Need a job? Email Scammers are Hard at Work.

This past week we have seen a notable increase in spam appearing to be some type of recruitment email. The following is an example of the emails received with varying subject lines.

From: someone
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 7:55 AM
To: someone
Subject: Finance Manager
Importance: High

We have an excellent opportunity for an apprentice applicant to join a rapidly expanding company.

An at home Key Account Manager Position (Ref: 30721-126/5HR) is a great opportunity for stay at home parents or anyone who wants to work in the comfort of their own home.

This is a genuine offer and not to be confused with scams! The successful candidate must have the ability to handle calls efficiently whilst maintaining the highest levels of customer service and being courteous. Applicants must have an excellent telephone manner, have a friendly approach, excellent communication skills and be computer literate.

You must have the ability to type and talk at the same time to customers, as you will be taking customer details over the phone and inputting data onto company database.

Requirements: computer with Internet access, valid email address, good typing skills.
If you fit the above description and meet the requirements, please apply to this ad stating your location.

You will be processing orders from your computer. How much you earn is up to you.
The average is in the region of US$600- US$750.00 per week, depending on whether you work full or part time.

If you would like more information, please contact us stating where you are located and our job reference number - 30721-126/5HR.
Please only SERIOUS applicants.

Our contacts: Monica@careerin-finance.com

Thank You!

I mean who isn't interested in a job that you can do virtually nothing from home and receive some cold hard cash. As it turns out this email is a fake and is most likely an attempt to recruit unknowing individuals to facilitate illegal money laundering or what is also known as “money mules“, often used to help hide the tracks of an attacker conducting a cyber crime.

The domain careerin-finance.com was registered on July 2, 2012 through a Chinese domain registrar BIZCN.COM, Inc., which has been known to be scam-friendly, and solicits replies via a server at 37.247.48.176 (Prometeus, Italy).

The most recent phishing email has been seen using the domain guideusajob.com (registered July 4, 2012) using the same tactics. Guideusajob.com is another example of a domain registered through BIZCN.COM, Inc.

This type of phishing email does not follow the typical attempt to get the victim to click a link and install malicious software, but the same precautions should be used.

• Don't respond to suspicious e-mails.
• Don't click links in suspicious e-mails.
• Delete suspicious e-mails and move on.

At Solutionary we advise our clients of data security best practices such as these as well as alert them of recent vulnerabilities through research done by our Security Engineering Research Team (SERT).

For more information on this topic, read my colleagues' blogs about email security best practices, spam and phishing.

See how Solutionary managed security services based on the patented ActiveGuard® Security Compliance Platform combine security intelligence and expertise to provide visibility, threat detection and event response.