John Wiley, [email protected]

Reply-To: <[email protected]>
From: "John Wiley"<[email protected]>
Subject: Personal Assistant Needed!!

Hello,

My Name is John Wiley,and I own an Art Gallery,and I reside in Minneapolis,MN. This time of the year is exceedingly a busy time for me,and I find myself constantly travelling out of the Country for exhibitions,auctions,deliveries et all as such I sort the services of a Personal Assistant to handle my business errands.
I do not require that you resume to an office,leave your current employment or levacuate your convenience.
I am looking for someone that can handle my business errands during his or her spare time.

Here are a list of responsibilities that I would require you bear on my behalf:

1. Receive my mail and drop them off at the post office or shipping center.All expenses and shipping charges will be covered by me.
2. Pay bills on my behalf.I would be providing funds for this.
3. Sit for delivery at home or pick up items at a post office near you at your convenience.
When you get my mail or receive packages on my behalf you are free to open them to check contents in order to gurantee your safety and security.

The contents of the my mail and the packages are specifically art materials and paintings as well as personal letters. No heavy packages are

involved.

If you decide to accept this position or you are able to offer me any of the responsibilities I have listed above, Please provide me with the following details


Full Name:
Full Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Phone No:
Age:
Work Status:


EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS:

A. Being honest and trustworthy.
B. Ability to 15 to 20 hours a month
C Ability to check your EMAIL 3 to 5 times daily.

REMUNERATION:

$500 Weekly.

Please note that this job DOES NOT require any financial obligation of any sort from you as I would be catering for all expenses.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards
John Wiley

This is a run-of-the-mill mule scam. There is absolutely no doubt it is a scam. We literally have hundreds of examples of this scam posted in this forum.

This is the part that matters the most:

Pay bills on my behalf.I would be providing funds for this.

The scammer wants to use you to launder money. "Paying his bills" will consist of receiving money and forwarding it to another person.


In the most common scenario, you will receive checks to cover these (fake) bills. You will be told to cash the checks, wait for them to clear, and then forward the "payment" via western union or moneygram. In reality, the checks will be fraudulent. The scammer preys on the fact that most people do not know how the check clearing system actually works. Most people will think that the check has cleared once the bank issues the cash. In reality, banks have to issue cash in a certain number of days, whether or not the check has cleared. But--later, when they discover the fraud, the bank has every right to take back the money, charge the person who cashed the checks for the bad deposits, AND contact the police and have you arrested for fraud.

Occasionally, the scammer will have his mule receiving payment directly from other victims. Once the other victim realizes he/she has been scammed, she will likely contact the police, and the trail will lead straight to you.

In the "shipping mule" variant of this scam, the scammer will purchase items with stolen/phished credit card information, and have them sent to you. You will be instructed to receive and forward packages. Once again, when an investigation is initiated, the trail will lead to you. Receiving and forwarding these stolen items can get you arrested too.


Even if we were not extremely familiar with how these scams work, it would be obvious from the offer that this is not real. 15-20 hours a month translates to 3-4 hours a week. He is offering $500 for 3-4 hours of work? That comes out to over $100 an hour! For basic tasks that require absolutely no special skills?

In addition, nobody with even half a brain would send packages and money to some random stranger he met only through email. It would be way too easy for that person to just walk away with the packages and/or the cash. And, the tasks themselves make absolutely no sense. There are plenty of mailbox stores that will receive and forward mail and packages for far less money--and they are a much safer option too. As for paying bills--again, that makes no sense. If he can pay money to a middle man, he can just as easily send the money directly to the recipient. Plus, a frequent international traveler would have an account with a major bank--and all major banks have online banking, typically including online bill pay. If he can email you, he can log into his bank and have his bills paid!