Full Time Receptionist/Clerk

A reader responded to a generic receptionist job ad on Craigslist and received this response:

From: Orpha Home <[email protected]>
Date: November 12, 2013 at 9:20:09 AM EST
To:
Subject: RE: Full Time Receptionist/Clerk (new haven )

Dear Applicant,

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately the post you applied for has been taken but I have a position which may interest you. My name is Steve Whetstone Senior Vice President of International Operations at Feed The Children and also a Professional Photographer. . I need you to be my personal assistant to monitor and keep me up to date with my activities. I’m looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable to work very well and with good understanding.

We specializes in the support. Feed The Children , Development and Production of Quality Plastic Injection Moldings for the Manufacturing Industry.

Available Position: Personal Assistant

Type: Part-Time

Hours: 15 Hours per week

Days: 3 days per week

Weekly Pay: $450

BENEFITS:

• AD & D Insurance

• 401(k)

As my personal assistant, your activities among others will include:

*Create and modify documents using Microsoft Office

*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring.

*Scheduling programmes, flights and keeping me up to date with them.

*Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I’m away.

Willing to take this job position, reconfirm your information to us for background check.;

Full Name:

Full Street Address (Not PO BOX):

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Age:

Sex:

Occupation:

Cellphone Number:

Home Phone Number:

Email Address:

Hope to read from you soon.

NOTE: This position is home-based and flexible part time job, you can be in any location, work from your home doing all the activitie

Regards

Steve Whetstone.

Feed The Children.

www.feedthechildren.org

Steve Whetstone does work for Feed the Children, which is a real charity, but this e-mail is not affiliated with either. Red flags include:

• Poor spelling and grammar (“Hope to read from you soon.” “Scheduling programmes, flights…” [The real Steve Whetstone is from Illinois, not Islington] “We specializes in the support.”)
• Request for lots of Data that can be used to identify you, like your name, address, birth date, or Social Security number.
• Unofficial e-mail address. Why wouldn’t Steve Whetstone use an @feedthechildren.org address?
• Vague part-time work-at-home job offered instead of the original office position the applicant was interested in.
• Is Steve Whetstone really a nonprofit executive, professional photographer, AND a specialist in the “Development and Production of Quality Plastic Injection Moldings for the Manufacturing Industry”? Or is whoever wrote this e-mail sloppy and confused?
• The salutations line reads “Dear Applicant” instead of using the applicant’s name, which was provided in her original e-mail.

Be very careful when applying to jobs online. For more information, see our article on employment scams.