First, Banks, now online Employment Sites, Phishing amongst the Jobseekers

I guess this is the pointy end of some sort of wedge, as I have not heard of this type of site and its users being scammed before. But I suppose it was to be expected, now that it seems almost everybody is wary of emails puporting to come from their Banks.

The following email arrived from a jobseeker site at which I am alerting its users of a potential scam that apparently is kicking off.


QUOTE(Seek.com)
SEEK wishes to warn you about a fraudulent job ad currently circulating on the Internet.

-- WARNING ABOUT "PLASMA PROJECT" --

The email details a job involving the transfer of money on a company's behalf, and uses the bogus company name "Plasma Project", (or previously "Plasma Connection" or "Plasma TV").

The job 'offer' employs phrases such as, 'Powered by SEEK' or 'SEEK Job Of The Week', where no such affiliation exists. It may even claim that the email address was provided to the company by seek.com.au.

Please be assured that these bogus companies are not registered with SEEK, have not advertised with SEEK, and have not been supplied any email addresses by SEEK. These claims are false, illegal, and SEEK will pursue all legal avenues open to it to protect our reputation and the privacy of our registered users.


-- WHAT TO DO --

We advise you NOT to respond to such job offers. Do not submit bank details or other private financial information in any application process, because a scammer could potentially gain access to your funds.


-- THE NEXT STEP --

If you have supplied your bank account details to such a company, please contact your bank immediately and ask for their advice, or contact the Australian Federal Police Hi-Tech Crimes Unit on 02 6246 2101.


-- REMAIN ON YOUR GUARD --

Professional spammers misappropriate reputable company names or brands to convey an appearance of legitimacy to their schemes, and to increase response rates.

We advise you to be wary of any companies that ask you to accept or transfer (read 'launder') funds on their behalf. SEEK regularly posts warnings about fraudulent advertising, and you can read the latest on safe job searching at: http://www.seek.com.au/if.asp?loc=safejobs

SEEK has been working for some time with the Australian Federal Police Hi-Tech Crimes Unit in Canberra (02 6246 2101) on combating the growth of fraudulent spam, and will continue to alert our registered users to the circulation of fraudulent emails.

We will always share our concerns with you, and appreciate your assistance in alerting SEEK to any suspicious emails or approaches that you receive - if you have any questions regarding such offers, please contact the SEEK HelpDesk on: yooserhelp@seek.com.au


Regards

Simon Waring
Communications Manager, SEEK Limited

September 2004

-- ABOUT THIS MESSAGE --

** This message was sent to <Some.User@nowhere.com> because you are registered at www.seek.com.au and receive a monthly email newsletter called SEEK News Update. You are most welcome to forward this email to interested friends or family, provided you don't change the content, you forward the whole email and you aren't using its content for commercial purposes.

** To contact the author, please email <mailto:c0mmunity@seek.com.au>.

** Should you no longer wish to receive such notification, including SEEK News Update, the monthly email newsletter on job search tips and hints, just click on this link to request your removal from our SEEK News Update database:
<http://www.seek.com.au/if.asp?loc=esunsub&unsub=xxxxxxxxxxxx>


THE MUL