The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice

I received an email from Standard Chartered Bank saying that they had new New Security Features and that I had an Alert Message. It also said that “Your account is limited! Click to Resolve”. Should I believe this?

No, you certainly should NOT. This is a scam, I’m 100% certain. The email you send me is very well crafted to LOOK like a warning from Standard Chartered Bank but is nothing to do with them. When you click on that link you’re shown a very good replica of the SCB online banking web site but this is a trap to get you to enter your user name and password. PLEASE never respond to any emails like this.

Recruitment scam alert

We received a request from a reader who asked us to check out an email she had just received. The email was quite long but you can see how it begins:

“From: ceciliaibru [mailto:ceciliaibru@live.in]
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 12:34 PM
Subject: HOTEL RECRUITMENT IN Canada(Join our working team in our new hotels in Canada and Belgium)
HOTEL RECRUITMENT IN Canada(Join our working team in our new hotels in Canada and Belgium)

E-mail:tylerbriggs@dayshotelgroup.com
http://www.dayshotelmontreal.com

Hello,
I am Mrs. Melissa Kenney ,Director of Marketing, Days Hotel Montreal, Quebec, Canada .We are currently on outsourcing for workers outside Canada, United States and United Kingdom and we are looking for 70 to 90 energetic young individuals to join our working team in our new Hotels in Belgium under the following positions:-
1 Chefs and Sous Chefs
2 Food and Beverage Managers
4 Secretaries and assistants(Administrative Assistants
5 Dishwashers-This persons must have good communication skills and have the ability to lift,pull and push a moderate amount of weight. This is a fast paced position that will involve constant customer interaction
6 Executive Housekeepers
7 Assistant Executive Stewards
8 Attendants: No experience is necessary as full training is provided
9 Car washers: No experience is necessary as full training is provided
10 Cleaners, and Housekeepers : No experience is necessary as full training is provided
11 Assistant Hotel Managers"

The first clue that there’s something suspicious about this is the email it came from. Why would someone representing a legitimate hotel chain that has a fancy web site email you from an address like “ceciliaibru@live.in”, a free Indian email address? Surely that’s doubly odd as elsewhere they give an email address that seems more sensible (“tylerbriggs@dayshotelgroup.com”).

So far I think it’s pretty suspicious, don’t you? Then it becomes even more “iffy”. Later in the email it says:

“WE ALSO ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FROM MEDICAL PERSONELS TO FILL THE VACANCIES IN OUR STAFF HOSPITALS:-
1 Infection Control Practioner - RN/Regist 2-5 years of experience
2 Experienced General Practitioner to work Monday to Friday.
3 Anesthesiologists
4 Surgeon
5 Obstetrician/gynecologist
6 Psychiatrist
7 Internal medicine Physician
8 Pediatrics/adolescent medicine
9 Family practice phisician(without obstetrics)

Let’s ignore the strange spelling (“phisician”) and the writer’s inability to correctly use the space bar on their keyboard and just ask whether we really think this is the way hospitals hire senior medical staff, including psychiatrists. Are they insane?

Then there’s another curious thing. The web site they suggest we visit is for a specific, genuine hotel in Montreal in Canada. However the email address they give for us to respond to is different, it refers to the Days Hotel GROUP. That’s where a little detective work is called for. The web site for the Montreal hotel was registered in July 2005. Fancy guessing when the web site for the “group” was first registered? On Wednesday 6th October this year. Registered by a different, anonymous person. Alarm bells should be ringing by now, particularly when you try to visit the new “Days Hotel Group” web site only to find that it doesn’t work.

Then there is the bigger picture. Although we in Botswana aren’t suffering too badly because of the global recession, so called First World countries in Europe and North America ARE suffering badly. They are most certainly NOT engaging workers from around the world but are understandably employing their own citizens. They are certainly NOT emailing total strangers offering them high-paid jobs.

You can be certain that as soon as you approach these crooks there will be the inevitable “advance fee”, almost certainly a visa cost or an immigration fee. That’s what they’re after.

This is just another recruitment scam. Please don’t waste your time on it, or any email like it, it will only cost you money.