travel coordinator too good to be true?

company is "international meetings" . They discovered my resume through linkedin, sent me emails etc... 3K salary, wait as long as needed for  for check to clear.... Wire money ... But keep informed... Keep 5% of transactions. / work from home 4-5 hours/ week. Stated without asking they are not involved in any crime , cheating etc... They are registered in FL , main offices are in Madrid and Barcelona... .. Here are letters. Can you check it out?

This is a copy of my previous message that I have sent you earlier via email. I have attached the necessary documents for this position (Employment Agreement and
Employment Application Form). I'm sending you this copy to be sure that you have received all the necessary documents. Please, read the attached files carefully:

- Employment Agreement (employment_agreement.pdf)
- My first letter I sent you recently (in PDF format)
- Employment Application Form (employment_application.pdf)

For reading of PDF files, please use free version of Adobe Reader 9: http://get.adobe.com/reader/. Please, reply immediately. May I also ask, did you receive my
last two messages? I just wanted to make sure that you get my messages without a technical problems. If that messages doesn't arrive in your inbox, then please,
check your spam or bulk folders. They could not get into the inbox due to the attached documents about the position.
Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
Melestina Aguilar
fax: 206-426-5942
tel: 206-426-7058
International Meetings

Dear Daniel,

How are you?
Thank you for confirmation, I got your message. And I have some good news for you! We will start working from next week, and I will send you the information on the first
assignment on Monday or Tuesday. Please, confirm that you are ready and you will be able to check your e-mail. Contact me at your earliest convenience.

As I said you before, you will work from home, so you will meet the customers: in your location, or in the nearest big airports, or in the nearest big cities. So you will
not involved in traveling around the country. Whom you will meet? Usually it is the tourists from the Europe (main part from Spain, Italy, Netherlands)-usually family or
students. You will have a minimum contact with the clients, you will be just a representative of our company for any unplanned situation. Our tour managers in the Europe
will do main job and your main duties in this part will consist from: booking any external tickets, consulting about the transport, and represent our company if any unusual
situation will be happened(for example, if our client didn't like the hotel which we provided, and he want another one). That's brief description. We will have a training
and I will send you complete instructions before giving such tasks. Please note that you will meet the customers only after a full course of training period that will take
maximum 2-3 months. Therefore, your first tasks will be processing payments and you will not have a contact with the client until I completely train you. We are interested
in a long-time relationship, and offer this position as a part-time long-term job, and as long as it possible.
As for the checks from our customer: when you received the check from our customer, you should cash it using any service (your bank, bank of origin or another place), and
transfer the remaining 95 percent of the amount(minus transfer fees). You'll receive a salary monthly, and your full course of training period will be paid also in amount
of a $3000.00 + 5 percent from the amount of each processed payment.
And it'sa free position, ie you do not have to pay anything out of pocket to get this job. You will work 4-5 hours per week only, therefore I think, you can coordinate both
jobs and combine this position with your current job. We will cooperate with you as the independent contractor. This way the taxes will be declared under the 1099 tax form,
and we will compensate you the sum of taxes in the end of tax year. You'll be responsible only for your own income (including the 5 percent commission received from payments
and the $3000 monthly based salary).
The position offered is a work-from-home position at this time. However, we are planning to set up several first offices in different states of the USA in August of 2016.
So, around that time you will be offered to go on working in one of them as some clients are expected to arrive there directly. Our main office located in Spain, and it's
international business. We provide our services in several countries around the world, working with import and export basis. We don't have physical office in the USA, but
we are registered with the US authorities and able to provide our services and pay taxes.
Our customers can make payments via wire transfers and by checks or money transfers via Western Union. And our company can independently receive and process only two types
of payments: either a wire or a money transfer systems (such as MoneyGram or Western Union). But our client has every right to make payment by check so we offered you this
position. Our customers are the US citizens. We can't accept payments by check from them because we don't have an office inside the USA and due to the crisis can't open them
in nearest future. The US checks are not acceptable in the Spain. It's also the reason why we can't provide you business account on the name of the Company.
We can't provide you the business account on the name of the Company. This is because our Company doesn't have a business account in any US banks. We have an official formal
registration in Florida state but we don't have actual office in the USA. And this way we can't accept any payments from the US customers directly because the payments should
be accepted in territory of the US and processed through the US bank or company teller machine. Since we don't have a company teller machine and physical office, we need the
US representatives, agents who will receive payments and process them for us, and we pay a good money for this.
According to bank policy, you can deposit the check to clear it. This is your right and this is not a problem that could prevent completion of the transaction. You'll just have
to tell me how much days will it take before the funds will be available for you. I want to inform you that our company is not related to crime, cheating, etc. The technology
of the money processing is legally approved and don't break any US or international laws. It is absolutely legal. We have all necessary documents which give us right to work
and employ the US citizens.
Right now I have no way to contact you directly, due to my business trip. Most likely, I will be able to call you next week only, but my assistant may call you at any time.
As a rule, he is obliged to call you as soon as you sign the agreement and application.
Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
Melestina Aguilar
International Meetings

_____________________________________________________
Melestina Aguilar mailto:melestina.intermeetings@gmail.com

> Melestina, pleased to hear from you . text me : 603-512-3345

> Best regards:

> Sent from my iPhone

>> On Aug 30, 2015, at 4:50 PM, Melestina Aguilar <hr.intermeetings@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear, Daniel Jossick.
>> I'm sorry to bother you again, however I would like to know if you read my message with a vacancy some hours ago.
>> Contact me at your earliest convenience with your decision. We are looking for a new empolyee, so text me for more information.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>> Staff manager Mel Aguilar
>> International Meetings

There are so many red flag on this... Wire them money after cashing checks...$3000 a month for 16-20hours...no physical interview... We can not provide a business account in the company's name but registered in Florida.... I could go on but you should get the picture.
Of course you could have looked this up yourself.

Have a phone number for them??

"Here are letters. Can you check it out?"  Oh Yes, Daniel, your private Army awaits your command.

First things first:   If you were contacted by phone, you need to first see if there is an existing post for that phone number.  (Enter the phone number in the Search Box, and well, search.)    I would suggest an edited version of this wall-o-text.

What have you done to check this out?  Google the names?  Google 'something-something linkedin scam"  International Meetings, that has to be legit, but for your peace of mind, maybe you google that?  Tell you what Danny, I KNOW the answer to your question, but NO Deal.   Do your homework, come with something, and maybe you be able to ask for something.

Phone # only for the contact.. 206-426-7058, and website: http://inter-meetings.com/es/),

I haven't called yet, but was trying to research credibility myself , when I came upon your Forum. I thought you may have better resources and knowledge and find out quicker . Sorry ... I know it's BS , but if I can wait for check to clear as long as needed, wanted to know if it was money laundering or other?  The website is weak. I did see that, but nothing else.

Can you say "convoluted"!!!!!!  Those Aguilar's are a busy couple.   I bet they make quite a bit of money from their scam.  Love all that international flavor that just makes it a little bit harder to check them out since they live in Spain and they are "international" company so that makes it more difficult.  An elborate scam and they think they have thought of everything.  It's a shame to waste such brain power on robbing people.  Can only hope what comes around, goes around.

This information from mashable.com and the FTC might help:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0243-job-scams

http://mashable.com/2013/10/05/10-signs-a-job-is-a-scam/

BY JENNIFER PARRIS Oct 05, 2013

From the ad, the job reads like a dream. It’s in your area of expertise (yay!), paying a salary slightly more than the current rate (yippee!) and you can work from home (woo hoo!) fulltime. But as you reread the job ad, something just doesn’t seem “right” to you. Maybe it’s the typos or the AOL business reply address. For every real job posted online, there are dozens that are fake, meant to entice you to hand over your hard-earned cash. Here’s how to read between the lines and discover if the job you’re about to apply for is real — or not.

There’s no experience necessary. Even if you’re a fresh-faced college grad, you’re going to need some type of work experience (i.e. from previous jobs or even internships) in order to get hired. Be wary of ads that make it seem like anyone can do the job, because frankly, not everyone should be able to do any job.

The salary is too high. You’ve been out of work for quite some time, so when you read the job ad (and its salary), all you can think is, “Cha-ching!” But before you start dreaming of all that you’ll do with the money, do a little digging to see what the position you’re looking to apply for generally pays. Job scammers will post a much too high salary — sometimes thousands of dollars higher — to lure in desperate job seekers.

You need to wire money. A company wants to offer you a position but they’ll need you to process transactions for them. It doesn’t make sense, though, since you’re looking to work as a botanist, not a banker. In order to score a job, there should be no reason for you to wire money, process payments or even transfer funds.

You’re offered the job on the spot. You know that you’re a qualified candidate, but how does the hiring manager know? Hiring a candidate on the spot — and sight unseen — is a big sign that there isn’t a real job. Overzealous employers are generally a tip off that a job isn’t genuine. Actual employers take their time to research and get to know potential job candidates — going through many rounds of job interviews — before offering a position.

You’re receiving email from a non-business address. Legit hiring managers will have their company’s name as the ending of their email address (think: name@mashable.com) When a potential boss reaches out with an AOL, Gmail, Hotmail or any other non-company email address, though, red flags should be waving madly at you. Hiring managers and recruiters will send their correspondence from their business email address, not their personal one.

You’re asked to do an IM interview. Sure, we live in a tech-driven world, but today’s job interviews are still mainly conducted in person, via Skype (if the job is a telecommuting one) or via phone. When a recruiter contacts you and wants to do the interview via IM — or worse, via text — the job may prove to be a scam.

You’re asked for personal info. You’ve finally been offered the job position, but are then asked to supply personal information about yourself — such as your Social Security number and your bank account and routing number. While a boss may give you several bogus reasons why they “need” the info — to run a credit check, to deposit initial funds into your account — there is never a real reason for a potential employer to ask for personal financial info about you.

The ad is written poorly. You noticed a couple of typos in the job ad. But then you also saw some mixed tenses and a description of the job that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. When an ad reads like it’s been translated, (or it’s unclear what the job actually entails) you can bet that it’s a job scam.

They contact you at odd hours. The business world operates 24/7. But hiring managers don’t. So if you’re consistently getting emails at 2:00 a.m. from a potential boss, take heed. For the most part, work emails will be sent — and answered — during normal business hours.

You have to pay for the job. Savvy job scammers are no longer demanding cash up front in order for a job seeker to get a job. They will ask for it in a seemingly innocuous way, such as asking potential employees to pay for their proprietary software or to pay monthly for insurance on a laptop they will loan you for work. You should never, ever have to shell out money in order to be hired to work.

When you’re job hunting, it can be easy to fall prey to a job scam. Stay one step ahead of the job scammers and you’ll find a legitimate job in no time.

My advice would be to delete the emails and their attachments (make sure to do a good anti-virus scan if you opened any of the attachments) and have nothing further to do with this individual/outfit.

The website is not the greatest I have seen, but it may be legitimate.  The domain has been registered since June 2000 (almost forever if it is a scam site) and they are not hiding their registration contact information behind a proxy server (as most scammers do).  It is very possible that International Meetings is a legitimate Spanish company whose name and website are being used (without permission) to give credence to the scammers you are dealing with.

Note that in the two emails you received there were two different email addresses being used by "Melestina Aguilar"; one Gmail and one Hotmail.  You would expect a legitimate company with an established domain to use email addresses based on that domain.

Also note that for a company based in Spain, supposedly registered with the State of Florida, and no physical presence in the US, the call back number he gave you is for the Seattle, Washington area.

This just screams scam!  The job description basically boils down to Lackey, but they are offering $150+ per hour in salary; not very likely.  And he claims you will have time to wait for any check you are supposed to cash to clear, but you can be sure that very shortly after receiving that check (and well before it can clear) there will suddenly be some "urgent" reason why the money would have to be wired to them immediately (possibly with the offer of your keeping a slightly higher percentage than the 5% mentioned in his email "for your troubles".)  But, after you have wired that money to them, you will find that the check bounces like it was made of rubber and you will be stuck with reimbursing the bank for the amount of the check.  You will have been scammed for the amount wired to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP3t1VUUl_A
A version of same by Red Clay Ramblers.  They have another studio version that I like, but have not found yet. They aren't as cute, but they play pretty good.

You can be my DJ anytime!

Now you're talking!!   These scams are as crooked as a dog's hind leg.  And the money end can be money laundering.  The part where you send them money against the deposits is check kiting and that is illegal in most States, but what the heck.  Life is nothing without risk.  YOLO!!

Sorry if I was rough on you, long day.  My apologies.  Now we know who you are, come'on back!  Unless you are busy and need to stay one step ahead of the Feds.

imho - Linkedin is only average dangerous for job hunting.  The scams and the lies, tend to be a bit bigger, but as you may know, variations come at the job hunter on Indeed, careerbuilder, etc.  Any of the bigger name job sites.  If you use the sites as "info" only, the trick is to try to move local as fast as you can to do the actual application with the places you are interested in, on their own web sites - or better still - in person.

The big sites run about 1-2 weeks behind positions that are posted in smaller local sites.  Some local sites will route you back to Indeed for example, and that is hard to work around at times.  The whole process is a mess to my thinking.  Best way to get hired is still to know someone at a company you are interested in, and can get you pointed in the right direction.  Outside referrals still work too.  But narrow and deep is my style, I am used to it and know how to work it.   //  Best of Luck!

Daniel: I have also recently received an email from Melestina Aguilar, too!! From International Meetings. And yah i pretty much did what you did...Only , I made the mistake of signing the conntract. They sent me a check to send a certain representative, and Melestina wanted me to send the check at my local bank, and send the funds via Western Union. I talked to the banker about this, and she said the check is a scam. She told me, in short form, if you sent this check via Western Union, the money amount on that check would be removed from MY bank account! I am so glad she pointed this out to me. She also recommended to me to stop all communication with her.

I just did this last FRiday. I just got another email from Melestina which said the following:

Dear Alexis,

How are you?
I have no news from you for a long time. You have received the check and didn't complete the task as instructed. What's happened? You must cash the check from our customer and transfer
the 95% of the funds to our manager as instructed, because you have signed the contract. Please, be serious and contact me with the explanation! I will wait for your message immediately.
Have a great day!

Sincerely,
Melestina Aguilar

Rings scam, I believe.

But according to the website, it looks like a legit company. Is the company really a scam program, or is Melestina using their name to look like she's legit?? I dont know, but I think its a scam. And NOW hearing about this from someone else, proves my suspicions even more. Is there a way to report her??

Daniel: yah i agree. I looked at the website and there isnt much on it.

I also tried calling that number that Melestina sent to me, and It would always tell me to leave a voice message.

The thing is that it looks like a legit business, based on the picture of the building on their website. But...idk...

But im so glad that someone else knows about this problem, and that im not alone in this situation.

When did you first get an email from her?

Your bank manager is correct. Its a money scam to scam you out of the money. When ever they want payment send ala money gram or green dot, those are untraceable means and hugh red flags.

Sending fake checks through the mail is a crime so contact the US Postal Service Inspectors:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
https://www.usps.com/

SPAM@UCE.GOV
Here are the instructions on how to do it:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0038-spam

http://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html
http://www.fraud.org/

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx  <--- cyber crimes division of the FBI, Attach the email to the complaint.

Curtesy of:
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/checkcashingscams.php
http://www.bankingquestions.com/

If you receive an email or letter in the post / regular mail saying you won a lottery and they send you a check? Or you sold something on Ebay and the buyer paid with a check? Or  you took out a loan from a distant or online bank and they sent you a check? You can just take the check to your bank and cash it right?

WRONG!  And what is worse, if you cash it, in most states in the US, you may be guilty of passing a counterfeit check, money laundering or worse. Clark Howard did a piece on his radio show about a man in California who was arrested for cashing a bogus check. In other words, by merely attempting to cash the check, you could go to federal prison!

How much of your personal information did you give the scammers?
If you gave them your Social Security Number, you need to watch for identity theft.

the only real personal info i gave them was my ohone number and temporary address. They did not ask for my social security number or license

they contacted me too...same person.   i signed up thinking it would be easy money    i told them i wouldn't withdraw any money until i knew for sure the check cleared...they said ok but still pressured me to send the money...well..good thing i didn't because the check came back as fruadulent...they said it was a bad customer and said they would send me another check from an existing customer...they did and i again told them i didn't want to be dealing with fraudulent checks or fake one...they again assured me that wasn't the case...i tried to deposit the check but my bank said it was a closed account and they wouldn't accept it.    i emailed this melestina lady and told her and i haven't heard back from them since.   i guess i won't either and i'm pretty sure that 3000 paycheck i was promised won't be coming either.   this is a total fraud...don't sign up.   they will only cause you problems with your bank.