Quezi

Working from home? Beware of the scam job offer (photo by Graham Stanley CC-BY)

One day you may receive in your email in-box, or through a chat-room, what to appears to be a tempting job offer involving working from home.

Each email is worded differently but most will suggest that you could be an important person in their business: Financial Manager or ‘our US Representative’.

What it goes onto reveal is that it is an opportunity to do some simple administration work from home by transferring money through your bank account onto another account, or turn it into a Western Union cash payment to be transferred abroad. All this is said to only take a few hours each week and provide very generous commission rates. They may also link to what appears to be a professional looking corporate website.

The reason for the use of your bank account is often given as tax rules in the client’s country, or large bank charges, and so forth.

The offer looks tempting, it looks easy work, and as they do not ask for any money, it puts you off your guard. How can I lose anything if they don’t want my money?

They require your bank account to launder money which has been stolen in other scams such hacking into online bank accounts and 419 or Nigerian advance fee frauds. By helping them you are committing an offence of Money Laundering. This is now treated as a very serious crime in all countries. You could be arrested and money seized from your bank account including any commissions you may have received.

The scam is easily detected by the banks as they have software which can pick up unusual and suspicious transactions on a bank account. They report these to the law enforcement agencies who will start an investigation.

So be very cautious about any job offer, especially if unsolicited. Check, and double check the company out. There is no reason whatsoever that a legitimate business would require you to use your own bank account to process payments on their behalf, and be careful who you give your bank account details to.