Feds Offer Warning On Online Work-At-Home Offers

Job Left Family Fearing For Safety
PITTSBURGH -- Federal investigators are warning about online job ads that could end up putting you in the middle of an international fraud scheme.
The people behind the schemes recruit naive job seekers by posting positions on popular Web sites for correspondence managers or finance managers. The ads say you can work from home and all you need is a computer.
Rose Rickard, job scheme victim, said, "It wasn't like I was trying to make a quick buck off my computer."
All Rickard was trying to do was get a job where she could be at home for her kids. It's the children whose safety she and her husband, Don, feared for after she found a job online.
"I just did some research and typed in basically like work at home. Then this business came up with this contact," Rose said.
That contact said he worked for a fur company in the Ukraine and that Rickard's job would be to cash money orders and cashiers checks sent to her from customers in the U.S. and wire the money to the Ukraine.
The checks started coming in immediately.
Rickard said, "In two days time I had almost $5,000."
But what was even more surprising and Rickard believes unexpected was that these customers also sent cover letters to her detailing purchases -- not of furs -- but of items auctioned on the Internet.
Rickard said, "These people expected these items and I didn't have them."
She soon realized her so-called employer was intending to leave her stuck dealing with the customers after she had cashed their money orders and checks and sent the money overseas.
One customer even threatened to send "friends" to her house if he didn't get his merchandise.
Don said, "I was concerned more with the kids than with my self."
She immediately called police and returned the checks.
U.S. Postal Inspector Barry Mew said, "Right now, these type of work-at-home opportunities are totally fraudulent. They're recruiting unknowing U.S. consumers all over the country to ship stolen money or goods out of the country."
While Rickard was tipped off early others, another man -- who doesn't want to be identified -- were unwitting participants.
"I fell for it," he said.
Laid off after 12 years in the shipping industry, he found a job online too good to pass up.
It said he would be earning $700 a week for three hours of work a day reshipping merchandise overseas.
"It's a reputable Web site. I wrongly assumed there was screening for jobs," he said.
He said he didn't know the boxes of goods he was reshipping contained electronic goods bought in the U.S. with stolen credit card numbers.
Federal investigators now on the case offer this advice:
If someone sees positions involving reshipping goods or cashing checks for overseas companies or individuals to pass them up.
Never give personal financial information to a prospective employer, even if it's suggested that it's for a background check.
If you're buying online, never send cashier's checks or money orders. Use PayPal or your credit card for protection.
Remember, each Web site has information on protecting your privacy, as well where people can report fraud....
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