banty-art.com

Looking on craigslist for a job I came across this listing:

CASUAL JOB AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE EMPLOYMENT

Date: 2009-09-08, 11:04AM EDT
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]

We need a casual staff for our company.The duty is just to assist in the stock keeping and delivery of our ART product within the State.The work will be for just 3hours per day and its mainly weekends,which will be mainly for delivery and reports for stock.Payment will be based on work done per hours,Also a 20% commission for jobs with no damages.Interested should email me as soon as possible.

Compensation: 20% commission
This is a part-time job.
This is a contract job.

The 20% commission seemed a bit odd, and the details were rather vague, but I'm getting a bit desperate for employment, so I replied:

to claddy_james7
show details Sep 8 (2 days ago)
Hello,
I am inquiring about your job posting on Craigslist.
I would like to know a little bit about your company and importantly, where you are located.
I am a little confused as to the nature of the position itself, and whether the delivery aspect requires use of a personal vehicle.
How many days per week and what time of day are the hours?
I am a recent college graduate with plenty of free time and a very flexible schedule.
Attached is a simple resume.

Probably shouldn't have attached that resume in retrospect. Now they have not just my contact info, but my former employers and a couple personal references. Names, phone numbers, addresses, but no emails other than my own.

Today I received an email
Response ASAP.....www.banty-art.com!!!


BANTY ART Inc. http://www.banty-art.com
ID# 20090814

Hello,
We are experts in the sales of Quality Art(Sculptures,paints and so) for world trade as well as import/export of various commodities into America/Canada/Europe, as part of our ongoing expansion project, we are in search of competent and efficient proxies,who can help us establish a medium of getting to our customers in the area with primary duties to include storing,handling and delivery to our clients in the State. Sequel to your acceptance of this offer you will be entitling to $50 bonus apart from your payment. And the Company will provide you the vehicle which you will be driving (cargo van) and uniform provided.Also a driver will be appointed to you if you are unable to drive. You will stand in good stead, when the opportunity for securing a top management position arises, as we intend to put in place structures, in terms of human resources and physical facilities in your area depending on our rate of turnover. Your task is to only co-ordinate storing,handling and delivery of Arts product to our customers every weekend Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 2pm and you will be paid $80 per hr ($240 Per day ), Also each customer delivery address will be given to you at the company when you resume You will not be involved in any sales as our sales managers are in charge of that aspect for the company.

So you are to commenced with the jobs asap Because it's almost the middle of the month . Also the direction letter to your obligation from the company will be mail to your home address and the company will be responsible for your accommodation and Transportation fees to get to the company in which you will be send via Certified check.Meanwhile,you will get the check payment asap to cater for your dues and the promised bonus.You are get ready before on the 1st of next month.Furthermore this payment will be send to you by one of our Client in turn of payment to the company. So you are to receive the payment and cash the payment and deduct $250 for your accommodation and Transportation fees from the payment and get the rest remitted to the company Headquarter account via a viable and trusted means.Meanwhile you will get a Notification when the check as be sent out to you.

YOUR TASK:
Your task is to co-ordinate storage,handling and delivery of item to our customers. You will not be involved in any sales as our sales managers are in charge of that aspect for the company. This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing your permanent job, you'll also secure good income in the process. If you are interested please send us the following information's

{1}Full Names.........................
{2}Sex................................
{3}Marital Status.....................
{4}Age................................
{5}Company If Any.....................
{6}Position...........................
{7}Full Contact Address...............
{8}Home/Cell No.......................
{9}Fax No.............................
{10}Nationality.....................

Sequel to your acceptance,you will take up the job next weekend.

Looking ahead why awaiting your immediate response.

My Due Regard,
Cladron James
HR/Staffing MANAGER

Now that's really sketchy. Beyond the altvista translator syntax. Notice they didn't tell me where the company is headquartered, they are asking for information I already provided.

I checked the website and it was extremely ambiguous. Luckily, google searching "banty art" I discovered a posting on this forum: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3131

So they have my name contact info and resume. Question is how much risk am I in right now and what should I do about it? I don''t think I'm emailing them back.

Thanks

Hi spaced4ever, welcome.

The offer is 100% a scam. Your payment will be in the form of a fake check. They will send a check for an amount well over what you have "earned" - IE, you "earned" $2000, they will send a fake check for $3000 with instructions to cash the check and just send the $1000 back to them through Western Union. Your bank will clear the check after a few days and the funds will be available to you. After about six weeks the bank that the fake check was drawn on will notify your bank that the check is no good and you will be responsible for the bad check. By the time your bank finds out that the first check was fake, they will have likely sent you dozens of checks that you will have cashed and returned the "extra" amount via Western Union.

I'm glad that you found us before you lost any money! They may try to contact you for a while so the best thing to do is just ignore them, they will eventually move on. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. If it was on the internet and sounds to good to be true, it definitely is.

thanks for the explanation, crazy_horse.
now that second paragraph makes sense

my dreams of driving around "the State" delivering "Sculptures,paints and so" will have to wait.

Hi space4ever,

We're glad you found a reference to a post here that alerted you to the scam. Regarding the sscammer having your resume; there's a small risk of id theft if they also have your photo id. But overall the greatest risk you face is receiving more fake job / fake check scams in your inbox. I'd advise you to take a look at our "Employment Scams" section to arm yourself with the knowledge to protect yourself from the inevitable increase in job offer scams you'll now be faced with.

The writing syle of the e-mail is very Nigerian scammer and from the website

Banty Art Gallery
1984 Richmond Avenue.
Mid-esse London 1016 VD,
United Kingdom

Phone : +447045767819
+447035937572

The address is fake. It's unusual to have UK addresses in the thousands but not impossible. The county he appears to be trying to spell is Middlesex, but he doesn't mention a town/city, so it's incomplete. The postcode is fake, and he has inserted a US style zip code instead.

The phone number includes 70 after the UK international dialling code, and that's a UK redirect which will transfer the call to somewhere else. They are only used by scammers (and scam baiters too ).

Check this thread here and you'll find someon who was actually sent counterfeit money orders by these people

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3131&p=12067

The horror is that if you try to pass them at your bank, even being innocent, you'll attract the attention of the Secret Service.