Nielsen Company Ltd. scam

I recently posted an item on Craigslist trying to sell some jewelry. A few days later i was contacted through yahoo messenger by (Charlse Mathebula) asking if i would like a job. After a few minutes of conversation, I learned that I would be printing and mailing checks from one company to their employees. He claimed to be part of the Nielsen Company (http://www.nielsen.com). He told me I would be paid $1500 a month. I was told to contact him through ([email protected]). I was told to purchase the VersaCheck Gold 2012 Software to begin printing the checks and I would be reimbursed when i get paid at the end of the month. I purchased this through amazon. i have not been asked for any of my information which was seeming a little odd to me. I have NOT given him any money but i have bought the software. I trained one day and then the next day he had me print and mail off checks, all to different people in different parts of the country. I mailed 8 checks total. He gave the the account number and name of a bank in Pennsylvania YET he claims to be in NY. I am worried that this is a scam bc he has not given me any information about himself. Today i filled out an employee form that i and to scan an email to him. All of the contact information on the form for the company matches up except for the email ([email protected]) and phone number (909-233-6351). On the Nielsen website every contact email ends in (@nielsen.com). We have been communicating through yahoo messenger which is very odd to me. I also looked on the Better Business Bureau website and found that the Nielsen Compant is A+ accredited BUT under the list of known company names, Nielsen Ltd. is not listed. Here is the url of that info (http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/busine ... -ny-17566/). I am not out very much money but I would like to be sure this is not a scam before i put out anymore. If anyone could give me any information on this it would be very much appreciated. I know that the Nielsen Company is legitimate but I am worried this person is posing as an employee when he is not really one. Also if you believe this is a scam could you give me some advice on what actions to take and so on. Thanks for your help.

Welcome to ScamWarners. You've done some good research. Your instinct is correct: this is a scam. You should stop ALL contact with this person immediately. What you have done is to work as a check mule and you have unknowingly committed a crime. Save all correspondence as evidence to the fact that you were a victim in case you should need it.
If you still have the list of people you sent checks to, please send it to me or one of the moderators by private message. Those people are all check scam victims being sent fraudulent checks. We'll try to make sure they are warned.
You can also send us the information on the check account itself, if there is a real account owner, he/she is another victim.

Hello, I'm speaking to this Robert Gamsel guy at the moment about the same thing. So if this is really a scam what should I do?

Welcome to Scamwarners. Just break off contact.
If it's the same as posted above it's 100% scam and there is no genuine reason for someone to employ you just to print checks and send them on. They will bounce after initially seeming to clear after whoever banked them has sent most of the proceeds to the scammer by Western Union. The scammer is beyond the reach of your local police but you aren't.

No company on planet earth recruits people off the internet to issue their cheques for them. If they can't issue cheques for themselves there's something seriously wrong with them, and you've discovered how easy it is to set up. From a security and insurance perspective the company would be shut down if it put its cash distribution in the hands of a foreign stranger they'd picked up off the internet.

Before I retired I worked for a major international bank and getting authority to sign anything took years to achieve, and modern technology has done away with cheque issuance except in rare circumstances. It's all handled electronically nowadays unless you're dealing with a very backward company.

You're being recruited as a counterfeiter and distributor of fake cheques because they need someone with a local address to make other victims believe their stories. You won't get any money from the scammer because he's a professional liar and thief and he knows that you're liable to get arrested and put away by the Secret Service - who are the body who handle counterfeit crime. You will be helping the scammer to steal from other people using the counterfeit cheques you print, and he'll tell the vctims to pay him the money by Western Union. You do the work and risk prison and he gets the cash.

Do you think the company can't afford the stamps to mail the cheques themselves ?

When the scammer gives you the bank details for his company, try contacting the bank and check with them. Under UK law (which is amazingly similar to US law) the bank would be required to hold a record of the authority allowing you to issue cheques on their behalf. That is, if the details aren't all just complete fiction.

As the opening poster noticed, there is no such company as Nielsen Company Ltd either in the USA or the UK.

The website link is to a valid and well known company which is nothing to do with the scammer and the scammer isn't even smart enough to copy their name correctly, and legally companies have to know what their name is. Any cheque bearing that name won't even be a good counterfeit as there is no such company. It will be as credible as a three dollar banknote.

I won't help the scammer by telling him what the proper name to use is or how to look it up.

Just wanted to update you guys on the situation. I stopped all contact immediately after receiving the first reply from scamwarners. He continued to bother me for a little over a week but eventually gave up. I contacted my local sheriffs department, who directed me to the FBI. I filed a report with both. Nothing else has come from the information I gave them, but hopefully my experience has helped some other people out there. PLEASE do not fall for this scam. If it sounds to good to be true, IT IS!! Stop all contact immediately before it gets you into legal trouble!!

Hope you guys have a great day.

Thank you for the update abell0823, scammers will go away when they realize that you will not be sending money to them. You have done what you can in this situation. I am glad that you got out of it.

The people attempting this scam are worthless scum and evil beyond belief as they target people desperate for work, and set them up for serious crime after getting them to spend money they can't afford and use them to defraud other people. All the time they intend to reap all the money they steal and keep it for themselves.

The brainless goons running this type of scam enjoy it as they get their victims to do all the work and they can push them around and bully them whilst they rake in all the cash. They're trash and they know it, so the opportunity to pretend to be a businessman is great for their egos.

Anything involving cheques and strangers is likely to cause you to lose money.