. Always question a person's sexual preferences without any real reason
28. Always question a person's gender - just in case it's really a man
29. In the internet all girls are men and all kids are undercover FBI agents
30. There are no girls on the internet
32. You must have pictrues to prove your statement
38. No real limits of any kind apply here - not even the sky
42. Nothing is Sacred.

[Paddy]

You need to be full-on prepared because the internet is proof that the world is a dog-eat-dog place.

Hardly.  The 'internets' is cyberspace where everyone is anonymous and therefore unaccountable.  If you want to eat my dog, you have to find me first.

[Chuck Dye]

Could be worse:

Family lore says an aunt tried to buy in on a ranch that had a consumer for cat skins with the fur still attached.  The hides were to be sold, along with rods of various materials, to schools and used to demonstrate static electricity to the kiddies.  The cats, after skinning, would be fed to rats which, in turn, would be fed to more cats.  The deal was pitched as perpetual motion on the production end, the investors skimming the profits.

The story goes that the family savings were saved when a bank employee smelled a rat and called my uncle to verify the check before paying it.

Count yourselves lucky.

[Chuck Dye]

And, yes, I have dated that tale:  the scam occurred in a time when banks knew their customers and went to such lengths.  But that is another thread...

[SomeKid]

And, yes, I have dated that tale:  the scam occurred in a time when banks knew their customers and went to such lengths.  But that is another thread...

Huck, I am 23, and last year my bank called me to confirm whether I wanted a check to go through. Some good things still live on.

[GeoJAP]

You need to be full-on prepared because the internet is proof that the world is a dog-eat-dog place.

Hardly.  The 'internets' is cyberspace where everyone is anonymous and therefore unaccountable.  If you want to eat my dog, you have to find me first.

One who takes no preparation is one who already has a PC that is part of the botnet, and one doesn't even know it.  Keyloggers.  And then your credit cards, bank accounts and other accounts are all drained.  $10 pyramid schemes are small potatoes. 

[Jamisjockey]

This is legal? 

No.  Its an old fashioned pyramid scam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

Send me a copy of the "training" via PM, I'd love to see it.

[Ex-MA Hole]

PM will be over soon...

I know it's illegal, but her ploy worked.

I'm not going to chase her over the $10.00....it's not worth my time or energy....

[jefnvk]

SBC may be interested in knowing about this as well.

[Jamisjockey]

I'd still report it to the state attorney general's office. 
I guess since my wife works in and is successful in a work from home business, I find it especially disenhartening and insulting.  These are the people who give us and what we do a very, very bad name.