The dream job that's too good to be true
A company recently contacted me, looking for employees to work in Montana and the Dakotas in the oil and gas industry. The company is based in Denver but has a local contact telephone number. Those who are hired will be making a minimum wage of $29 per hour, plus about 10 hours per week of overtime at double time, I was told.
The positions are not union jobs, so no union membership is required. In addition to travel allowance of 55 cents per mile, employees are given $30 per diem AND provided housing at the job site at no charge.
Due to the large number of people they need, they are initially only conducting telephone interviews on a recorded line. They explained that by screening applicants this way, it made hiring faster and more efficient. The woman I spoke with took a complete job history. In addition, the company requires a basic credit check, including banking information and history.
The last item is that the company DOES require a simple drug test. Only those who pass the drug test will be considered for hire. After reading a long legal disclaimer regarding your health care right to privacy, you are asked to agree. If you do, then the company will accept a credit card number, a debit card or even a bank account number for a “tele check” as payment. The charge is only $19.95 and includes next-day shipment of the drug test kit by FedEx. In the FedEx pouch is also a pre-paid return label to send the urine sample back to the lab.
If that sounds even remotely legitimate, you need to exercise your “scam-dar” muscle. It’s a COMPLETE SCAM! After gaining your confidence by “helping” you apply for the job, and all the time reassuring you that the company is well known and respected, you are asked for just a little more information. The “testing fee” is small. What if it’s a hoax? You’d only lose 20 bucks, right?
WRONG! By turning over your credit card info, or your bank account information, plus your name, address and Social Security number, you have just provided the crooks all the information they need to wipe you out financially.
Some scams go for the maximum dollars immediately — cashier’s check scams, gift card payment scams, like the old “grandma I’m in a Tijuana jail” scam. Others lure the consumer in with a small insignificant payment, expose their private information and then clean out their entire credit line or bank account. Be careful! This one falls into the category, “if it sounds too good to be true — IT IS.”
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Due to space limitations I can’t detail or even bring to your attention all the cases I’ve worked on in the past couple of weeks. I will be detailing many more on the blog. I choose the cases to write about based on the number of calls I get and the amount of money involved. If I haven’t used your case, please understand and continue to call me.
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DISTURBING CALL: An older gentleman called recently after reading the story about the scamming RV dealership. He related an identical set of circumstances to me. Unfortunately, it happened about three years ago.
In the original story, I never published the name of the RV dealer. At the end of our conversation, I asked the gentleman for the name of the RV dealer. He told me. It was the SAME RV dealership that high-pressured the 82-year-old lady into spending almost $80,000 on an RV. Fortunately, with the help of a great law firm in town, she was able to get most of her money back. However, in the second case, three years is much too long to try to help someone get out of a high-pressure sale.
I’m contacting the Washington and Idaho attorney generals’ consumer fraud divisions and I will name names. Let’s see if we can get this scam company shut down or at least investigated. Overwhelmingly, RV dealerships are honest and serve their customers well. Too bad that one can give the whole industry a bad name.
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There’s NOTHING you need to buy RIGHT NOW. Sleep on it. Call a friend or relative or call me at (208) 449-7222. Let’s talk.
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QUICK TIP No. 1: We all have insurance policies of some sort or another — read them thoroughly. One homeowner found her premiums were the same year after year. She learned the hard way that the insurance company had increased her deductible from $500 to $5,000! After the big windstorm, she found herself out almost $5,000 — a nasty surprise. Don’t ignore the notices your insurance company sends you. Get your various insurance policies out today, read them carefully and highlight portions that have changed or you don’t understand. Call me.
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QUICK TIP No. 2: Don’t ever deposit any checks you receive from unknown sources. You know if you entered the Irish Sweepstakes. If you didn’t — you couldn’t win! When in doubt, call me. I’ll check it out for you.
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One of my frustrations is that you, my readers, are tasked with following up with me. I don’t have a support staff or even a filing system. I’m not paid for writing this column. I do get tremendous satisfaction when I’m able to help someone with a problem.
When someone calls me with a problem, I usually offer a solution or make a call to the merchant or business involved. Once I do that, I depend on YOU to get back to me in a few days and let me know what the outcome was. If I don’t hear from you — I can’t help you. Don’t be shy about calling or emailing me. If you call and I’m busy, leave me a voicemail. Don’t just hang up. If the problem gets solved, I’d love to hear “the rest of the story.” When I don’t hear from you, I assume the problem is solved or you’ve lost interest. Don’t keep me guessing. I feel like we have a relationship. A good relationship is a two way street — communicate.
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I’m always posting new consumer warnings and other information on www.cdapressconsumerguy.com.
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I have many more interesting cases that I’m working on as The CDA Press Consumer Guy. Call me at (208) 449-7222, email me at CDAPressConsumerGuy @gmail.com or fax me at (866) 362-9266. Please include your full name and a phone number. I am available to speak about consumerism to schools, local organizations and civic groups.
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Bill Brooks is the CDA Press Consumer Guy. He is an active Associate Real Estate Broker for Tomlinson-Sotheby’s International Realty in Coeur d’Alene.