By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — A fraudulent job offer was extended to a recent college graduate in an attempt to steal her bank account information.
The victim reported Nov. 26 that she found a job on LinkedIn that was a work-from-home position, and provided her Social Security number and a copy of her photo identification for a background check. She was then sent a check to purchase computer equipment, and was asked to reimburse $300 for shipping fees to her contact person using an online app, which she did.
Another person then contacted her to use the money sent to her to purchase the computer. She was advised to send a copy of the receipt, but she blocked out her bank account information, which her contact was not happy about. When she tried to call the contact, she reached a call center, and spoke to a person who spoke English with an Asian accent, and was told to only text them. At that point, she determined that she was being scammed, and filed a police report.
She provided screen shots of all the text messages. She was advised to contact her bank and close the account used for the transactions.