CONTACT

Katie Mitzner / Communications Director
Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado
Telephone: 719/636-5076 Ext. 118
Fax: 719/636-5078
Email: katiem@bbbsc.org

Beware of Ad for Courier Jobs - It Could Put Your Bank Account in the RED!

If you’re looking for a job in this job market beware of whom you give your personal information to. An employment ad, advertising for “courier” and “errand runners” is once again running in local papers. But to apply for the job you must first give your valuable personal information, which then gives the company access to your bank account.

It’s a recurring scam that the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado has been warning consumers of for the past year. The company advertises under a number of names including VIP Corporation, C Direct, ZEK, ZMC, The Phase Company, Phase Direct, Phase USA Purchasing, “C”, CGI8 Corporation, 53 Direct and LGI. In addition to complaints the BBB has received, the Colorado Springs Police Department reports that they’ve received between 50 and 60 complaints within the last 7 months.

The ads show up under the “Help Wanted” classification of Human Resources and are always for a courier or errand runner. Most ads are found in local papers although some have been accessed online as well. Job seekers are instructed to call an 800 number but they cannot reach a real person; they are instructed instead to leave a message. Someone from the company then calls back and directs the consumer to a web page. One web address used is www.cz.zapto.org although other addresses have been used, however all of the addresses take consumers to the same web page. Once there, consumers are instructed to print out forms. These forms ask for personal information including your driver’s license number and your bank account information including a voided check. Once the form and documents are faxed back to the company the job seeker is informed that they have the job and one of two things happens:

• 1) They are told that their first job is to go look for office space and use money that will be deposited into their account to pay for the office space – or -
• 2) They are instructed to pick up a package full of checks and are given explicit instructions and maps to local banks where they should deposit the checks. It’s believed these checks are counterfeited with information the company gains from other consumers who have revealed their bank account information.

Consumers with “money” now in their account are then instructed to wire money from their account to Mexico and keep $100 for themselves. But since the money deposited is from a counterfeit check the bank account holder is left footing the bill for that wired money.

Reminders when applying for employment:

• Voided checks are just as vulnerable as blank ones.
• Don’t ever fax copies of your ID or Social Security Number to someone you’ve never met. Credit checks and fake ID’s can easily be obtained with this information. You can give these documents to your employer when you are physically at the job.
• Never fill out tax paperwork like W-2 forms over the Internet. These forms can be duplicated, along with your SSN and driver’s license, to make employment easy for illegal residents of the U.S.
• Before seeking employment with an unknown company, call the BBB at 719-636-1155 or 866-206-1800 to check it out! You can also log onto BBB’s national website at http://www.bbb.org for information on companies in other states.

If you are interested in speaking with a local consumer affected by this scam contact Katie Mitzner at 719-636-5076 x118.