Guest Column: Lesson about Craigslist jobs

Guest Column: Lesson about Craigslist jobs

Cynthia Lauren Belcher
Flagler College
St. Augustine, FL

In an effort to find a job for the summer that would pay my rent, I began checking craigslist daily to see what postings came up in St. Augustine.

At first, I applied to everything, even if I barely met the requirements. House cleaner (You’d laugh if you saw my bedroom.) Tutor for a 7-year old (I’m not fond of children.) Pet sitter (I am highly allergic to anything with fur.) The list goes on and on and on.

Most of my background is in office work. Because of this, I really thought I would have no problems finding the typical receptionist or assistant position in an office setting. These used to be the type of listings you could find on craigslist easily, but now, all you see are highly specific labor type jobs or scams saying “MAKE MONEY WORK FROM HOME!!” I was at a loss.

It wasn’t until April 2 that I found a posting that I hoped and prayed would be legitimate.

“Driver needed. (St. Augustine)”

Driver Needed (St. Augustine)
Date: 2011-03-31, 1:04PM EDT

Looking to employ a driver with good communication skills, good customer relation attitude, dedicated, good driving skills, good driving records, good communication skills and must be flexible.

Response via email : jamespatterson234@XXXXX.com if you are interested

I knew it was a long stretch. I had seen postings like this before and even applied to one last summer that turned out to be a scam. The only thing that really flagged me as odd was his inability to create a grammatically-correct sentence, which was semi-explained later. But, this one had a email address and seemed more human than the previous ones, so I sent him my resume and hoped for the best.

Later that same day, I received a reply email.

Hi,

This driving Job is for a personal driver, someone who will be committed and ready to work with good manners and attitude. My name is James Patterson and I reside here in Scotland with my wife Elizabeth. You will be driving my wife who has gotten an Evaluation offer to run in many hospitals in your state and your city this scheme is for her to Evaluate all Hospitals for the time frame she can do them and we are only looking for a driver who will be able to take care of the driving duty in a good competency. The project will start from 16th of April 2011; I think you know what an Evaluation means? sometimes you evaluate companies without a notice of evaluation and many times it is secretly done this might include walking in as a patient and then taking records of how you are been attended to and how others feel about the hospital. You have a privileged to work with her after getting the good credibility about you and further more will be discussed.

This job is with a good flexible time and you can decide when you can have time as the evaluation has no timely frame of running as you know that hospitals are open 24hrs. An arrangement will be made for the car that you will drive and also an apartment will be made ready where she will stay for the time being, all this information will get to you as soon as you are confirmed as the driver. The car will be delivered to you 2 days prior to when my wife arrives the state after I have confirmed you for this driver job and also we would like you to convince us that you are capable enough for this job and you are a good driver.

MORE INFORMATION FOR THE DRIVER:

Dress Code during work: Black Suite, Black Pant and white shirt, well mannered.
Date work starts: 18th of April 2011
Airport Fill in your closest airport for your convenience on booking her flight)
Weekly pay: $500
Working Hrs a week: 14Hrs.
Max of 3Hrs each Monday – Friday.

Your Full Name:-
You’re Mailing Address P.O BOX NOT ACCEPTED)
City:-
State:-
Zip Code:-
Your Phone Number:-
Gender:-
Age:-
Email:-

All this will be required as the car rentals are supposed to make a car delivery to you for this job.

Reply back answering all questions and details as requested.

Greetings to you!

James Patterson

Once again, I noticed his written language was dripping with grammatical mistakes, but I figured since he was from Scotland, it might be a regional language difference. Plus the only thing I really paid attention to was $500 a week, 14 hours a week with no weekend hours. Uh…ca-ching? So I sent him the requested information and crossed my fingers that this man would believe I could be a professional driver.

This was exactly what I needed: to be able to work, afford rent, continue my non-paid internship and still have time to be a college kid. Also, I just got a pet turtle that has become a bit of a money drain. I couldn’t stop dreaming about the things I could buy him if I was making $2,000 a month. It seemed too good to be true. And it was.

It didn’t take long until Mr. Patterson became less human and shadier. The job description was simple at first: Mrs. Patterson would arrive in my town, a car hire would be arranged two days prior to her arrival and I would use that rental to drive her around for 10-12 weeks while she evaluated hospitals. It was a little weird, but I wanted it to be real so badly that I let my judgment slide a few times. Common sense also went out the window until we started talking money arrangements.

Hi Cynthia
How are you Doing today and Hope you are Fine, thanks for Accepting the Job and I will Make the Payment to you as soon as Possible, I will Pay you Advance for a Week and you will send the rest of the Money to the Car Hire so that the car can be Bought to you, A day before my Wife Arrives, I will give you the Information of the Car Hire Immediately i make the Payment and i will send it along with the Tracking Number of the Payment, I am already Looking forward to you working with my Wife, Have a Nice Day and God bless you.

James Patterson

Now the job had changed slightly. Now I was arranging for the car hire and getting an advance of one week in the mail as a money order. I became suspicious and started asking questions to clarify my new job description. But, without fail, he always responded promptly with a semi-intelligible reply.

Me: “Thank you. So to be clear: I am receiving an advance to pay for the rental vehicle for your wife?”

Mr. Patterson: “Yes you will receive an Advance to Pay for the Car rental, I will add the Car rental Money to the One Week Advance payment for you, I will issue out the Payment on Monday and i will get back to you with the Tracking Number of the Payment, Have a Nice Day and God bless.”

Me: “Ok thanks. Are you sending me a preference in rental service or vehicle?”

I never got an answer to that question. I only got this email:

Hi Cynthia

How are you Doing today and I hope you are Fine, Thanks so much for your Understanding and i am really so grateful for all your Help, My Bank contacted me yesterday and told me the Payment has been Made to you, This is the tracking number of the Payment J249 002 3086, I will like you to remove a one week Advance Payment and you will send the rest of the Money to the Car Hire.
This is the Information of the Car Hire you will send the money too and you will get back to me with the details of the Payment. You will send the money Via Western Union Money Transfer.

Ebony Lanier.
Bronx, NY 10454

Please i will want you to send the money to the Car Hire as soon as Possible, So that the car can be arranged and everything will be ready when my Wife comes, Thanks so much for your Help, I am really so Grateful, Have a Nice Day and God bless.

Me: “Ok thank you. So to be clear: the car hire is in NY but the driving job is in North Florida?
I will track the payment and keep you posted.”

Mr. Patterson:”Yes the Car Hire is in NY and the driving Job is in North Florida. You will remove a one week Advance Payment and send the Rest of the Money to the Car Hire through Western Union Money Transfer. And you will get back to me with the details of the Payment, this is the Information of the Car Hire you will send the money too.

Ebony Lanier
Bronx, NY 10454

I will be waiting for the MTCN Number and other details of the Payment to her, Have a Nice Day and God bless.”

The tracking number did not work. The site was down at first but once it was fixed, it said the tracking number only consists of numbers. This is when I was pretty sure this job was official a scam. Then, the mail came. I had received a UPS package with my name on it from Barry Tractor in Kansas. Knowing I don’t know a Mr. Tractor nor do I know anyone from Kansas, I eagerly opened the package to see what could possibly be inside. I was not surprised to find two money orders with my name on them. Despite the package being from Kansas, the money orders were from Ohio. This was exactly like the package that came last summer after I applied for a driving job on craigslist. Damn it.

I called my mom and when she answered I told her that some nice man from Kansas mailed me money orders worth $988.95 each. We laughed about it for a little while as I contemplated my morals and considered trying to cash the money orders. It would have been nice to have a sudden inflow of $2,000 but I knew they were either fake or illegal like last time.

Angrily, I sent Mr. Patterson one last email expressing my frustration that the job was a scam.

April 5, 2011

I just want it known I didn’t believe in this from the beginning but I thought it was harmless to play along. It was a win-win…either it’s a fake job offer and I giggle about it or it’s real and I really would make $500 a week driving an old Scottish lady around to evaluate hospitals. All the details were shady and some of them changed a few times but I figured I’d go with it any ways…see what happened. Well? I got two money orders in the mail! They have no affiliation with Mr. James Patterson from Scotland of course and they total about $2,000. So, if they’re not fake they’re definitely illegal. I think I’m done looking for jobs on craigslist and giving away seemingly harmless information in a reply email. Thank you for the too-good-to be -true job offer Mr. Patterson but I am respectfully declining.

Nice name choice btw…good books 🙂
http://www.jamespatterson.com/

C. Lauren Belcher

I still have not gotten a reply, and I probably won’t, but I felt better having sent that email and I made a promise to myself to be more intelligent when looking for jobs online from here forward.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News contributed photograph