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Craigslist job offer = possible scam?

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zeelandia

Junior Member
As a recent graduate, the market out there is pretty tough. Out of desperation, I came upon a CL advert looking for an Administrator/Personal Assistant. I emailed a cover letter along with my resume and this is what I received back:

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]I got your resume from craigslist and it has been reviewed. I did appreciate it, i will give this a GO! I'm looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable to work very well and with good understanding. This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following them, my only fear is that i may come at you impromptu sometimes, so i need someone who can be able to meet up with my irregular timings. As my office/personal assistant, your activities amongst other things will include;[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]- Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring, scheduling programs, flights and keeping me up to date with them.
- Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while am away
- Making regular contacts and drop-offs on my behalf.
- Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities
- For starting basic wage is $400 Weekly[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]I'm sure you'll understand i tend to have a very busy schedule at this point, as i am presently in Canada and i will be back in three weeks time. I think you're the right person for this position. Please note that this position is not office based for now because of my frequent travels and tight schedules, it's a part-time work from home and the flexibility means that there will be busier weeks than others, so it's a little difficult judging the exact number of hours you'll be doing per week. If you can manage your time properly, this job may even give you some extras while you do something else on the side. As I have said, I'd want us to get a head start with things as soon as possible, i do have lots of works piled up presently and a number of unattended chores which you can immediately assist me with, i hope we can meet up with the workload eventually.
Permit me to use this week to test your efficiency and diligence towards all this, also to work out your time schedule and fit it to mine. I really need to find the perfect person for this job, I'm confident you can take up the challenge and on the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us. I'm online most of the time as am hard of hearing so i prefer we contact each other through E-mails, but if there is need for me to call, i will be glad to do that. I'm glad you are willing to work with me and i promise to be a good boss, also glad on the commitment in working.
I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me this week is to run some errands out to some of the orphanage home, i do that every month. A payment in form of a Cashier Check/Money Order will be sent over to you from one of my clients and i have some lists to email you, once you received the funds. You will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the Orphanage at any nearest store around you, so you can mail them out. I will get you more information on that. I will like you to fill the requirements below:[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Full Name :
Full Address:
City:
State:
Zip/Postal code:
Home phone:
Cell phone:
Recent Occupation:
Email Address:[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]The employee acknowledged the detailed job description
and signed: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(First Name and Last Name of Employee)[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Once i have received your contact information, I will get back to you with the task for this week. I understand you will also be paid as well as its important for me to make the necessary steps before i get back from my business trip back to the states. Hope I am clear with that. Get back to me as soon as possible.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Sincerely,
<erased> Watson[/FONT]
Now straight off the back I am a bit suspicious for several reasons:

1) He should already have my contact info.
2) Have never met the individual.
3) Email was from a @westerncast.com domain which doesn't seem to have any verifiable attachments.
4) The whole Cashier's check makes me want to run!!!

Am I paranoid?

P.S. After this, I feel like I should be using a spam address just to apply for jobs.
 
Sounds legitimate to me. Just get the cashiers cheque, buy the products and mail them out. Once the cashiers cheque bounces, and you no longer have the goods, the bank comes back to you for the funds. All good.
 
"You will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the Orphanage at any nearest store around you, so you can mail them out."

LOL, I don't know why, but when I read this I could not stop laughing.

Thanks OP!
 
Scams seem to be rampant in the low end craigslist jobs. My sister went 5 for 5 one day when she ventured into the admin type jobs out of desperation. She sticks to the tech writing/editing type stuff now where at least she's not wasting her time applying to this kind of crap.

Viper GTS
 
It's gotten so that perhaps 90&#37; of the job ads on Craigslist are scams, opportunities for identity theft/phishing trips, etc. I've given up on CL as a job search tool.
 
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