Can someone please help me figure out if this is a scam

I applied for a job on craigslist for an assistant position and

this is the email I got from that person

Good day Jonathan,

This is in response to your email/interest in the assistant job opening; my name is Mr. Robert Brown an experienced international HR executive, interim manager and Senior Consultant also the chief executive officer to ROBERTBROWN Realty. I am a realtor with foresight of providing my clients with the most positive real estate experience possible. A vital part of today's real estate industry is technology, and to that end I provide my clients with state-of-the art marketing and web tools. It's just one of the many things that made me one of the most respected real estate agents in my service area! So if you are competent, diligent and agile being a virtual assistant, this position will be of great advantage to you as it is flexible and provides you with extra income while you carry out your normal day to day activities.

Please note that you are being hired only on a personal level and all correspondences would be made and promptly reported. The position is part time and home-based meaning you can work most times from home as long as we have regular communication. You are also hired on a trial basis for now until we are able to see how well we fit in, this however does not affect your weekly wage. Most of your activities will be carried out locally and most official packages will be delivered via posts. You will be actively involved in personal, business and financial activities. As of now our schedule will be flexible and we'll only need to meet a few hours a week the rest of the work can be done remotely and on your own time. I have scheduled a proper meeting soon as I return from my 2 weeks summit in Toronto and see if we can make this a long term working relationship.

Your activities as assistant amongst other things will include; Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring; Organizing and maintaining diaries, memos and making appointments; Dealing with incoming email and post; Arranging travel and accommodation; Carrying out specific projects and research; Handling and monitoring financial activities, Processing and taking charge of weekly payments. Basic wage is $350 a week after tax and your service will be required for at most 4 to 5 hours a week. Any extra personal expenses (transport, gas, etc) incurred by you while on an errand or otherwise will also be reimbursed at the end of each working week.

Working with me is basically about instructions and following them. Payments alongside your stipend will be transferred to you securely via direct deposit and instant secure bank transfer. So as basic requirement to be considered for this position you have to secure an account with either of the affiliated banks which are Ally, Chase, NFCU and USAA banks to be able to receive funds alongside your weekly stipend. If you already have an account with either of the financial institutions it makes proceedings easier, but if you don't you will be required to setup an account ASAP for the purpose of payment.

There is a very sensitive issue on trust, dedication and accountability which I believe will resolve itself as time goes on. This is only an introductory e-mail, if you feel you are up to the task as required do respond with the following application details to be considered for the position.

APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT
Employment decisions are made without regard to race, ancestry, color, sex, national origin, religion, marital status, age or non-job related disability.

NAME: ____________________________________________________________________________ DATE:________________PHONE #:____________
Last First Middle

PRESENT ADDRESS: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Street City State Zip code

EMPLOYMENT APPLIED FOR

POSITION: ____________________________________________ DATE YOU CAN START: _________________ SALARY DESIRED: ___________

ARE YOU EMPLOYED NOW? _______________________ IF SO, MAY WE INQUIRE OF YOUR PRESENT EMPLOYER? _____________________________


Hope to hear from you soon, your reply to the application will be awaited to get things started officially.

Regards,

Robert Brown

ROBERTBROWN REALTY
4402 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22203
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertbrown4


What do you guys think?

It is 100% a scam.

The scammer is asking you to open a bank account or use an existing bank account to help him launder stolen money.

No one in the World will ask an internet person to accept money in their personal account.

anyone else?

This is a typical personal assistant scam. There's a phrase in the script that is found in most personal assistant scams and not much else. I'll tell you by PM, as we don't want scammers to know how we recognize their scams, lest they change them.

Ok,

The scammer want you to help him steal money and lead no trace to him.

The scammer will scam and steal from other victims. He will have them pay the money into your bank account. He then will have you forward the money to him or an accomplice.

This is worst part of the scam. Victim realizes they have been scammed. They contact Law Enforcement and their banks fraud dept. The victim tell both parties they wired money to you at X bank with account number and routing number.

Your bank freezes your account takes back the deposit and report you to Law Enforcement for Financial fraud. You have to repay all monies withdrawn. Now you have to answer to Law Enforcement. You give them all the scammers fake details. There is nothing they can do. It will be up to your local DA, Grand Jury or Magistrate to charge you with a Financial crime.

You will be the only one the Police will ever find. That plus repaying the bank and cost of an Attorney is not worth it to me.

Once again no real company will ask an internet stranger to accept payments on their behalf let alone use their personal bank account. Only scammers offer these types of jobs.

If you confront the scammer he will continue to lie to you. You need to meet your employer face to face. Not over yahoo messenger or Aol messenger. Most online jobs only pays a few dollars a month to review products. These jobs you may not even get one for years.

This may help to explain Employment Scams. viewtopic.php?f=34&t=44

Quote from the thread.

Scammers using this method will often request their victims to open an account with a specific bank for receiving payment, as account to account transfers within the same bank are less likely to arouse suspicion before the money has been withdrawn and sent to the scammers.

Money mule scam .