Thursday, 28 May 2009

• Beware! Work from home scam!

  As you all may or may not know, I've been looking for any job since August 2008.  I have my resume posted on Career Builders, and I often get silly offers to "begin a successful career" as someone's sales agent via different titles to suck me in.  These things will usually require that I purchase "training materials" or product samples, and even if they are legitimate, it's not what I do best: sales.  So I either ignore or decline politely, depending on how personal the message might be (after all, if they are for real, I don't want to slam the door, right?).
  
  I got this note last week:
  
  

  My name is Sophie Koenig and I’m the HR manager for Swift Rise Corp. I have just found your resume at CareerBuilder.com and I think that you would be interested in 2 job opportunities at Swift Rise: CSR (20 hours weekly) and Corporate CSR (30 hours weekly). Both positions involve a lot of responsibility, attentiveness and independence, but they are well rewarded. Annual incomes of CSR and Corporate CSR are US $32,400 and US $67,600, respectively. [my name], if you are self-reliant enough to work at the convenience of your own home or office, and if you are a quick learner and ready to develop your customer service and management skills, then please contact me urgently and I will give you a very detailed account of these vacancies. 

  
  

  Sincerely,

  Sophie Koenig

  HR manager, Swift Rise Corp.

  E-mail: sophie.koenig@swiftrise.com , koenig.swiftrise@googlemail.com

  I responded with this:

  Good Morning Sophie,
  
  I am interested if either of these positions pays a salary and not just a commission.  Also, I have no money to pay for kits or other things, so I am unable to participate in any scheme that would ask me to.  Please send me the rest of your details so I can see if we are a possibility.
  
  Thanks!
  

  
  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should,
  how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. Ephesians 3:18
  
  ~*~ "There's never a good reason to be unkind, even if you feel provoked."
  - Ravi Zacharias ~*~
  
  

  Usually, when I get a business contact, I delete the bible verse and "thought for the day" items; but since I thought this was another sales contact, I didn't care to delete it.  There's always a chance that some good seed is planted when we allow it to fall whereever, right? If anything, it might discourage them from contacting me further in any harassing way. 
  
  Today, I found this:
  
  

  Thank you for contacting me soon. I will try to describe everything in details to avoid any subject left unclear. I hope that you read the full description very attentively.

  1. Our Company

  Swift Rise has been established early in 2007 and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Our company is engaged in providing worldwide dealership network services to the small startup companies. [my name], you may always find more information about Swift Rise at our website: www.swiftrise.com 

  2. Our Services

  Swift Rise enables any company to get representatives worldwide. Our agents (CSRs and Corporate CSRs) conduct negotiations, organize presentations, take care of accounting, manage local sales and provide local customer service. You may find more info at the website too.

  3. CSR and Corporate CSR positions

  [my name], you are offered to become our CSR (or Corporate CSR) in the United States to represent our client (a quick-growing software company in Europe). You will not be an employee of this company, you will be an independent contractor of Swift Rise, you will be officially representing this European client, and you will deal with the U.S. customers only. As our representative, you do not depend on our client. Even if the client decides to stop using our services, we simply get another client for you to represent in the States within just a week.

  4. Accountabilities and duties

  - Be online at Internet instant messenger during your scheduled working hours

  - Provide general customer service over phone and e-mail

  - Update price list daily according to the local currency changes

  - Keep records of customers

  - Invoice customers

  - Confirm the delivery of products with customers

  - Report to your supervisor daily

  - Notify permanent customers about new products, services or discounts

  - Report about any expenses connected with your duties

  [my name], please notice! You will never be required to make any cold calls; you will be receiving incoming calls from potential customers only. Also you will not be required to advertise products!

  5. Training

  You will be completely trained by your supervisor before you start working. Your supervisor will provide you with all necessary materials and instructions, so you will know how to perform every duty perfectly. The training is done online within just couple of days and it should not take more than 1-2 hours daily. After you learn all the materials, you will be able to discuss it with your supervisor. Do not worry about the training, [my name]. It is free, it is not complicated and it is absolutely sufficient to perform the CSR duties successfully. It is in our own interest. 

  6. Work place requirements

  The only requirements are computer with Internet access and cell phone. There are no specific configuration requirements. You may work from home, cafe or even coworking space. It is all up to you, [my name]. You are able to choose the place that is most comfortable for yourself.

  7. Schedule

  CSR must work 4 hours running daily and Corporate CSR must work 6 hours running daily. The working hours must be between 9am and 6pm (your local time). The schedule is flexible. You may start at 9:30am on Mondays, at noon on Thursdays and etc. Of course you will be working Monday through Friday except local public holidays. Finally there will be no problem to change the hours for the next day; you would just need to notify your supervisor over Internet.

  8. Vacation

  You will have 4 weeks (20 business days) of paid vacation during the first year. Public holidays are not counted and you will be able to divide the vacation as you wish. You will be even able to take just 1 or 2 days out of your paid days off. 

  9. Salary

  [my name], both CSR and Corporate CSR are salaried positions, not commission based. During the first 4 weeks, CSR is paid US $600 bi-weekly (once per two weeks) and Corporate CSR is paid $1000 bi-weekly. Starting from the 5th week, CSR is paid $400 weekly and Corporate CSR is paid $700 weekly. Finally you receive additional fixed bonus payments quarterly. CSR receives $3000 every three months; Corporate CSR gets $8000 every three months. In total, CSR is paid $32,400 per year (52 weeks) and Corporate CSR receives $67,600 for the same period. [my name], all the amounts are in the U.S. dollars (already after taxes).

  10. Taxes

  Working as a true independent contractor under the IRS rules, you will have a 1099 status. Swift Rise will be responsible for tracking all your expenses and income. Our managers will be mailing you the necessary forms and instructions on a regular basis. All appropriate amounts will be sent to you in time so that you will be able to make quarterly federal and state income tax payments.

  11. Reimbursements

  [my name], you will be fully reimbursed for every single expense (Internet, cell phone and etc). To get reimbursed, you would just need to send the scanned receipt or statement to your supervisor over email, and the reimbursement amount will be added to the nearest salary payment.

  12. CSR or Corporate CSR?

  [my name], you must have already noticed that Corporate CSR has a twice-higher pay and 2 more working hours daily. This is not the only difference. CSR serves individuals, but Corporate CSR deals with business customers only, so this position requires more responsibility. To work as a Corporate CSR, you should have a registered business (LLC). If you don’t have it already, you may establish a new one. Frankly speaking, it is not a big deal to establish a company in the USA. With Incorporate.com, you get your LLC registered within several days and it costs just about $300 (for the basic package which you would need). Take into account that Swift Rise will reimburse you for the LLC registration in full, because we need Corporate CSRs more than CSRs today. Finally, you don’t need to have the company registered before you sign the contract with Swift Rise. First we sign the contract and only then you establish a business. 

  WHAT IS NEXT…

  (1) If there is still something unclear, please send me a numbered list of questions over e-mail. [my name], please feel free to ask me questions, I am always glad to clarify.

  (2) Let me know what is your choice: CSR or Corporate CSR. Please think carefully, because you will not be able to switch from CSR to Corporate CSR during the year.

  As soon as you make your final decision, I will send you an appropriate independent contractor agreement and detailed instructions.

  I hope to hear from you very soon, [my name]!

  Sincerely,

  Sophie Koenig

  HR manager, Swift Rise Corp.

  E-mail: sophie.koenig@swiftrise.com , koenig.swiftrise@googlemail.com 

  
  

  

  
  

  Hildesheimer Straße 140, 30173 Hanover, Germany

  Phone: +49 (0) 511 9675 9546

  This message is the property of Swift Rise Corp. It may be confidential and is intended only for the use of the addressee. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this message.

  Now it looked more genuine, with trademark and all.  I thought about it, and knew I don't want to invest in getting the LLC registration until I see a better income result.  So, I googled "swift rise frankfurt germany" and found this a bit of information I probably wouldn't have seen on the link she sent me.  So here's my reply today:

  Hi Sophie,
  
  I did check out your company, but I knew your link would only be whatever you liked me to see.  Instead, I found this:
  
  

  Do not have any dealings with them! I signed on for a Corporate CSR position, got my LLC and opened a business account (after finding out that the Better Business Bureau has no negative info. on them). They have just scammed me out of $4,860. They sent a wire transfer for that amount to my account. Then had me get the cash and send to a "client" via Western Union. Fortunately, the bank the wire came from alerted my bank that it was not "authorized" and my bank put a restraint on my account. Because yesterday they had $17,000 wired to my account! I've filed a report with the BBB and ic3.gov (the FBI wire fraud division). They are a complete scam, despite the contract, constant contacts by your "supervisor" via instant messaging. The bank the first wire came from can come after me for that money. P.S.: This $17,000 is supposed to include my "salary"; how generous of them!
  
  

  I think you'd better watch out for yourselves.  It looks like there will be legal consequences for what you and your accomplices are doing.  I am grateful I am not one of those people who have been hurt by you.
  

   

  
  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should,
  how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. Ephesians 3:18
  
  ~*~ "There's never a good reason to be unkind, even if you feel provoked."
  - Ravi Zacharias ~*~

  
  Always be very careful out there, sweet peeps.  It's not hard to check things out a bit.  Thankfully, this guy didn't lose any money in his dealings with them; but another "CSR" might have lost that amount in forwarding the money to him...poor thing.
  
  

  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil! —Isaiah 5:20
  

  
  

  
  

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