I’ve been looking for work recently, and I’ve applied for a lot of things.
There’s been a lot of timewasters so far, from scammers on Gumtree, to jobs on more-commonly-legit websites (Reed, Jobsite, etc.) which are not really jobs – but actually paid courses. “No experience necessary”, because they train you at a cost of several thousand pounds to start with.
I can’t remember what I applied for on this occasion, but this is what I’ve just received via email. I have not emailed the address who sent me this email, and they handily haven’t included my original message in the reply.
(I’ve tried to recreate the random capitalisation of letters, and bizarre spacing (or lack-of) roughly as per “Justin’s” original email. Which was very hard, but not as hard as fighting the urge to correct the spelling.)
From: Justin William Rose <hotmail address>
Subject: Job detaisl.!! Awaiting your mail.“Dear Applicant,
Thanks for replying through the advert placed on Gumtree.
How are you today? I believe you are having a great day? I am currently Looking for someone who can handle my Personal and business as Per-Time Job.I would love to meet up with you to talk about this job but I am currently away on a business trip but there is a test which i will like you to go through because i need a capable Personal Assistant. I am in Scotland/Aberdeen so there will be no interview except for the form you will fill below.1.Have you ever worked as a Personal Assistant ?
2.Can you communicate effective and efficiently?
3.Will you be able to run errands 1:30 Hour/Min per day for and will be needed 3
day’s per week at any suitable time in 3 day’s in a week?I will prepay you in advance to do my shopping. I will also have my mails and packages forwarded to your address.
If you will be unable to stay at your house to get my mails, I can have it shipped to a post office near you and then you can pick it up at your convenience.When you get my mails/packages; you are required to mail them to where I want them mailed to. You don’t have to put money out of you pocket, all you have to do is have packages shipped to your house and do my shopping.
You are allowed to open the packages to know content.The content of the packages are computer and electronics, clothing’s business and personal letters. All expenses and taxes will be covered by me.
I will pay £300 weekly That is not a bad offer is it? I need your service because I am constantly out of town on business as I own a electronics and clothing store in Scotland but want to open another store in Central London when I return in October so this process will be on going till then. If you don’t mind,I will meet up with you when I return and then we can talk about the possibility of making this a long term. Well let me know if you are able to handle the position.
I will email you the list and pictures of what to shop for when I am ready. No heavy packages are involved! You can do the shopping at any nearest stores. You will be shopping for Electronics and clothings. If I were to mail you money to do my shopping plus upfront payment for your service, where would you want it mailed to? Your full info for check,money orders or cash payment:-Requirements:-
You must be RELIABLE, detail-oriented, and write reasonably well, and have access to a computer with Microsoft Word and a reliable Internet connection, must be 19 years old and above , no experience needed .Application info needed:-
First Name :
Last Name :
Address :
City :
State :
Post code :
Age:
Home and Cell # :
Year of Birth :
Gender :
Present Job :
Email:
Alternative Email :Well, let me know if you are able to handle the position Thanks for your anticipated action. And kindly get back to us if you are interested or not , as we hope to hear back from you soon.
Acknowledgment your details to this email address :-
I await your prompt reply .
Thanks.Best Of Luck!
Regards,
# 07045704513/07859974431.”
I think we can all agree that this doesn’t sound dodgy. At all. My bullshit radar isn’t registering anything.
I don’t think I’ll continue my application, but if I were to, I’d have a few questions like:
1. Why do I need experience of working as a personal assistant, being that I haven’t applied for any jobs of this nature/title?
2. You’re apparently based in Aberdeen, and your new business is in London. Why do you want to hire somebody who lives in Bristol?
3. There are phones in Aberdeen. Why are you selling me the virtues of your business by email?
4. Why are you posting things to a sorting office that I suggest, just so I can post them on to yours? There are sorting offices in Aberdeen. Get it delivered directly to you.
5. What the hell is an “electronics and clothing store”? Electrical stuff and clothes in the same store? Because geeks obviously like fashion, right? Presumably it’s called “Gap 2.0”? “Miss Sellfridges”? “French High Speed Connection”? “Gantt”? “Next..Step”? (Geeky joke that nobody will get. Next is a clothing store. Nextstep was an operating system.)
6. You run an electronics and clothing store, yet you want me to purchase electronics and clothing for you, at retail prices, “at any nearest stores”, AND post them to you individually? You are NEVER going to make a profit like this. You need to be buying it wholesale yourself.
7. I must be able to “write reasonably well”? Me? What?
8. Why do you refer to yourself as “me” or “I” repeatedly, then in one of the last paragraphs, get all “we” on my ass.
9. If I applied via Gumtree, I have provided you with all the information in your “info needed” section, already. Why do you need it again, Mr Le Gitt-Perrson?
and finally
10. Why don’t you get whoever wrote whichever advert I replied to originally, to continue your fake correspondence? Because this is fooling nobody.
i have recieved this email today also, am very confused as usually any gumtree jobs provide the original mail i sent! is this a scam?
also i emailed back providing no details just to see what was said, and in reply I recieved
email me your details
I await your reply
thanks!!!
bit odd!!
Yes – just a bit strange, isn’t it?
I think it’s a scam, but not sure how it works. I won’t be sending them my details.
Also – how did you come to be reading this? This post doesn’t even show up in Google searches yet. Or does it? It’s only been here a couple of hours.
I googled justin william rose, and this came upi, was glad to see someone else had recieved the email. I have reported the email adress as scam mail now! was not going to send my details!! not the first scam gumtree has sent to me!
I actually replied to it and received this:
Thanks for the details. Great to hear from you, The Job will be assigned to you immediately without any delay alright. As my assistant you will resume work with helping me on errands, sorting out my delivers and packages since I am not available and make payments on my behalf. You will be properly briefed in order to carry out every task appropriately. I believe we started this with TRUST, HONESTY AND SOUND MIND..! Please assure me of you trust, honesty and commitment. I will make arrangement to send payment to you in pay-check Or Traveler’s Money Order for your first salary and also to carry out your first assignment. You will be informed once the payment has been sent and what you are to do with the remaining money after deducting your salary. I hope we have an understanding ?.Thanks for the co-operation and understanding in this transaction / Work Assigned you are to carry out, Thanks once for your effort .
I will get back to you immediately the Money is sent to you it will be send to you via Royal Mail Service alright which will take 2 to 3 working days for the payment to get to your destination alright , I will get back to you immediately the Payment is send to you as soon as possible this week .
N/B :- Please get set and please I don’t want the situation where by the payment will be send to you and said you are not Interested again consider you have gotting a per-time job already for yourself Okay. I would be delighted to hear from you as soon as possible for confirmation that you received this mail from me.
Kindly re-send your full details to ensure the Payment is send to correct address.
CONFIRM THE RECEIPT OF THIS MAIL !!!! Response needed.
NOTE : I NEED FAST AND URGENT RESPONSE FROM YOU EACH TIME I SEND YOU A MAIL OK. How often do you check your mail daily???
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Best regards,
I received exactly the same thing. I looked at my mail history and discovered that the original advert I enquired about was an administration assistant for an accountancy firm.
SUSS Me thinks.
Yeah – I’ve got same replies from two different places, one was from Ireland and another from US. It’s obviously fraud/scam type ads.
JUST THOUGHT YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ PART OF TWO EMAILS I HAVE SENT TO AN EMPLOYMENT AGENCY ADVERTISING ON GUMTREE, AN AD THAT MY SON ANSWERED IN EARNEST AND WAS TOLD HE NEEDED TO TRAIN AND ACHIEVE TWO CERTIFICATES (cost of approx £250) WHICH ALTHOUGH WERE GENUINE AWARDS, THE ACTUAL JOB HAS NOT MATERIALISED EVEN AS AN INTERVIEW.
As you mentioned, I understand that you will be making up his ‘file’ as a candidate and then putting him forward for an interview with the company/hospital concerned. I want to thank you for allowing Jonny to achieve these necessary certificates so quickly and he is eagerly awaiting the next stage towards possible employment. Please forgive any element of cynicism in my words, but having had one or two negative experiences with job advertisements on Gumtree in the past, as a freelance journalist, I have a strong instinct regarding raising awareness about members of the public earnestly seeking employment who have been disappointed with their experiences of the Recruitment Agencies placing such ads on the internet.
Hi again Antone,
I am emailing to enquire what progress if any your agency has had in submitting Jonny’s details to the employer connected with the ad you placed on Gumtree for Physiotherapy Assistants. As I understand it, one or two other potential candidates attended the training day last week in order to achieve the two required certificates for work in this field as recommended by you in fact as I understand it, all those who attended and were required to pay for this training day, were hoping to achieve a chance for employment through your agency.
As I mentioned in my last email, I am very keen to ensure that members of the public are dealt with honestly when it comes to ads placed on the internet, especially when it comes to seeking employment which I am sure you know, is often a difficult and frustrating journey,, however capable or skilled they may be and although they may need to invest some costs in this task, it is essential that those costs are genuinely necessary and indeed kept to a minimum. With this in mind, I want to ensure that items available on the internet are genuine and truthfull as applies in all advertisements that involve the individual being required to part with money. In his original conversation with you, Jonny was informed of various details regarding the position advertised, he also asked relevant questions regarding this job and was assured of it’s genuine existance. I am sure you can clarify the situation directly to him on this matter.
IF I FIND THAT THIS IS AS SHITE AS I CAN SEE IT IS – THERE WILL BE SOME BAD PUBLICITY COMING THEIR WAY.
Jonny looks forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards,