We are looking for individuals (Male/Female) Start Making $1,300 Weekday P/T
posted: November 11, 2010, 10:06 AM
Hello,
We are looking for individuals (Male/Female)that have the passion for Delivery to help add to a Delivery team that is second to none.Make an extra income while we reach for the demands of our numerous customers.
The pay $1,300 Weekly.
Work duration:Weekdays
Days Off: Saturdays/Sundays
Must be friendly and good with people.
Get back to me for more information if you are interested.....
Thanks and have a lovely weekend...
Best Regards,
Mario Lucas
Salary/Wage: $1,300 Weekly
Education: ANY
Status: Part-time
Shift: Days
• Location: USA
This "offer" looked too good to be true and I figured that it was a likely a scam. So, I logged-into one of my extra email accounts and sent a message asking about applying for the job. I had nothing to lose by sending a message, after all. If it turned-out to be real, I could get myself a top-paying job and if it was fake, I could always blog about it.
From: "Mario Lucas"
Hello,
Thanks for your response to my ad on www.backpage.com regarding the Delivery Position and sorry for the late reply.However, I am Mario Lucas a Branch Manager of Justin Art Gallery and I have been given the task of setting up Justin Art Gallery in the United States to further expand and also meet the high demands of our numerous customers in the United States.More so, I will be arriving on the 26th of November 2010 and you can have the Delivery Application below filled out and sent to me so we can have it added to the company's data base.More so, the start of date as a Delivery Personnel will be on the 30th of November 2010 and you are to work from Mondays through Fridays while you take the weekend off.Your weekly pay will be $1,300.You can also call me on my cell phone +639159275768 ...dial as typed
Introduction to Justin Art Gallery.
Justin Art Gallery aims to provide an innovative forum for contemporary art, presenting work by largely unseen young artists or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the Philippines.
When Justin Art Gallery first opened over Ten years ago it was only those who had a dedicated interest in contemporary art who sought out the gallery to see work by new artists. The audience, however, built steadily over the years and by the time the gallery left its second home at County Hall, visitor numbers reached 300,000 per annum, with over 700 schools organizing student visits.
Justin Art Gallery has worked with media sponsors on a number of shows including The Observer, The Sunday Times, Evening Standard, The Independent on Sunday and Time Out.
Many artists showing at Justin Art Gallery are unknown when first exhibited, not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world. Many of these artists are subsequently offered shows by galleries and museums internationally. In this effect, the gallery also operates as a springboard for young artists to launch their careers.
Challenges we face
The audience for exhibitions of contemporary art has increased widely during the last ten years as general awareness and interest in contemporary art has developed both in the Philippines and abroad, thus making us one of the world's Interactive Art Gallery and now we are face with a challenge of keeping up with our numerous clients in the United States as they sometimes prefer making payments by cashier's check or money order, that's why we are in search of Representatives in the United States that will act as an aid between us and our numerous customers in the United States.We would be happy to receive your resume if you are interested in working for Justin Art Gallery as one of our Representative in the United States.More so, Vacancy for the position of a Driver/Delivery Personnel is now available for an Immediate Appointment with a weekly pay of $1,300.00
Nevertheless, the Van will be will be provided by the Gallery before your 1st Assignment.More so, you are also to act as Justin Art Gallery Payment Representative by receiving payment from our customers in the United States in Cashier's Check ,money order or bank draft.
JOB DESCRIPTION:
You will be making deliveries of our Art Collections bought by our customers to different locations with a Van that will be provided to you.More so, you are to receive the payment for each art works purchased as our Delivery/Payment Representative and have it sent to our Accounts Officer and I hope you can handle this....
BENEFIT IS AS FOLLOWS:
* The averagely income is about $40,300 Monthly depending on your Efficiency.
* No form of investments from you....
* This job takes only 3-5 hours per day....
* You do not pay any form of taxes as it will be paid by the Gallery.
* Weekends will be your days off
Kindly Have the Delivery Application filled out and sent back to me if you are interested in working for Justin Art Gallery as our Delivery and Payment Representative so we can have it added to the company's date base.
Nevertheless, our website is being updated for a better relationship with our customers and friends. However, you can scroll down for a tour of some of our finest collection.
Best Regards,
Mario Lucas.
Branch Manager
Justin Art Gallery
24 EDSA AVENUE MAKATI
PHILIPPINES 4114
Delivery Application:
Contact Details:
First Name: ________________________________
Last Name: _________________________________
License Class: _____________________________
Address Line:_______________________________
City: ______________________________________
State: _____________________________________
Zip code: __________________________________
Telephone: _________________________________
Mobile: ____________________________________
Email: _____________________________________
2 Years Employment History (Most recent first)
Employer's name and any further details that may aid your application
Employer’s Full Name (1):________________________________
Start Date (1): _________________________________________
End Date (1): ___________________________________________
Start Date (2):__________________________________________
End Date (2):____________________________________________
Employer’s Full Name (2): _______________________________
Start Date (1): _________________________________________
End Date (1): ___________________________________________
Notice how this art gallery is located in the Philippines and not in the United States? Right away, this should make people wonder. As far as I know, when works of art are shipped overseas, they are usually handled by professional shipping companies, such as the US Postal Service, United Parcel Service, FedEx, DHL Express, etc. By itself, UPS has branches in most countries around the world and could easily ship and deliver paintings without the gallery having to hire its own people and supply them with vehicles. Furthermore, why have the delivery driver responsible for collecting payments?
Since this gallery is supposed to be in the Philippines, I assumed that the email would have come from there, but I was wrong. Running an IP trace, I discovered that the email had been sent from Nigeria.
I was already convinced that this post is a scam, but I decided to search for a "Justin Art Gallery" in the Philippines, with the intention of reporting to them that their company was being used as a front for a scam. I found nothing that matches, aside from other people posting about this job offer. There are a lot of people named "Mario Lucas" to be found on the Internet, but none in the Philippines.
The "EDSA Avenue" mentioned is a real place, however. The full name of the street is "Epifanio de los Santos Avenue" (often simply shortened to EDSA) and is the main road in Metro Manila. Google Maps couldn't locate the specific address, but it's reasonable to assume that the address is nonexistent. Formerly known as Highway 54, the avenue was renamed in honor of Epifanio de los Santos, a very famous Filipino writer, in whose honor schools, a printing press, a college and a hospital were also named.
The phone number really is a phone number in the Philippines. However, a search for the number shows that it is a mobile phone, which is not surprising since a mobile phone is easier to run a scam with and gives less information to law enforcement to use for tracking down the scammers. So, both the phone number (63-915-927-5768) and the email address this message was sent from (mariolucas24@yahoo.com) are easily disposed-of and replaced.
So, this job posting is yet another scam posted on Backpage. I really wish that Backpage had some way to report this sort of thing to administrators. If they did, we might not have to worry about this sort of thing.
Duane Browning
10 comments:
so intresseting! thank you for rhis useful post :)
I replied to a similar backpage posting except for the fact that the branch manager's name was Eric Arevalo. My start was supposed to be Nov 16, which came and gone. I figured the job was too good to be true as well. But Arevalo sent me another email on Thanksgiving apologizing for the delay as he was still in Japan attending an art show for Justin's Gallery. He was scheduled to be returning to the U.S. and relocating in my city. I was also approved for the delivery rep position, and this time I will be starting on Pearl Harbor Day. I will be holding my breath waiting on Eric's call and the shipment of the van to my residence with art products..
Thank you so much.
They almost got me.I went to google and searched for justin art gallery, and I found your blog insteat. That is the only reason I did not go for it. You save me for whatever it was or still is.
so thank you
@dmbfadiga you're very welcome
Thank you they post in new orleans backpage few
Months ago I replayed and a William Hunt
respond and after several emails he send me This
How are you doing? We sincerely apologize for the silence in communication. One of our leading Board Committee based in Japan was greatly affected by the recent natural disaster so our operations in Japan has been temporarily halted. However our operations in the U.S will proceed with more determination to recover the losses incurred from the disaster.
The Interview Center had tried several times to reach you for the scheduled interview. However we suggest you fill and send back to us the Questionnaire attached as this serves as your interview. Please be as honest and transparent. We will be calling you along the way. So please provide us with correct numbers
Once again I am happy to have you work for Justin Art Gallery as one of our trusted Delivery Personnel/Payment Representative in New Orleans, LA and I am optimistic you will be of great asset to the Company.
I have just being contacted not too long ago by one of our clients that he has sent you a check payment which will be delivered to you via USPS. Kindly check your mailbox regularly. The check is in the amount of $5,850.30. This will serve as your upfront 1st week salary payment as well as serve for the Delivery van which will be shipped to you within the week.
We hope you take good care of it as it will always be in your possession. The Gallery will be responsible for the gas, repair and upkeep.
Once you receive it, have it deposited into your account and cashed. You will take your upfront 1st week salary payment of $1,350 and have the balance ( $4,500.30) wired to the Suppliers via Western Union. They will authorize shipping of exotic art works / artefacts and the delivery van to your residence. Please be reminded that all gas expenses and maintenance will be provided for by the Company but we hope you do take care of the vehicle.
This is the Supplier's information for you to wire the funds to so that the Delivery Van can be shipped to your residence for immediate start of work.
Name: Greg Jones Francis
Address: 246 Tomas Morato Street, Davao 8000 Philippines
I will be expecting your e-mail with the details of money transfer and the following information:
1. M.T.C.N (Money Transfer Control Numbers from Western Union transfer slip)
2. Sender's Name & Address
3. Exact Amount Sent (After Transfer Charges)
We have started preparing your delivery routes in New Orleans, LA with various clients demand ( of artworks).
Looking forward to hear from you
William Hunt
Justin Art Gallery
These posts are very useful. The number that you posted is the same one in the correspondence that I (stupidly) replied too, but the name of the company isn't the same. Everyone on here is saying it's Justin art gallery, the one listed for me is smog art gallery. While I did search the internet, there does appear to be a smog art gallery there, now whether or not it's legit, who knows? Anyway, thanks for the heads up about this scam and while I didn't give any real personal info, I did give my cell number and address when I again (stupidly) filled out the mini application. Do you think I have anything to worry about since I did post my address? Any input would be appreciated, thanks again.
There is a separate blog entry for Smog Art gallery, posted on April 15th. It's the same group.
Let me know if you get anything in the mail. I would advise you to change your cell number.
Thank you for posting this. My girlfriend replied to a help wanted ad for an administrative assistant position and a manager for the Smog Art Gallery (or actually, "Galary") replied. I just happened to Google their name out of curiosity more than suspicion (I wanted to figure out the potential commute length) and this page came up as the first hit.
Hey Duane,
My first post was from anon on May 30, and you told me to let you know if I received anything in the mail. Well as a matter of fact, I did today. It's really wierd too. Here's what happened. I basically told this guy that the "job offer" was a scam and I was no longer interested in associating with him and the very next day (keep in mind now I hadn't heard from him in weeks), he sends me an email making excuses that's he's been ill and his replacement finally showed up and he's set to arrive in my town on June 24th. The email went on to say that he put in a request to the board that I get paid before I start working because his delay has caused me financial hardship. (Where he got that information, I have no clue). And the email also said that by the end of this week I should expect a package from a customer. Well, as I said that package came today and inside was a check in the amount of $4,850.30. Frist of all what an odd amount, second, there was no note or anything with it. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this. It's made out to me and it says it can be cashed at only Suntrust bank. And third, why am I receiving money from a "customer" that's not even in my state? It was mailed from OK and I'm in VA, what do they think, I'm gonna deliver stuff out of state. This is absolutely ridulous. I tried going on google maps to see if this was a legit address, but I can't read the name of the stret because whoever wrote it doesn't know how to write legibly. There is a phone number on the fed ex envelop, but I haven't tried calling it. Anyway, sorry this is so long winded, and of course, I don't expect you to really have any answers to my questions, I'm just really confused and sorta annoyed and I'm basically at a loss as to what to do. I certainly don't want to get into any trouble associating with scam artists, and I've told him that I'm not interested. Any input or advice you can give me would be much appreciated. Thank you.
You should immediately contact the US Postal Inspectors and tell them everything that has happened. Include printouts of all email correspondence between you and the scammers. You can also include a printout of this blogpost, if you want.
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