by LSBARTHELEMY
Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:46 pm
Hello from France,
Could you please advise if you have already come across the following employment fraud.
Indeed I am victim of a fraud related to US visa grant services proposed by e-mail,
further to my reply by e-mail to a so-called job offer from the firm BHP BILLITON located in HOUSTON, USA.
That so-called firm asked me then to contact a so-called immigration attorney, for him to process my US visa and work permit.
My first suspicions were:
- The exaggerated amount requested to secure my US visa and work permit: $20,780
$4,000 (American Offshore Travel Insurance Certificate) (delivered by an attachment to an e:mail, but I could not locate the address of that so-called insurance company)
$4,180 (visa fee and work permit fee)
$5,700 (police clearance form) (delivered by an attachment to an e:mail)
$400 (police clearance form, US/EUR exchange rate adjustment)
$6,500 (US oil & gas expatriate association registration fee)
TOTAL = $20,780
Indeed, after cross-checking with a fellow French citizen who had already performed the request for
the same type of visa (H-1B), the latter told me that such a visa cost him less than $10,000.
- The too optimistic promise made on 13 February 2017 to deliver my visa before 26 March 2017.
Indeed, after cross-checking with the same fellow French citizen who had already performed the
request for the same type of visa (H-1B), the latter told me that such a visa is subject to a lottery
(in April-May at earliest) and that I could not expect to start that job before October at earliest.
- Eventually, the pursuit of additional suspicious payment fees related to my US visa grant, that I
refused to pay:
$9,700 ("Affidavit Of Good conduct").
Then I processed the following steps:
- I notified BHP BILLITON by e:mail of a fraud related to their company name (no news from BHP BILLITON since).
- I proposed to that “immigration attorney” to contact my lawyer: I got no news from that person since.
Moreover, I got the confirmation that I was victim of a fraud when I realised that a fake BHP BILLITON Human Resource e:mail was used:
[email protected]
Indeed, that e:mail:
- was used to send me the BHP BILLITON job offer (on 09 Feb 2017),
- was used to ask me to contact that “immigration attorney” (on 13 Feb 2017),
- was used to recommend me ‘'independently” to pay the 1st US visa securement fee (20 Feb 2017),
- is no longer available, since I got the following automatic reply: “We could not remit your message.
Although several attempts were performed to deliver your message, we failed to interrogate the DNS so as to get information from the recipient domain location” (on 13 feb 2017).
I raised a claim to the nearest police department from my home in France. The French police officer warned me that I would have few chances to get France to raise an international fraud claim procedure to the USA. Indeed such a procedure is expensive, and it was not yet proven that many other fellow French citizens have been victims of such a fraud. I am therefore left with waiting for checking whether my complaint is dismissed or not. In such a case, I would have to lodge a complaint against persons unknown.
That is why I need your advice whether you have seen such similar frauds.
Thanks to call me back on xxxxx.
Regards,
xxxx
Could you please advise if you have already come across the following employment fraud.
Indeed I am victim of a fraud related to US visa grant services proposed by e-mail,
further to my reply by e-mail to a so-called job offer from the firm BHP BILLITON located in HOUSTON, USA.
That so-called firm asked me then to contact a so-called immigration attorney, for him to process my US visa and work permit.
My first suspicions were:
- The exaggerated amount requested to secure my US visa and work permit: $20,780
$4,000 (American Offshore Travel Insurance Certificate) (delivered by an attachment to an e:mail, but I could not locate the address of that so-called insurance company)
$4,180 (visa fee and work permit fee)
$5,700 (police clearance form) (delivered by an attachment to an e:mail)
$400 (police clearance form, US/EUR exchange rate adjustment)
$6,500 (US oil & gas expatriate association registration fee)
TOTAL = $20,780
Indeed, after cross-checking with a fellow French citizen who had already performed the request for
the same type of visa (H-1B), the latter told me that such a visa cost him less than $10,000.
- The too optimistic promise made on 13 February 2017 to deliver my visa before 26 March 2017.
Indeed, after cross-checking with the same fellow French citizen who had already performed the
request for the same type of visa (H-1B), the latter told me that such a visa is subject to a lottery
(in April-May at earliest) and that I could not expect to start that job before October at earliest.
- Eventually, the pursuit of additional suspicious payment fees related to my US visa grant, that I
refused to pay:
$9,700 ("Affidavit Of Good conduct").
Then I processed the following steps:
- I notified BHP BILLITON by e:mail of a fraud related to their company name (no news from BHP BILLITON since).
- I proposed to that “immigration attorney” to contact my lawyer: I got no news from that person since.
Moreover, I got the confirmation that I was victim of a fraud when I realised that a fake BHP BILLITON Human Resource e:mail was used:
[email protected]
Indeed, that e:mail:
- was used to send me the BHP BILLITON job offer (on 09 Feb 2017),
- was used to ask me to contact that “immigration attorney” (on 13 Feb 2017),
- was used to recommend me ‘'independently” to pay the 1st US visa securement fee (20 Feb 2017),
- is no longer available, since I got the following automatic reply: “We could not remit your message.
Although several attempts were performed to deliver your message, we failed to interrogate the DNS so as to get information from the recipient domain location” (on 13 feb 2017).
I raised a claim to the nearest police department from my home in France. The French police officer warned me that I would have few chances to get France to raise an international fraud claim procedure to the USA. Indeed such a procedure is expensive, and it was not yet proven that many other fellow French citizens have been victims of such a fraud. I am therefore left with waiting for checking whether my complaint is dismissed or not. In such a case, I would have to lodge a complaint against persons unknown.
That is why I need your advice whether you have seen such similar frauds.
Thanks to call me back on xxxxx.
Regards,
xxxx
Last edited by AlanJones on Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Removed name and phone number.
