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BILOXI — A classified ad for a job as a “route service driver” is a scam and the ad has been pulled from the Sun Herald.
Biloxi police alerted the newspaper this week after a job-hunter contacted detectives about his suspicions.
The job-hunter used the e-mail address of onebutton1 @live.com to reach a man supposedly named Ben Malcom, who claims to work for Charles River Laboratories. “Malcom” claims he is coming to the U.S. from Puerto Rico and will pay $3,000 for a driver because he has a leg injury, said Police Sgt. Donnie Dobbs.
Malcom, believed to be a fictitious name, advised that checks from Puerto Rico aren’t accepted in the United States.
He sent the job-hunter a check to put in his bank account and told him to keep $500 and wire the rest to an associate in California.
“This is nothing more than a variation of the Nigerian scam with proceeds eventually going to Nigeria, South Africa or the United Kingdom,” Dobbs said. “Prosecution is basically non-existent because the perpetrators reside in foreign countries.”
The check had the name of a legitimate bank and the account number looked valid, Dobbs said, but it would have been flagged as a counterfeit if the job-hunter had cashed it.
Dobbs warned the public to be wary of similar offers.
It’s usually a scam if a stranger sends you a check, offers to let you keep some and asks that the rest be wired elsewhere.
Banks typically debit checking accounts to recoup some or all of the money lost in a scam, Dobbs said.
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