Personal Assistant Scam

I just want to put this info here so it's searchable to other dealing with this scam.

This is for a personal assistant on Craigslist (hotbed for scammers).

Its my pleasure sending my details to you and I hope this marks the
beginning of a good working relationship all together. From our
discussion earlier, I would want to give you the opportunity to be my
new assistant, I do hope my decision will be worthwhile.


*I will be paying you per assignment/errand you execute for me
*You don't have to put money out of your pocket to carry out any
assignment issued to you
*All expenses and taxes will be covered by me and you will work
between 15-20hrs weekly.


I'm confident you can take up the challenge and in the long run we
should have a relatively sound working relationship between us.
I need your service because I am constantly out of town. I am usually
not available to attend to my personal errand due to the nature of my
job, Immediately I'm back to the state we will meet and discuss in
person because am not very safe with this idea of recruiting a
personal assistant who will handle my personal business on-line. I'll
be using the next couple of days to test your efficiency and
diligence, I want you to get started with immediate effect as I have
loads of assignment on ground for you to execute.


Here is my information below so that you have the details of the
person employing you

My military unit is The 749th Combat Support Battalion located at 711
Hillcrest Ave Benicia and my M.O.S is the 13A Field Artillery

First Name : Rorex
Last Name : Mathews
Tel : 619-383-3541
Occupation : Military (US Army)


Regards

Rorex

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Anytime someone (especially a professional or working person) has no online presence at all (linkedin, facebook, twitter, insta, whitepages etc) is a dead giveaway. Most people are searchable now unless they are older or have no access or knowledge of internet, which wouldn't be the person trying to hire you.



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I would be leary, as someone with experience would have some credentials usually.

I contacted this person and was told to open a Navy Federal Credit Union Account and send a Money order of 1350$ to Shakira Kanu in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. That's money-laundering!

Okay, so unfortunatlly ..I am in this situaiton right now. I need help with whoever has been through this or that can just help me in any way. I seriously think I went to far already with believing everything. HIs name is not the same, his name is John Mark , which seems a typical scam name. He sent me basically almost the same thing when i asked him about his personal life. .I gave him my account number and routing number for my bank already. He has not removed anything, he is just in the process to send the funds. Please respond fast! i need help

Please post the emails with complete headers so that other victims of the same scammer can find your post.

Print out the emails and show them to the fraud department of your bank. If any money is sent to your bank account from an unknown source, do not withdraw any money until the fraudulent money is sent back where it came from. The routing and account number are not sufficient for the scammer to withdraw money from your account (they're printed on every check of your account). But if you gave the scammer the online password to your account, close it immediately and open a new one.

Do not respond to any more messages from the scammer. Give him no clue what happened.

I am also a victim of this fraud... I got the same exact letter from him including the same army battalion number but the name was George Sterling...I feel so stupid and cannot believe I fell for it....I sent and received money...I do not know what I should do....

If you received money into your bank account then you will want to contact your banks fraud dept. Tell them what has occurred and show them the printed emails. Do not withdraw any more money from unknown sources. Your bank should close that account and get you a new one.

I also suggest you be proactive and notify your local Law Enforcement about the scam. Tell them you are a victim of an online fraud and scam. Show them the emails and explain what happened.

You should also report it here >> http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

What was the email address the scammer used?

His email was [email protected]. I notified my banks and the police and they are investigating.

Thank you for the update.

I got mine to shut up real fast asking for his MOS, rank, time in service, CSM, LTC, unit, full contact info, and DoD photo.


edit: you will know when you are talking to a real service member. FYI we serve you, you do not serve us.

Many of our victims are not from the US. If they are they might not be familiar with the military.

They are not familiar with our military nor would recognize "MOS, rank, time in service, CSM, LTC, unit, full contact info, and DoD photo." . The scammer can also fake these details.

Speaking or writing English may not be something they do often.

Best advice. Do not send money to any one you never met face to face. Do not receive money or packages from someone you never met face to face.

Once you know he is a scammer stop all contact.

This is a warning from the Army about this scam.
http://www.army.mil/article/130861/Army ... nce_scams/

QUANTICO, Va. (July 30, 2014) -- Special Agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID, are once again warning internet users worldwide about cyber criminals involved in an online crime that CID has dubbed "the Romance Scam."

CID special agents continue to receive numerous reports from victims located around the world regarding various scams of persons impersonating U.S. Soldiers online. Victims are usually unsuspecting women, 30 to 55 years old, who believe they are romantically involved with an American Soldier, yet are being exploited and ultimately robbed, by perpetrators who strike from thousands of miles away.

"We cannot stress enough that people need to stop sending money to persons they meet on the internet and claim to be in the U.S. military," said Chris Grey, Army CID's spokesman.

"It is very troubling to hear these stories over and over again of people who have sent thousands of dollars to someone they have never met and sometimes have never even spoken to on the phone," Grey said.

The majority of the "romance scams," are being perpetrated on social media and dating-type websites where unsuspecting females are the main target.

The criminals are pretending to be U.S. servicemen, routinely serving in a combat zone. The perpetrators will often take the true rank and name of a U.S. Soldier who is honorably serving his country somewhere in the world, or has previously served and been honorably discharged, then marry that up with some photographs of a Soldier off the internet, and then build a false identity to begin prowling the internet for victims.

The scams often involve carefully worded romantic requests for money from the victim to purchase special laptop computers, international telephones, military leave papers, and transportation fees to be used by the fictitious "deployed Soldier" so their false relationship can continue. The scams include asking the victim to send money, often thousands of dollars at a time, to a third party address.

Once victims are hooked, the criminals continue their ruse.

"We've even seen instances where the perpetrators are asking the victims for money to purchase "leave papers" from the Army, help pay for medical expenses from combat wounds or help pay for their flight home so they can leave the war zone," said Grey.

These scams are outright theft and are a grave misrepresentation of the U.S. Army and the tremendous amount of support programs and mechanisms that exist for Soldiers today, especially those serving overseas, said Grey.

Along with the romance-type scams, CID has been receiving complaints from citizens worldwide that they have been the victims of other types of scams -- once again where a cyber crook is impersonating a U.S. service member. One version usually involves the sale of a vehicle; where the service member claims to be living overseas and has to quickly sell their vehicle because they are being sent to another duty station. After sending bogus information regarding the vehicle, the seller requests the buyer do a wire transfer to a third party to complete the purchase. When in reality, the entire exchange is a ruse for the crook to get the wire transfer and leave the buyer high and dry, with no vehicle.

Army CID continues to warn people to be very suspicious if they begin a relationship on the internet with someone claiming to be an American Soldier and within a matter of weeks, the alleged Soldier is asking for money, as well as discussing marriage.

The majority of these scams have a distinct pattern to them, explained Grey.

The perpetrators often tell the victims that their units do not have telephones or they are not allowed to make calls or they need money to "help keep the Army internet running." They often say they are widowers and raising a young child on their own to pull on the heartstrings of their victims.

"We've even seen where the criminals said that the Army won't allow the Soldier to access their personal bank accounts or credit cards," said Grey.

All lies, according to CID officials.

"These perpetrators, often from other countries, most notably from West African countries, are good at what they do and quite familiar with American culture, but the claims about the Army and its regulations are ridiculous," said Grey.

The Army reports that numerous very senior officers and enlisted Soldiers throughout the Army have had their identities stolen to be used in these scams.

To date, there have been no reports to Army CID indicating any U.S. service members have suffered any financial loss as a result of these attacks. Photographs and actual names of U.S. service members have been the only thing utilized. On the contrary, the victims have lost thousands.

One victim revealed that she had sent more than $60,000 to the scammer. Another victim from Great Britain told CID officials that over the course of a year, she had sent more than $75,000 to the con artists.

"The criminals are preying on the emotions and patriotism of their victims," added Grey.

The U.S. has established numerous task force organizations to deal with this and other growing issues; unfortunately, the people committing these scams are using untraceable email addresses on Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc., routing accounts through numerous locations around the world, and utilizing pay-per-hour Internet cyber cafes, which often times maintain no accountability of use. The ability of law enforcement to identify these perpetrators is very limited, so individuals must stay on the alert and be personally responsible to protect themselves.

"Another critical issue is we don't want victims who do not report this crime walking away and thinking that a U.S. serviceman has ripped them off when in fact that serviceman is honorably serving his country and often not even aware that his pictures or identity have been stolen," said Grey.

What to look for:

DON'T EVER SEND MONEY! Be extremely suspicious if you are asked for money for transportation costs, communication fees or marriage processing and medical fees.

Carefully check out the stories you are being told. If it sounds suspicious, there is a reason, it's routinely false -- trust your instincts.

If you do start an internet-based relationship with someone, check them out, research what they are telling you with someone who would know, such as a current or former service member.

Be very suspicious if you never get to actually speak with the person on the phone or are told you cannot write or receive letters in the mail. Servicemen and women serving overseas will often have an APO or FPO mailing address. Internet or not, service members always appreciate a letter in the mail.

Military members have an email address that end in ".mil." If the person you are speaking with cannot sent you at least one email from a ".mil" (that will be the very LAST part of the address and nothing after), then there is a high probability they are not in the military.

Many of the negative claims made about the military and the supposed lack of support and services provided to troops overseas are far from reality -- check the facts.

Be very suspicious if you are asked to send money or ship property to a third party or company. Often times the company exists, but has no idea or is not a part of the scam.

Be aware of common spelling, grammatical or language errors in the emails.

Be cognizant of foreign and regional accents that do not match the person's story.

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

Report the theft to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) (FBI-NW3C Partnership) at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.

Report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft.

Your report helps law enforcement officials across the United States in their investigations.

Report the theft by phone at 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338) or TTY, 1-866-653-4261.

Report the theft by mail at the following address:

Identity Theft Clearinghouse
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20580

Report the fraud by email to the Federal Trade Commission on Nigerian Scams via at [email protected].

For more information on CID, visit http://www.cid.army.mil.

Has anyone had them consistently text you? As well as send images? He hasn't asked for money to be sent only to send money to me for completed tasks. He also says that he is fine meeting up with me when he is through with being or in the field at the military post I am located at. I believe that this is definitely a scam, however should I be concerned that he knows my location when I had applied to the posting on a completely separate location?

Block his number. If you're worried that he may just show up, don't. He's no where near your location.

Has he sent you money?