Cell phone buyer employment scam?

I was wondering if anyone had info on this scam. I was contacted by an individual after applying for a job. He asked me if i had a service plan with verizon or at&t or if i had service shut off from either one of the two. I told him no, and he proceeded to state. "You will buy the cheapest smartphone available at one of the two locations, and tell them you want to sign up for a plan. At which point you get the phone and he gives you 400 dollars cash for the phone. Not sure if he was going to give the 400, rob me after purchasing, giving a fake check for it, or give 400 which won't cover the whole cost of the phone. Has anyone heard of this scam and how it actually plays out?

Why cant he buy his own phone?

Not sure why. I couldn't figure out if they were going to be burner phones in the victims name, or what the actual scam entailed. I get the fact that 400 wont cover the cost of the phone and the plan. Just not sure if theres anything else to it.

The phone will be registered to the owner.

You will never get the money. Scammers/thieves do not give away money.

A real person will just buy the phone himself.

Its a credit mule scam . Did they contact you from Craigslist ?

Please post whatever details you have so we can look at them .

We had another case about a year ago . Operating out of the San Diego area .

I hear you bryon. I just didn't know the extent to how retarded the scam was.
And terminator,
The only information I have is:
-The guy was located in Greenville NC I assume, cause thats where he wanted to meet and get the phone purchased.
-was a craigslist add titled, "General Laboror Needed" in the east carolina jobs section
Ironically the funniest part about it is
He already had a cell phone and i still have the number he messaged me from

What is the phone number?

Post the phone number and a link to his ad .

Cant seem to find the link for the add as this was over a month ago. However he contacted me again on tuesday trying to see if I was interested again. His phone number is:
252-801-9707
The phone number of the personal assistant scammer that sent me the fake check for 9,800 something dollars is:
409-207-0037
This number was active yesterday

(409) 207-0037
Owner is based in Buna, TX
VoIP - Bandwidth SMSEnabled

252-801-9707 >> May not be updated or released as a new number.

You need to give the Fake Check to the postal inspectors along with the envelope it came in

The 252 number is for the cell phone scammer mentioned in this thread.
The 409 number is for the personal assistant scam topic i posted earlier. The post is locked though so i posted it here
Also regaurding the personal assistant scam post. The check was sent from wisconsin. Signed by Wayne anderson. The place he wanted me to ship the purchased goods to was a location called
"Texas Baptist Home-Children
629 Farley St,
Waxahachie, TX, 75165"

#1 Victim: The name on the package is from a hacked mail account.

#2 Victim: The name on the check is from a hacked bank account or is totally fake.

#3 Victim:The place that you were shipping is also a victim in this scam. They believe they that they have an online job to receive packages and forward them.

#4 Victim: You.

We have not even talked about the victim that bought the material to print the checks or who he/she fwd them to so they can be mailed.

Employment scams include multiple victims.

The scammer will Never give up his true identity.