I got a call from the "Five Star" company today, and I strongly suggest that you try as much as possible to research this company before you agree to come in for an interview. If you have already agreed to come in for an interview, read the google scam reports on this company. I waited to research it, and now I'm almost certain that I have been scammed by this company.
They just called me for an interview for tomorrow. "Jaime" claimed they could start me out at $36,500 per year. The company was called 5 star. I'm not going now after reading all of this!
Identity Thieves Prowling for Job Seekers
Fake job ads up 345% as recession creates opportunities for scam artists
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/03/job_scams.html
March 9, 2009
With the unemployment rate rising and living costs going up, more people are looking for new jobs or second jobs. These are ideal conditions, it turns out, if you’re an identity thief.
Job seekers will register with employment agencies, check employment ads, mail out unsolicited resumes, network, post resumes on job search sites and search Craigslist.
In fact, the UK Association for Payment Clearing Services which tracks the prevalence of fake job ads said that fake ads are up 345 percent over the past three years. Unfortunately identity thieves are taking advantage of these uncertain economic times to scam job seekers and gather personal identifying information.
The Identity Theft Resource Center offers these tips:
• Protect your Social Security Number by limiting how many people see it. Never put your SSN on a resume. Let a company ask for it when they consider you a serious applicant. To minimize your risk, you also may want to not list your home address and just put your city and state on the resume.
• Consider opening a separate email account for your job search and keeping your primary email address private. Placing your email address on a resume could open the door to spam and phishing, account verification, and other email scams. (The recent Monster.com breach exposed resumes and email addresses. If you had placed your Social Security number or home email address on your resume, you could have made yourself a target.)
• Check out a company you found on a website carefully before giving them your information, for example Craig’s List. Anyone can create a website, but it doesn’t mean that they are a real company. You can find information on a company through the Better Business Bureau or the State Attorney General where the company is located. You can also Google the business to find out more about them. Most reputable companies will have a significant presence on the Internet, not just a few mentions.
• Avoid any website that requires you to “pre-register†with your SSN, home address or driver’s license number. Also, you should not be required to prepay to view job listings. Both these requirements are strong indicators of a scam.
• Update your computer security prior to emailing resumes and receiving email correspondence. Making sure your computer security is currently updated against viruses, Trojans, and other types of computer malware can help to protect you from any intrusion in an attachment you might receive.
• Make sure the person who contacted you actually works at the listed company and is not someone who has posted a job pretending to be part of a company. Does the URL address include the name of the company? If not, who actually sent it? Call the company involved, and ask for the Human Resources Department. Some companies recommend not responding via email to any person asking for more information, but rather to call the company directly. Rarely does a company hire someone sight unseen.
• Be wary of some common job scams. Avoid any company, especially a foreign company that wants to hire you as a “payment representative “or†accounts receivable clerk.†This scam indicates that you get to keep a percentage of all checks or money orders you place in a bank account for them. Do not open a bank account for a company. You will be the responsible party should any money laundering occur, or if checks bounce. This is called a “money mule scam.â€
Another scam is to notify you that you are one of the finalists for a job, and they need your Social Security number to do a background check. If you have not had a face-to-face interview with the company, you should be very skeptical. No one gets a job based on a resume alone.
Finally, watch out for the “work-at home†scams, especially those that ask you to “forward†packages you receive to a third party. That package may contain stolen goods or illegal drugs. There is rarely need to have a private party as a “freight forwarder.â€
The safest ways to job search are to use local want ads, visit the unemployment office, use temp employment services, tell friends and family about your search, and network via professional groups and business acquaintances. When contacting a local company you can meet them, see the facilities, and ask acquaintances in that industry about their reputation. Consider not contacting foreign companies, especially those from Nigeria, Russia and third world countries.
Should you decide to use the Internet, ITRC strongly recommends that you read the safety tips on job seeking websites and report any suspicious posting to the website concerned.
Florida Probes Eight Firms For Alleged Employment Scams
Suspected of exploiting desperate job-seekers
February 17, 2010
The ads make it sound easy; let the advertised firm train and place you in a new job, or set you up in a work-at-home business that will triple your income. It hardly ever works out that way, however.
Now, the State of Florida has issued subpoenas to eight firms suspected of running employment or work-at-home scams.
"Unemployed Floridians are particularly vulnerable to scams that falsely promise quick fixes for people who are jobless," said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. "With the unemployment rate in Florida at record highs, we need to be vigilant in our efforts against people looking to capitalize on someone else's difficulties."
One of the firms receiving a subpoena is Career Services International, based in Orlando. McCollum's office is investigating allegations that the company misrepresents available services and collects fees for those services, but fails to provide them. Consumers have complained that the quality of service was not what the company had promised and indicated problems with missed deadlines, untrained employees, and lack of advertised expertise.
Federal-State Crackdown
The subpoena is one of a series issued over the past several months targeting employment scams and was announced today to highlight the office's joint enforcement effort with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)and several other states. Seven other Florida companies have also received subpoenas investigating potential violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Allegations include misleading or deceptive marketing of work-from-home opportunities as well as job placement services and other Internet business ventures.
The other firms under investigation include:
• Coretech Media LLC, doing business as Netcadetpro.com and Net Money Training, located in St. Petersburg; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices related to home business opportunity kits advertised over the internet
• Darling Angel Pin Creations, Inc., located in Brandon; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices involving work at home job opportunity
• GC Displays, Inc., doing business as Atlanticpacificonline.com, located in Clearwater; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices involving job placement services
• Home Biz Ventures, LLC, doing business as Bidfuel.com and Blogtoolkit.com, located in Clearwater; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices involving internet business opportunity which offers on-line membership access to training and products to sell on auction sites
• My Career Corp., Inc., located in Tampa; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices involving job placement services
• Pacific Webworks, Inc., located in Salt Lake City, Utah; Investigation of unfair and deceptive trade practices involving work from home opportunities
• Viable Marketing Corp., located in Seminole; Unauthorized recurring charges associated with negative option "work at home" internet business opportunity
McCollum says consumers should be wary of any company offering employment positions that require little or no education but claim to pay high wages, companies that charge an up-front fee for their services or products, companies that offer "memberships" to internet-based employment opportunities, and any other opportunity that sounds too good to be true.
FTC Cracks Down on Jobs Con Artists
Scams prey on Americans left jobless by the recession
By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com
February 18, 2010
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a new crackdown on con artists who are preying on unemployed Americans.
The fraudsters utilize job-placement and work-at-home scams, promoting empty promises that they can help people get jobs in the federal government, as movie extras, or as mystery shoppers; or make money working from their homes stuffing envelopes or assembling ornaments.
As part of the law enforcement sweep, dubbed "Operation Bottom Dollar," the FTC has filed seven cases against the operators of deceptive and illegal job and moneymaking scams. In addition, the sweep includes 43 criminal actions by the Department of Justice, many involving the substantial assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The agency also announced partnerships with the online job placement service Monster.com, the search engine Bing and the centralized network of online communities Craigslist to help job seekers recognize job scams so they can avoid being victimized. Monster, Careerbuilder, Bing and Craigslist will display FTC consumer education material to people who are using the companies' Web sites to look for jobs.
"Federal and state law enforcement officials will not tolerate those who take advantage of consumers in times of economic misfortune," said David C. Vladeck, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "If you falsely advertise that you will connect people with jobs or with opportunities for them to make money working from home, we will shut you down. We will give your assets to the people you scammed, and, when it's appropriate, we'll refer you to criminal authorities for prosecution."
To help consumers avoid being conned by employment scams, the FTC has produced a new consumer education video in English and Spanish.
I responded to an ad on Craigslist for an Office Manager and was contacted by Jaime from this company. In my initial email, I had sent her my resume and detailed my qualifications, so I was surprised when she didn't even mention them. In her email, she also mentioned to "be on time to your interview". DUH! I was a bit suspicious-for a position like an Office Manager, would you really be getting people you actually have to REMIND to be on time?! I mean, this isn't McDonald's you know? So I waited for her call and she called me at around 2:30 on Monday and she sounded very "scripted" and spoke reaaallly fast, and so I could barely get the name of the company or what exactly it was I'd be doing, although she did mention opening up a store in the morning. I couldn't come in at the times she wanted (I kept telling her I had work all the rest of that week, but it seemed to not sink in). So I agreed to call her on Wednesday as "she didn't know what her schedule would be like on Thursday". So I called her and a man answered the phone as "Five Star" (which is how I finally figured out the company name). Long story short, I got an interview scheduled with Jaime. It is supposed to be in about an hour, but last night, I did the standard googling of the company you are interviewing with and a bunch of scam stuff came up, but no one really said exactly HOW Five Star is a scam. So I kept looking and after a few hours of research, it turns up that they are a perfume "peddler" connected with Larry Hahn (google him, he's a creep). So after I heard that, I was not at all interested in interviewing with them. But in order to doublecheck, I just called them a few minutes ago (between 9-9:30, when I KNEW Jaime would be in another one of her "meetings", and asked the guy who answered what product they sell-he said "we are a wholesale fragrance company". Soooo....I think Five Star is a St. Louis branch of Larry Hahn's perfume pyramid scheme. Don't go to an interview unless you want to waste your gas and time! I got suckered into something like this for Kirby vacuums and you never even get paid for your labor, they just brainwash you with all this talk of money, cars, women and motivational "meetings"...
Wikipedia Article on Larry Hahn's company:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scentura
Article from a guy who "worked" for them (and was ripped off):
http://www.babeled.com/2008/04/02/scentura-cr ... e-for-the-ages/
Yeah, a girl named April called me to come in for an interview. Five Star is the caller I.D. She talked so fast, I had to ask her 3 times what the company was, and what exactly I would be doing. She kept trying to get me to come in for an interview, and certain days weren't working for me. It was like she didn't hear me, and was rushed b/c she would be making the decision soon. She reminded me to bring my resume...why wouldn't I? My philosophy is if there are too many questions and blanks to fill, unanswered questions....it's a scam. I told her I would have to call her back. Not going to obviously. This is the 2nd time they've called me. Apparently I've responded to 2 of their postings at different times.