Honolulu FBI warns against work-from-home scams

Robert Allan Jones, acting special agent-in-charge of the Honolulu Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, warned the public about “work-from-home” scams advertised on the Internet that ultimately seek to defraud money from job-seekers and their banks.

The Honolulu FBI has seen a recent uptick in complaints regarding this type of scam in which a job seeker responds to an unsolicited email or internet posting seeking employees to work from home. After a brief job screening period, the worker receives a check and is ordered to negotiate the check in their bank account, keep a portion, and wire transfer the remainder of the money to accounts controlled by the defrauders. The worker is unaware that the check is actually a counterfeit. The defrauders hope to receive the wire transfer from the worker before the worker is notified by their bank that they have deposited a worthless check in their account.

In January 2012, a Kauai woman answered a CraigsList advertisement seeking work-from-home employees for a fake oil company using the name DSL Oil. Shortly thereafter, she was mailed a counterfeit Chevron check for $3,958 and told to deposit the check into her personal bank account, keep $200, and wire transfer the balance to her new employer. The woman recognized that something was wrong and refused to send the wire transfer.

In an unusual twist, the woman then received a fraudulent email claiming to be from the Honolulu office of the FBI threatening her with criminal prosecution for her refusal to wire the money. The defrauders used the name and included a photograph of an actual Honolulu FBI special agent to create the illusion of credibility. The FBI has previously warned the public against scams where names and photos of U.S. government officials are used in attempts to add credibility to financial frauds. The Kauai woman contacted the real FBI in Honolulu who confirmed that the email was a fake.

The FBI believes that many of these scams originate from the African nation of Nigeria even though U.S. and European cities are used for the initial wire transfers.

Email solicitations that appear to be fraudulent should be deleted by recipients and email attachments should not be opened. Cases in which a substantial financial loss has been suffered should be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Control Center at www.ic3.gov for possible further investigation.

More information about “Work-from-Home” Scams can be found at:
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/april/workathome_041709