What's the deal with those job ads that ask you to be a money transfer person for foreign businesses?

Question

Usually, they'll ask you to accept money either from Western Union or your bank account and ship most of the money to the business, keeping about 10% of the funds as your pay. Is this legit? Or is it just a way to get access to your account?

Answer 1

They are almost always scams.
They will ask you to deposit their check in your bank and wire them their 90%. Their check will bounce and you are out of luck.
Don't fall for this scam!

Answer 2

Employment scams, also know as job scams, are a form of advance fee fraud scamming where certain unscrupulous persons posing as recruiters and/or employers offer attractive employment opportunities which require the job seeker to pay them money in advance, usually under the guise of work visas, travel expenses, and out-of-pocket expenses.

The scams typically involve lucrative offers of employment in Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, or South Africa with money demanded to be paid to an agency or travel agent for visas or travel costs. These companies often present themselves with official looking websites and documentation. Once the victim has paid the advanced fees for employment, the business either declines employment or ceases operating as soon as the transfer is finalized.

This type of scam has become more and more frequent recently due to the popularity of Nigerian 419 scams, and growing suspicion towards e-mails offering to transfer money from bank accounts, especially those originating in Africa. Unlike 419 scams, job scams tend to mostly target persons looking for employment in other nations such as hopeful immigrants or contractors and operate out of nations with high immigrant and foreign employment rates.

It is advisable to be wary of any job offerings which arrive in e-mail unsolicited and eventually require anyone to pay a fee in advance, particularly if the fee is asked to be paid through a financial services company such as Western Union, or if one must pay the amount to a bank or person in a third country (especially a West African nation) that is suspiciously unrelated to either party. Most reputable companies and/or agencies will absorb these costs themselves if they are the ones seeking the employee.

Answer 3

Every year I received whole bunch of those types of email messages including international ones, and some of them were even sent to my work email box that I had no idea of how they got my intranet work email address which I used for work purposes only and never gave out to anyone in the public. The point is they are all scam to illegally obtain your personal info. So just ignore them and don't even reply back.

Answer 4

It's a scam to get your personal information. Don't do it!!!