Fraudsters are trying to take advantage of the unemployed in the bad economy by posting enticing work at home job ads. But what you’re really signing up for is to be the rube in an advance fee fraud scheme. Here’s the email one job-seeker got back. Bear in mind this is the first contact back from the “employer” after sending in her resume. All spelling and spacing is sic.

Detailed Job Description – HUMAN RESOURCES ASSISTANT

Your resume was received and it has been reviewed, I did appreciate it. So I will give this a GO”

I’m looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable to work very well and with good understanding.

This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following them,my only fear is that I may come at you impromptu sometimes, so I need someone who can be able to meet up with my irregular timings.As my Personal Assistant,your activities amongst other things will include;

*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring. Scheduling programmes, flights and keeping me up to date with them.Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I’m away.Making regular contacts and drop-offs on my behalf. Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities..
Basic wage is $700 Weekly

I’m sure you’ll understand I tend to have a very busy schedule at this point,as I am presently in Australia, I will be back in Three Weeks.
I think you’re the right person for this position,Please note that this position is not office based for now because of my frequent travels and tight schedules, it’s a part-time work from home and the flexibility means that there will be busier weeks than others, so it’s a little difficult judging the exact number of hours you’ll be doing per week.If you can manage your time properly,this job may even give you some extras while you do something else on the side. As I have said, I’d want us to get a head START with things as soon as possible.I do have lots of works piled up presently and a number of unattended chores which you can immediately assist me with, I hope we can meet up with the workload eventually. Permit me to use the coming week to test your efficiency and diligence towards all this, also to work out your time schedule and fit it to mine. I really need to find the perfect person for this job, I’m confident you can take up the challenge and on the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us.. I’m online most of the time as I am hard of hearing so I prefer we contact each other through E-mails,but if there is need for me to call, I will be glad to do that.I am glad you are willing to work with me and i promise to be a good boss. I am also glad on the commitment in working.I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me this week is to run some errands out to some of the orphanage home, I do that every month.A payment inform of a Cashier Check/Money Order will be sent over to you from one of my clients and i have some lists to email you once you received the funds,You will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the Orphanage at any nearest store around you so you can mail them out. I will get you more information on that,I will like you to get back to me with your Contact Details such as:

First Name :
Last Name :
Street Address :
City, State, Zip Code :
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Current Occupation :
Email Address :

Once I have received your contact information, I will get back to you with the task for this week,Understand you will also be paid as well as its important for me to make the necessary steps before i get back from my business trip back to the states. Hope I am clear with that.

I will await your response.

Giveaways:
* Poor grammar and spelling
* Work at home
* Getting hired without an interview
* Big one: They’re going to send you money in the form of a money order which you will then conduct transactions with and send the results on elsewhere.

What will end up happening is a few weeks you will get a call from your bank telling you that the check was bogus and your new boss will magically disappear.

Enter any line from the reply email into Google and you’ll see that this email is some piece of scam boilerplate. Sometimes the places are changed to New York or another town, but the basic gist remains the same.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.