Well, hello and happy almost-summer!  I know it's been a long time since I last sent you a newsletter - thanks for hanging in there!

When last I wrote, it was to tell you to ignore any email that was supposedly from me, supposedly while on vacation in England, supposedly mugged and needing cash.  Thankfully, I think the message was heeded, or you already knew it was a scam.

I have been looking for an additional part-time job.  My work hours have been cut dramatically, and I just want to fill the extra newly-available time with some sort of flexible part-time job.

I decided to check out CraigsList, knowing that it has served me well thus far, in my attempt to get our Blacksburg rental home some new tenants.  

Why not check 'em out for a job in Charlottesville?  Seems like a no-brainer.

I found a listing for a morning receptionist.  Cool.  How many hours a week?  The ad didn't say.  Pay?  $15.55 an hour.  Okay, cool.  How many days a week?  The ad didn't say.  I have more questions than answers here... So - let's write the poster of the ad and get some information from them.  

I write a nice, short letter of inquiry and attach my resume, and hope for the best.

A day or so later,  I get a response - here's the email:

Hello,

We would like to thank you for sending your resume to Cocventure. After reviewing your initial credentials, I think you could possibly be a great fit for our company.

Our Human Resource manager would like to schedule an interview with you before she leaves for vacation early next week. You need to complete the pre-interview screening before we can schedule an interview, which can be found at http://jobstaffingus.cocventure.org/Screen . Your applicant code is 20029871.

Please write down your code, as that is the only way you can gain access to your application and employee profile. Once you complete your screening someone from HR will contact you within 72 hours to schedule an interview.

Respectfully
Frank Mertes

Yay - they like me, they really, really like me!  Yessssssss!

I quickly log on to the website URL I was given, and sign in.

There are three pages filled with various innocuous interview-type questions ~

What type of work environment do you find most pleasing?

What are your strengths?

What personality traits do you find unappealing in others?

Why did you leave your last position?

This goes on for 3 pages, and I'm thinking hard to couch my answers as concisely and cogently as possible.  My brain is firing on all cylinders.

I hit this question:

"The fact that you've been given this questionnaire to fill out indicates that you are one of the top five candidates for this position.  Tell us in 1-3 sentences why we should hire you."

Ooooh, goodie!  An essay question all about ME.  Yay!  

I fill in my undoubtedly Pulitzer Prize-winning answer, and hit submit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The page begins by telling me that this organization needs to comply with US Statute # blah-de-blah, ensuring that I'm a citizen eligible to work and be paid in the United States.  I need to pass a background check and a credit check.

Okay... I'm aware that many groups need this type of information, and since I passed my "Secret" clearance by the government some 30 years ago, I figure I'm a good candidate.  

I read on.

To expedite this interview process, please click on the link below which will take you to our Experian/Equi-Fax linked account.  We will receive no personal information about you other than your first and last name, and the word "Ok" if there are no background discrepancies.

Our HR person will review this information and contact you within 72 hours."

Okay.

I click.

Hmmmm........ 

The page on which I land is for the website of "Profinity", a credit protection agency.  They have a 7-day free trial period, after which you'll be charged 20-something dollars a month for their protection of your good credit.

Hmmm.

Where is the "Free Credit Check" link's button?

Oh, there it is.

Click.

Fill out your typical credit check info... wait, they want a credit card number to verify my credit worthiness?

Hmmmm.

Red flags begin waving merrily in the background.

I go back to Mr. Mertes and write him a quick email indicating that I'm currently filling out the credit check information as requested, but it's with a service that wants to charge me a monthly fee after my 7-day free trial.

I tell him that I'm not comfortable with this - isn't there some other way we can proceed?

I wait a bit - and no response from my future employer.

I decide to call my sister Lynn, who has been doing some interviewing lately - I figure she'll know if this credit check requirement is standard, or ... not.

I miss her, but leave her a voice mail.

Then, I call my savvy, ever-helpful friend Elisabeth.  I tell her my situation.

"Ach - it's a fraud.  Do NOT click 'submit'.  It's a scam.  Yech, yech, yech."  (or words to that effect.)

Then... I see that I have a new email.  Oh, did Mr. Mertes write me back??

No... this is an email from Profinity, with my WELCOME PACKAGE contents.

Wait, what?

I haven't even finished the application, nor clicked the 'submit' button, and I'm already a member?????????

What gives here?

I remember that I saw a customer service phone number on the Profinity home page, so I open a new browser window (STILL not having clicked "submit") and call.  I speak with an agent.  I tell "Peter" that I was led to his site by a scam artist offering a job, and that I don't *want* a membership with Profinity, that I don't want any association with them whatsoever, and that I would like to have them refund the TWENTY-NINE-NINETY-FIVE that they have ALREADY charged (without having clicked "submit", mind you!!!) my debit card.

Peter speaks calmly and smoothly.  He tells me that his company has no control over who posts their link, or who sends potential clients his way.

He tells me that in today's economic climate, everyone is going to want for me to have a credit check, and that I might as well go ahead and do it now.

I tell Peter that I will gladly submit to a credit check AFTER I've spoken to a verified representative of the company who interviews me - and even then, only AFTER I've interviewed with them in person.

"I've charged your card $29.95 -"

"NONONNONONONO," I interrupt loudly.

"Ma'am, please let me finish.  I've charged your card $29.95 but because you didn't hit the 'submit' button, I can refund those charges.  Had you clicked "submit", it would have been non-refundable."

I get off the phone with Peter at the newly-named "ProFANity" and call my bank, and tell them what an idiot I've been.

The understanding (and kind) representative said that we should allow "Peter" to do what he said he would - give him the "seven to ten BUSINESS days, not counting weekends or holidays" (um, yeah?  You could charge me before I even hit the submit button, but it takes 10 freakin' days to refund my money??).

She says that if "Peter doesn't do what he said he would" (because he's proven himself so trustworthy, right?) THEN the bank would call the company directly on my behalf.

I then do what I should have done in the first place.

I do some research on the web.

The company wishing to hire me is a scam.

The email the hiring company sent me is shown verbatim on a site called flakes.com where scam artists are outed.

I joined flakes.com (there are those who would now say that I'm already a member of that group), and post my own complaint/sob story.

On the flakes.com website is a link to the Federal Trade Commission, in case you want to make a formal complaint.

I click on the link... and then, remembering the scam-ridden new world in which we live, I do a google search for "Federal Trade Commission" and click THAT link instead.

I make a formal complaint.

And now... I share my stupidity and niavete with you.

I had considered myself a pretty savvy person.  

I had read the Craigslist warnings posted prior to EVERY type of ad they post, warning me of scam artists.

"I know a scam when I see one," I thought to myself.

Well... now I know better.

And hopefully, now YOU do, too.

Like they used to say on a good cop show years ago, "Be careful out there."

Learn from my mistake, please, my friends, and don't fall prey to the ever-smarter, ever-more-subtle scam artists that are thriving on the hopes and needs of people who are just looking for a job.

I hope that your summer brings you joy and (seasonal) warmth and delights aplenty.

If you wish to unsubscribe from my humble, semi-annual newsletter, please just click the link below - it works, I promise, and it WON'T take you to a fraudulent website.

Please let me know how life is treating you, and if there are any images I've shown here that ignite your interest, I'll be happy to create prints of any size for you.

Be well - and be careful out there.