The life and times of a normal university student

24 July 2012

Craigslist Scam! The Saga Continues with Robert Choice and Scott Doyle -- Seventy Ninth Post

So you thought that the medical-type reception job posting scam was over? You would be wrong, at least if you're me.
That posting is impressively linked to not just one, but three scammers, by my count. Ashleigh Loudon was probably the worst, but Robert Choice and Scott Doyle could probably do some damage. I'm holding out for a Nigerian prince.
I've taken screenshots of the emails for your convenience, but you'll want to click on them to actually read them. They're long enough that they're huge pictures. Also, I got these within a day of each other, although they were days almost two weeks ago. Sorry 'bout that. I got on a workout kick and couldn't be asked to blog.
Email from "Robert Choice"
Robert used too many line breaks, and I couldn't fit the whole email onto my screen. He finished with 'I will await your prompt response" and his name.

Email from "Scott Doyle"
Other than line breaks and some minor details, it's the same thing. Eerie.

I should point out that none of the scammers I've run across so far have actually related their replies to the job posting, which is in fact the subject of the email. Robert and Scott actually have the exact same letter, with slight differences. The gist of it is that they want you to deliver stuff to foster homes "in your area" which will be paid for by money order or something as soon as you give him your mailing info and suchlike. Unfortunately, you can't meet Robert or Scott (or, presumably, their "lovely Wife and 2 Beautiful daughters") because Robert and Scott are both out of town for the month. Bummers!
Both use gmail accounts and want you to email them back with contact information, and Robert wants you to email it to "krgiggs@googlemail.com". The job sounds, you know, too good to be true, with $600 from Scott and $700 from Robert weekly, full benefits, etc., all for a part-time job where you work from home. The emails are almost identical (the only notable differences being the salary and where the contact info should go), as mentioned, with some alterations that are pretty obvious, as they didn't change the capitalization. It's interesting to note that they don't want PO boxes, which seems like a good place to send a money order if your house isn't your mailing address. Hmm.
I feel kind of angry that they use "FOSTER HOMES" as a hook for soft-hearted suckers. I'm incredibly grateful for my parents being sane, not on drugs, and alive through my childhood, and I think that losing or being taken away from your parents would be just about the worst thing ever. Being stuck with strangers would make things even worse, especially when you're a kid or teenager. Helping out kids in foster homes is a great thing to do. I rate it just below curing cancer and AIDS, sending vaccines to underdeveloped countries, and stopping child marriages in improving the welfare of the world. Doing away with One Direction is next.
I'm not really sure how this scam would work. How would they use this information against me? I guess that just proves that I don't have a criminal mind. If they were legit, the email wouldn't be a minimally-altered form letter and it would be listed under something more closely resembling "Help out foster kids" instead of "Vet Receptionist and Front Desk".

To report the scam, go to the craigslist main page, click "about craigslist" and then "contact form".  See if you can find the original postings so that you can report the post ID, found at the bottom of the page. I found this out from "Anonymous" who commented on my post about Ashleigh Loudon.
Here's the link in case you get lost: Craigslist contact form 
I've already reported the post as a scam for Ashleigh, so I'm not going to bother posting again. Unless I get really bored tomorrow, and then who knows? Crazy things happen when I get bored.

EDIT: If you're looking for more information on craigslist scams, try Let's Get the Craigslist Scammers.

1 comment:

  1. I just recieved an email from scott doyle, which is why I am researching him, and exactly an hour later I recieved one from a person named john green.

    ReplyDelete