Help me find the "catch" with this "job"

Stevefromdonny

It sounds like money laundering to me. Get an innocent person to do some "freelance mystery shopping" involving £1000's of money being transferred around the world. The restaurant has been thrown in as a decoy IMO, and may never materialise. The other two being money transfer agents has suspicion written all over it.

Real mystery shoppers get paid a fraction of the sums you mention.

Browntoa

I see money laundering, either as the others have mentionedfrom stolen cheques , identity theft or accounts set up to siphon in cash from stolen online bank accounts

the buck stops at you as it will all be in your name

ms_night_ryder

Lol this is a scam! Cheques can be reversed up to 30 days I think maybe even more!

Think about iy! What company pays you before you have done the work? You sound really young, Just what these scammers are looking for! They won't forget you have their chrque, I suggest you send it back to wherever iy came from and tell them you are not interested.

It's a good thing you signed up to this forum to ask your question, maybe you should stick around and learn a few things.

Stevefromdonny

Go to your bank on monday (or phone them today) and explain what you have told us. Also phone the police (on 101 in most areas). They may have had occasions such as this before. Stopping it now is the best way forward. Don't touch the money if it clears into your account. I would get in touch with the paper too (or let the police do it), see if they have records of who took out that advert.

The more I read it, the more I see money laundering. They will split the cash up between many "mules" (you) and have it transferred around the world to reduce risk of getting caught. The £320 (or whatever) they pay you is a pittance compared to the overall money they have to launder.

tiger_eyes

ringwaldhaze wrote: »

I'm a little embarrassed this is all so obvious. I guess internet anonymity isn't all that bad for situations like this...

No need to be embarrassed - except maybe that you believed a company would trust a complete stranger with their €4810, or about £4000 :D - but anything involving money being deposited into your account and you taking a cut and passing the rest on is a classic scam.

ringwaldhaze

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Lol this is a scam! Cheques can be reversed up to 30 days I think maybe even more!

Think about iy! What company pays you before you have done the work? You sound really young, Just what these scammers are looking for! They won't forget you have their chrque, I suggest you send it back to wherever iy came from and tell them you are not interested.

It's a good thing you signed up to this forum to ask your question, maybe you should stick around and learn a few things.

Haha, I am young (although that might be one of the kinder terms to use...).

I guess I will backpedal and say I was hesitant/suspicious from the start. I initially thought the trick would be that your input (potential travel fees, the incongruous restaurant scenario) would be so much that your payment became kinda meaningless. Once I got a cheque which went into the thousands I thought it might be some kind fraud/money laundering scandal.

I didn't think of something so obvious as a bounced cheque admittedly... :whistle:

ringwaldhaze

Stevefromdonny wrote: »

Go to your bank on monday (or phone them today) and explain what you have told us. Also phone the police (on 101 in most areas). They may have had occasions such as this before. Stopping it now is the best way forward. Don't touch the money if it clears into your account. I would get in touch with the paper too (or let the police do it), see if they have records of who took out that advert.

The more I read it, the more I see money laundering. They will split the cash up between many "mules" (you) and have it transferred around the world to reduce risk of getting caught. The £320 (or whatever) they pay you is a pittance compared to the overall money they have to launder.

Just wanted to note that I haven't put the money into my account.

Thanks for the help everyone!

edit: Sorry about the double post...

imoneyop

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Lol this is a scam! Cheques can be reversed up to 30 days I think maybe even more!

If the cheque is fraudulent it could be reversed at any time - a good quality fake cheque drawn on the account of a large company could take months to be noticed as being a fake.

maas

3)After receiving the assignment funds, we'll send you the name and address of whom the transfer will be made to.

LMAO this is pure money laundering scam. You will get your bank account shut down in days and referred for investigation.

EDIT: Just noticed this thread is quite old, apologies for bumping it

mikb

maas wrote: »

EDIT: Just noticed this thread is quite old, apologies for bumping it

Don't apologise -- there's always someone that's going to have recently heard something just like this that may well be saved from a LOT of hassle due to your bump!

Banks are very keen to talk about the clearing cycle for cheques, how many days before you can draw against it, how many days before it "clears" completely, they use the phrase "certainty of fate" to mean that this cheque, after X days, is absolutely, definitely yours
[*].

[*]Subject to it ... not ... being yours. In the event of fraud, which could take time to notice, that money will be yanked back. Western Union/Moneygram don't allow you to yank back and trace the 2nd half of the scam.