ANOTHER FAKE CHECK SCAM TO WATCH OUT FOR
Recently the Boston University Police Department issued a warning concerning a job offer targeting students from a “Michael Ferguson” of “LinkShare Corporation”. This scam involved victims accepting the offer to deposit forged checks into their own personal bank accounts and then wiring money received to third parties.
Boston University Information Services and Technology has added the email address used by Michael Ferguson (LinkShare Corporation < barrickgoldcorp@hotmail.com) to its “access banned file”.
It would now appear that a new scam may be targeting students. A student has reported receiving an emailed part-time job offer from a person claiming to be a Human Resource Assistant Manager for Swatch Group. The email address used by this person (jobs@swatch.org) is not the email address of Swatch Group. The job description is the same as the one described by Michael Ferguson in his emails to countless students.
The perpetrators of these scams have impersonated legitimate companies (LinkShare and Swatch Group) through fraudulent email accounts.
The Swatch Group email reads:
Greetings, Our company would like to present you a part-time job offer as a finance officer in your region. This job does not require any previous experience and involves the following tasks our employees should accomplish:
1. Receive payment from our customers into your bank account.
2. Keep your commission fee of 10% from the payment account.
3. Send the rest of the payment to one of our payment receivers in Europe via MoneyGram or Western Union.
For more details about this job offer click on the following link: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After enrolling to our part-time job you will be contacted by one of our human resource staff.
Thank you, Karen Hoffman, Human Resource Assistant Manager
Any student that deposits these checks into their personal bank account will be notified by their bank that the checks are forgeries and that they will be required to reimburse the bank. Even though the forged checks are cleared through your bank, if they are returned by the issuing (payor) bank to your banking institution as forgeries, you will be liable for the money.
There are numerous variations of this forged check scheme so you are strongly urged not to take part in any similar transactions. In particular, you should avoid taking part in any transaction in which you are requested to cash a check by anyone not personally known and trusted by you.
If you receive an email such as the one above or anything similar, do not respond to it. Please contact Detective Kanavich at bkanavic@bu.edu if you receive any such solicitations or if you have any questions related to this scheme.
Be advised that Boston University Information Services and Technology has added jobs@swatch.org to its “access banned file”.