Fraudsters hiring through the job centre, whats the chances?
Hi all,
The topic title is literally my question.
Long story short, my OH has just got a job via the job center after being made redundant a while ago.
The job she's got is for an online company, it works a bit like Avon and it all looks and sounds very nice and she's managed to sell a load of their stuff.
However a few things have rang alarm bells with her and myself and we're unsure whether we should hand the money over to this company as we have a niggling doubt over whether the customers will recieve their items.
We have a worry that the company might not be legit and are trying to use my OH are a smoke screen.
The niggles are due to a few things:
1. She's got no contract, she reqested one but they have ignored the request.
2. She sent a bunch of questions about the job and they have not got back to her on them.
3. She has tried to call them over the course of this week and the phones are ringing off.
4. The company has two registered companies, one is active and one is dissolved. They are using the dissolved company name as a trading name. (is that allowed?)
5. They want my OH to send them all the money before sending the items to the customers. Due to my OH working from home, remotely this makes us both feel uncomfortable.
- we assumed they'd send us the products to send out to the customers. But they are going to send the products to the customers when we give them the money.
6. Their websites domains are registered to what we think are fake addresses.
Now, we dont want to send the money and end up with a bunch of people at our necks because they have not got the products they purchased.
But at the same time, we don't want to say to the buyers, sorryand backout costing my OH her job if this company are legit.
So a two part question really.
1. Whats the likelyhood of fraudsters using the job centre to advertise for smoke shields?
2. Do the things I pointed out above ring alarm bells to you too? Or are we being unduly suspicious?
We feel a bit, stumped and don't want to do the wrong thing either way.
The topic title is literally my question.
Long story short, my OH has just got a job via the job center after being made redundant a while ago.
The job she's got is for an online company, it works a bit like Avon and it all looks and sounds very nice and she's managed to sell a load of their stuff.
However a few things have rang alarm bells with her and myself and we're unsure whether we should hand the money over to this company as we have a niggling doubt over whether the customers will recieve their items.
We have a worry that the company might not be legit and are trying to use my OH are a smoke screen.
The niggles are due to a few things:
1. She's got no contract, she reqested one but they have ignored the request.
2. She sent a bunch of questions about the job and they have not got back to her on them.
3. She has tried to call them over the course of this week and the phones are ringing off.
4. The company has two registered companies, one is active and one is dissolved. They are using the dissolved company name as a trading name. (is that allowed?)
5. They want my OH to send them all the money before sending the items to the customers. Due to my OH working from home, remotely this makes us both feel uncomfortable.
- we assumed they'd send us the products to send out to the customers. But they are going to send the products to the customers when we give them the money.
6. Their websites domains are registered to what we think are fake addresses.
Now, we dont want to send the money and end up with a bunch of people at our necks because they have not got the products they purchased.
But at the same time, we don't want to say to the buyers, sorryand backout costing my OH her job if this company are legit.
So a two part question really.
1. Whats the likelyhood of fraudsters using the job centre to advertise for smoke shields?
2. Do the things I pointed out above ring alarm bells to you too? Or are we being unduly suspicious?
We feel a bit, stumped and don't want to do the wrong thing either way.
0
Comments
Thanks for the reply but that doesn't really answer the question. She couldn't do the same on eBay as she has no product nor supply chain.
Plus beggers can't be choosers. It might not be the perfect job or "a real job" to some people, but for a fairly new mum who wants to contribute to the household its ideal; if its for real.
Good advice.
Plus, it is a legal requirement for any UK online company to have the company name and contact details on their website - does their website have these?
It could be a scam, it could be a new approach to MLM (they normally want money up front), it could be legit.
Could you name the company - even in PM? Would allow a bit more research.
They do have an address on their website.
I'll pm you the co if my oh is fine with me doing so.