Seek scam just the latest attempt to recruit mules

03.05.2006
Work from anywhere, earn A$4000 (US$3038) a month for just six hours a week, no experience required. Sound too good to be true? It probably is, and it could probably land you in jail. An email circulating last week appearing to be from Seek.com.au is yet another money laundering phishing scam.

The email, which purports to be from Seek, claims to be the job board's "job of the month" and offers work from anywhere, no experience required, and flexible hours. For more information, it asks the reader to follow a link to http://www.commbex.net/site/vacancies/.

The link takes you to a site for a "company" named Commdex and offers "employees" earnings of A$3800 to A$4000 a month, plus 5 percent from each transaction for only six to eight hours of a week's "work" transferring money to Western Union. Interested applicants need to have an Australian Commonwealth Bank account.

A 1300 contact number at the bottom of the email for Seek Customer service is actually the number for a carpet cleaning service. A spokesperson from All Seasons Carpet Cleaning said she had received quite "a number" of misinformed callers for Seek.

Auscert Security analyst Chris Horsley said that Auscert probably deals with up to 10 email scams like this a week, and people are still being tricked by them. He said that using job boards for these scams targets unemployed people who may be more vulnerable to being tricked.

"These types of scams are set up by phishers who have illegally obtained money and they need what we call 'mules' to transfer money offshore via Western Union. So your 'job' is to accept money into your account, and take a 'cut' of say five per cent, and then transfer the money to wherever the criminal is based," Horsley said.