I was contacted a few days ago with a job opportunity that I'm 90% sure is a scam but I wanted to see if anyone had heard of this particular angle before I inquire further.

I have my resume out there on a few job sites. Not seriously looking but I apply for a few jobs here and there and if something really attractive pops up I might take it. I was cold contacted by email from a company in Australia (I'm in the US) in a manufacturing field that has nothing to do with the experience posted on my CV. The initial email was very generic: "We found some qualities on your CV that match our company profile on dice. we would like to discuss a 1-year part time auxiliary position, allowing you to continue with your current role. Please advice (sic) if interested".

The name and email address match what I found online for the company but that doesn't mean much. I replied that I might be interested, please send more details. The reply sounds suspicious:

"We are in need of a corporate representative in America and Canada to liaise with our existing customers and help strengthen our business operation in the region.

...

Please find attached a detailed information about the role for your review and feedback."

There was a PDF attached that explained a bit about the company, then had a few paragraphs at the end about the proposed role. Basically I'd be doing debt collections for their US customers with unpaid invoices. They estimate 7-12 hours per week of work and the compensation is $5k/mo + 5% commission on any recovered payments.

This smells like a scam for several reasons: Nothing in my CV suggests I've ever done debt collection or finances, just technical experience in unrelated fields. The compensation sounds way too high for what they're asking. Why wouldn't they just send this to a regular debt collections agency? The part about needing someone in the US to do this sounds like mumbo jumbo. I could go on.

I Googled some snippets of the pitch and didn't find any direct hits so if it's a scam it's not a simple phishing operation. Not sure what the angle would be though so wanted to get some opinions before I respond. I guess my next reply would be to try to contact the person who supposedly sent the email through a separate channel but that might not go anywhere. The headers of the emails I've received all appear to be legit but that can be easily faked.

Thanks.

Scam. First off, salary is way too high for debt collections.

The angle will most likely be some sort of fee to get started. Like an application/registration fee or something.

Yeah, the salary definitely set off my BS alarm. Their reasoning of wanting a US-based presence just doesn't seem compelling. I think I'm curious enough to play along for now to see what the angle is.

WotPeed,
Respond and see what happens imo (post the emails here). Why take the chance of missing out on making $5K/month in these tough times just because some random dudes on the Internet are sure it's a scam?

Here's the conversation thus far. Their emails in italics, my replies in bold.

We found some qualities on your CV that match our company profile on dice, we would like to discuss a 1-year part-time auxiliary position, allowing you to continue with your current role. Please advice if interested?

I might be interested, but I don’t have any experience in XXXX, which is what it appears your company does. What did you have in mind?

Thank you for your reply and interest in this job. We are in need of a corporate representative in America and Canada to liaise with our existing customers and help strengthen our business operation in the region.

Note ( It is not compulsory you will work with us in your field. We just need corporate representative. We will be putting you through also on what you should be doing in strengthening our relationship with our customers in North America. You don't have to travel doing this job. Your job will be an ancillary role to XXXX Ltd).

Please find attached a detailed information about the role for your review and feedback.

We look forward to your reply.

Thank you.


Thanks for the information about the position. From what you’ve sent I’m interested in discussing this further. What would I need to do to get started? The estimated time required (7-12 hours per week) would fit nicely with my schedule.

5k/mo+ for 10hr+- a week, yeah surely legit lol

Things I don't like:

1) Possibly believing this could ever represent something legitimate

2) Assume it is real (lol). Your ultra-weak response does nothing to make you stand out. General theory; the smaller your odds of getting a job through normal means, the more you should adopt an approach that will turn most employers off (no loss given your chances), but that will possibly interest 1% of them. 'I'm a bad man, people always end up seeing things my way' would have been a better reply-

case:

1) Like I said, almost certain it's a scam.

2) Not really going to invest any effort into this even if it's real. Doing debt collections sounds awful but if someone wants to throw $5k/month at me for doing little work I won't say no. I probably wouldn't even put in the effort for a phone interview.

I missed this gem in the OP. LOL

'Maybe someone will come along and give me something and I won't say no'. This thread existing means you have some level of emotional connection to an easy money/no initiative concept of career success.

Its legit so make sure you give them your full bank details+ social security + name address and full contact details so you can collect all the monies for nothing.

Keep going with it just in case it reveals some clever scam that I'm unaware of. My guess is that it'll be something super pathetic like they overpay you (either "accidentally" or as an advance for a task you can't possibly fulfil) then they ask you to send back the extra money. Then of course the money they sent turns out to be from a fraudulent account. I think you can do something like that with Venmo, although I left my postdoc at the University of Lagos years ago and I'm not up on all the latest scamological advancements.