Work From Home Scams: IC3 Advisory

This past week the Internet Crime & Complaint Center (IC3.gov) in conjunction with the FBI, the US Secret Service, and the Financial Services ISAC (FS-ISAC)released a Fraud Advisory regarding Work From Home scams. In particular, they are trying to raise awareness of many schemes which lead to individuals serving as Money Mules for organized crime.

We've shared several examples of Money Mule recruitment scams in the past, including:

- Sep 4, 2008: Work At Home...for a Criminal? - several scams, including money mule scams, were described

- Sep 19, 2008: CareerBuilder Scams - scroll down for a "Walker & Sons" position as a "Financial Coordinator"

- Dec 8, 2008: Fake UMB Bank - scroll down for a "Regional Financial Representative" position at "BMS" to be described

- July 24, 2009: From Russia With Love - scroll to the bottom of the article to see a Mule Recruitment site called "Angle Protective" hiring "Customer Service Specialists"

- Nov 19, 2009: Running out of Money Mules? - ABC Web Design claims to be hiring "Financial Managers" who are actually laundering money.

- July 3, 2010: Stealing $10 Million 20 cents at a Time - where US citizens were recruited to open businesses to receive fraudulent credit card payments - another form of money muling.


On October 1, 2010 the FBI Announced "Operation Trident BreACH" which described money mules used to steal more than $70 Million! In this case the Money Mules were Russian and Moldovan students working in the New York area on J1 Student Visas. The point of the new advisory is that most Money Mules working in the US are actually American citizens who have been recruited through these Work From Home emails to use their checking accounts to move money out of the country.

Here are a few of the scams we are seeing in the UAB Spam Data Mine recently.

CareerBuilder reply

This email arrives with a graphical layout that tries to invoke CareerBuilder.com:



The body of the email is a classic mule recruitment ad - promising huge earnings for tiny amounts of work - and mentioning email and finances:

Hello,

Hope this email will find you at your best.

I came across your resume on CareerBuilder and I am contacting you in regards to an excellent job opportunity. Your skill sets and experiences appear to align well with the position I am looking to fill.

I've attached the job description details below. Please take a look and let me know if you would be interested in pursuing this further.

Job Description & Requirements

Check e-mail three times per day.

Preparing brief summary reports, and weekly financial reports.

Proficiency in using Microsoft Office.

Good communication skills in English (both verbal and written)

Possess good interpersonal skills.

Self-motivated and capable of working independently.

US Citizen, GC Holder

We offer
Salary plus commissions: $85,000-$95,000 per year
401(k) plan
Employment type: full-time/part-time

If you interested, planning to make a change, or know of a friend who might have the required qualifications and interest, please email me. In considering candidates, time is of the essence, so please reply to this email ASAP.

Thank you.

Note: I chose to contact you because your resume had been posted to one of the Internet job sites to which we subscribe. If you are not currently seeking employment, or if you would prefer I contact you at some later date, please indicate your date of availability so that I may honor your request. If you are not interested in receiving our e-mails then please reply with a "REMOVE" in the subject line. We truly apologize for the inconvenience caused.

Hiring Department

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