I got a job offer from a web based company ( easy-transfer.org) to
transfer money . I will recieve a check from their clients in USA
which I will deposit in my checking account ( bank of america ) and
cash it . I will keep 5 % of that ammount as my commision and the rest
I will transfer to the place and person  where they ask me to by
western union or money gram etc . they informed me via email that
their main office is in Latvia and their business Id # is 37592596 and
this type of money transfer is legalised with legislations of
countries they work with ( USA , Canada , europe , Russia , Ukraine ,
etc)  . I would like to know If it is legal for me to work as their
courier in USA and transfer funds as they tell me to . I do need to
earn some money but I dont want to be involved in  a scam either and
face goverment penalties .  PLEASE HELP

Dear tulipedge,

The highly obscure nature of the "company" Easy-Transfer makes it easy
to give the advice to avoid dealing with them under all circumstances.
All the comments below, provided by my colleagues and by alert
customers, are correct in warning you and in pointing out the shady
character of Easy-Transfer.

Though I can't give you legal advice, I intend to provide you
definitive proof that Easy-Transfer is a scam. This should be as good,
if not better than evaluating whether the deal they proposed is
illegal under U.S. laws.

As mentioned below, the alleged contact address of Easy-Transfer is
506 James Street, P.O. Box 974, Brainerd, Minnesota, U.S.A. 56401.
Scam businesses often use fake addresses to appear credible and to
avoid being tracked by their victims. In this case, however, the
fraudsters behind Easy-Transfer were clumsy: The address actually
exists, but it belongs to the local newspaper "The Brainerd Daily
Dispatch":
http://brainerddispatch.com/docs/contactus.shtml

While one could still imagine that the newspaper offices share the
same building with other businesses, it is absolutely impossible that
they even share the same P.O. Box - so how could it be that
Easy-Transfer and the Brainerd Daily Dispatch both have P.O. Box 974?
The answer is easy: The fraudsters whose brainchild Easy-Transfer is
simply randomly took the newspaper's address, to make their scam look
more authentic. Scammers usually assume that their potential victims
will not check if the alleged office address exists and what is really
located there.

Follow this link to a targeted Google Search, and you will see that
the address 506 James Street, P.O.Box 974, in Brainerd is connected
with the Brainerd Daily Dispatch only, and not with any other
businesses:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22brainerd+mn%22+%22506+james%22+%22box+974%22&btnG=Google+Search

By the way - the telephone contact information on the Easy-Transfer
website sounds more than fishy:
"If you are hearing the signals of fax, it means - all lines are busy
- send us a fax and we will recall to you or send the answer to your
fax."
For me, this translates as: 'We will never answer the phone to avoid
being confronted with questions'. That means, if it is their telephone
number at all. It's not impossible that the number was chosen as
randomly as the address. And what reputable international business
would have only one single, combined phone/fax connection?
http://www.easy-transfer.org/contact.htm

So the result is: Easy-Transfer provides a fake address. A reputable
company would not, under no circumstances, do that. They are
definitely a scam.

I hope this will be useful!
Regards,
Scriptor

thanks I think now I realize that I have been involved in a scam
rather than agenuine buisness . I am straightway going to police and
find out what they can do about this company .

Caution! Extreme Caution!


Ed.

1. If they are a foreign company (Latvia) why do they only list a US
address in their contact us page?
506 James Street, P.O. Box 974, Brainerd, Minnesota, U.S.A. 56401

2. The address listed is for the Brainerd Dispatch, hummmm starting to wonder.
http://brainerddispatch.com/docs/contactus.shtml

3. According to Whois their contact informaiton is the same as the
above address, still don't see a Latvia connection:
Registrant Name:Frank Longerd
Registrant Organization:Easy-Transfer.ORG
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 974
Registrant City:Brainerd
Registrant State/Province:MN
Registrant Postal Code:56401
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.7633225014
Registrant FAX:+1.7633225014
Registrant Email:Frank_Longerd@easy-transfer.org

4. The domain was created on 29th Nov 2004 for a company that has been
around since late 2000, 4 years later to have a website is kinda late.
(funny that the website was only registered for one year, I guess they
plan on getting caught soon?)
Created On:29-Nov-2004 19:21:58 UTC
Last Updated On:29-Jan-2005 04:03:20 UTC
Expiration Date:29-Nov-2005 19:21:58 UTC

5. If their partners are Bank of America, PayPal, TravelersExpress
MoneyGram and Western Union why would they need you?

Smells like a rat......

by the way, how much money do you have to send them so you can
starting "working" for them?

SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT

I would not go near this company with my dead father's 10 foot pole.

they didn't ask me to send any money to them . It was basically a job
I found in carrerbuilder.com and sort of applied for it as it seemed
easy work and relatively easy money.

I would say they are definitely trying to scam someone. Usually they
would try to scam you, but in this case it looks more like money
laundering.

The idea here is they pay you so that the people who exchange money
between each other don't get connected to each other, so that they can
make payments for illicit things using you as the go between. This can
be to avoid taxes, launder money, or, depending on the cirumstances,
hide the money transfer itself. They could also be forging checks or
otherwise expecting you to commit check fraud for them and then wire
them the money.

Either way, I would say that specifically doing what they say might
not be illegal per-se, but how are you going to account for any large
money transfers? If you regularly have large sums of money in your
bank account that isn't accounted for on your taxes, you risk getting
hit by the irs. In any case, the reason why anyone would have you do
transfers like this is almost certainly to further illegal activity,
and they are using you because they need a fall guy, or a method for
plausible deniability. I would suspect they intend to transfer money
this way through dozens of people to shield themselves from
prosecution for whatever it is they are doing.

Dear tulipedge-ga 
I am a retired New Scotland Yard Detective who served in their Fraud
Squad. From what you?ve said so far, I would say that you are being
asked to be involved in money laundering ? that is a criminal offence
in the UK, and I have no doubt in the US. They wish to use your bank
account to launder money which is either from tax evasion/fraud,
phishing, fraud or drugs.
Do not communicate or engage with these people.
answerfinder-ga

SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT

tulipedge,

If you think this offer is legit, take everything you have to your
local police department and ask them to look into it.  I can GUARANTEE
you this is not a legal business.

Why would a legit business need to have customers deposit money into
the bank account of a PRIVATE CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, and then
ask them, for a 5% FEE, to then TRANSFER the same money, less the 5%,
to another account?  Where is the PRODUCT?  (FYI: the PRODUCT is
MONEY)

This is a no-brainer.  Unless you don't understand the consequences of
FEDERAL FELONIES, or wouldn't mind a long stint in a Federal Prison
with "3 HOTS AND A COT," well, go ahead.  Of course if you are getting
up there in years, and need a long-term retirement home, well, go
ahead, you'll be well cared for in a 6 by 9 foot cell.

Consider this.  This SCAM company will be caught.  All your emails
will then be read by the Federal Government.  They will confiscate
your computer and eventually be led to THIS PAGE, where they can prove
in court that people told you this was a SCAM.  After thet, the
Federal Government will charge you as a Conspirator.  Bye-Bye.

Good Luck to you, --personally, I have said my piece, and I am outta here.

I repeat:

I would not go near this company with my dead father's 10 foot pole.

SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT-SCAM-ALERT

For further info on this type of scam see the link to a previous question on ?ga.

Subject: On-Line transaction escrow service

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=457895

The embedded link:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm

explains in detail how the whole scam works.

There are or four or five scams running simultaneously,? your? money
laundering part is just the final piece in the puzzle.

It is not only car buying scams in particular, that is just the title
of the piece. It can affect anything which is offered for sale on the
internet (transport e.g. cars, power motor cycles etc and electronic
goods seem to be favourite but it can be anything). It is a long
article but certainly worth the read.

Hope that this and the above helps you make the right decision.

Best regards cf.

Hi, Tulipedge

It may be that they have just been 'phishing' for your bank account
details, so if you have already disclosed these, contact your bank
immediately.

I would not go near this company even with Cynthia's dead father's 10 foot pole.

Mike

If it matters, this way of money transfer is not legal in Latvia, too.

Hmm...I agree with lufty

it should be somewhat obvious if it's supposedly a Latvian company and
it lists only a US addy

Well, I would say that these lads aren't in the pokey yet. I just
received the following from them:

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Your email was provided to us by Employment Advisory Corporation
(EAC), from www.careerbuilder.com. You were advised by this company,
but we still need to talk to you personally. We are sending you this
letter because you are suitable for the work we have to offer. Our
company Easy-Transfer.org is engaged in international trade and due to
the growing area of our partnership, we are recruiting new employees.

Your state was chosen to be the first in this process, thus the
job offer will expire very soon.
The work conditions are: frequent access to internet, your contacts to
keep in touch with you to give you new tasks. You should complete them
in two days at the most. Other requirements are: responsibility,
loyalty and willingness
to cooperate any day, any time. The job is not hard and doesn't take
much time, but very responsible.

For more information and to confirm your will to work for us, please
fill in the form here http://easy-transfer.org/signup/index.htm

We will contact you in a day at the latest to give you our final
decision. In any way, first month will be a fully-paid trial, after
which you will sign a contract.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Now, I spent some time in the banking business and this is what I see coming: 

These lads have a check or a draft sent my way for a modest amount of
money. I deposit it in my bank of account, rake my 5%, and wire the
remainder out to the lads. Hey, this is easy!


The lads have another check or a draft sent my way for a slightly
larger amount of money. I deposit it in my bank of account, rake my
5%, and wire the remainder out to the lads. I am beginning to like
this. Yeah, it could be dirty money but I don't know that...

The lads have more checks or a drafts sent for increasingly larger
amounts. I deposit them and rake my 5%, and religiously wire the
remainder out. It's easy and automatic. Everything is working out
fine. I'm making more and more every passing week...

Then one day I receive a check for a goodly and substantial sum. I
deposit it, rake my 5%, and wire out the remainder of the funds. Two
days later the check comes back to my bank unpaid by the bank on which
it is drawn. My bank wants to charge the item back against my account.
But I have wired out the money. All of a sudden, the lads are not so
easy to find...

Guess who's left holding the bag? It's an old con(fidence) game and
needless to say, I won't be responding to their offer of employment...

I just received a phishing email that purported to be from Bank One. 
On investigating the HTML behind the message, it appears that
verifying your account number and password will result in this
information being sent to
"http://easy-transfer.org/cgi-bin/check.cgi".  This should put to rest
any questions about the authenticity of easy-transfer.org.  This is an
out-and-out fraud.

easy-transfer.org resolves to IP address 205.209.185.133.  Reverse
lookup on this IP address yields Managed Solutions Group, Inc., 46750
Fremont Blvd. #107, Fremont, CA 94538 as the holder of a block of
16384 IP addresses, including this one.  I assume that this is the ISP
providing service for easy-transfer.

hey...

I just wanted to say I got the exact same e-mail yesterday, and it
seemed "too good to be true" as they say.  Well remember..."They" say
this for a reason.  I didnt contact them but decided to look into it
which is what brought me to this site.  Thanks for your insight and
confirming what I believe to be true.  Remember, nothing is free...and
usually not easy either....

1. It is money laundering to take someone else's funds (check) deposit
in your account and send part of it along somewhere else. See the
movie "Clear and Present Danger if you don't understand this. "He was
paying Lindo Coffee $1500 a pound for coffee"
2.You cash the check against your account at your bank. "Their" part
of the cash is carried to Western Union and you buy them a money
transfer.
3. Next Western Union will ask you where the cash is to be picked up
on the other end, you give them the city, but once you send the
confirmation information the cash can be picked up at any of a billion
Western Union locations around the world. Bye bye cash, bye bye
crooks.
4. You still got the check making it's rounds in the bank system when
"WOAH" you get a note from your bank the check has bounced, account
and bank never existed. And would you please come in and bring some
real cash to cover the bounced check and bounce check fees? Western
Union says the cash was picked up in Asknomore, Turkey and it ain't
coming back to you. Yes sir you are on the hook to cover any check
cash against your account, real or not.

Moral of the story. When accepting any "paper notes" bank term for
checks, money orders, teller's drafts, etc... for anything including
selling a used car to a stranger etc...You had better 100% know the
people you are dealing with, where they live, where they work, where
they got for a pint, so if the "paper" is no good you can let them
know you will be contacting the police if the real money isn't
returned to you. I have had many bounced checks, but knowing where the
man lives and having a conservation with his wife, has allways had the
funds fully restored.

Keep Clear
SpartanCaver

I have now recieved 6 emails from this person. Tonight though he
wanted me to get some credit cards to use so I can earn "100 - 200
dollars daily". This does sound like money laundering to me too. But
with the bank my first thought was that you could end up with a
bounced check, I told this person that my bank holds the check for 21
days and he agreed to it... Go figure.