NEW SCAM UNDERWAY! NEW NAME - VERY PROFESSIONAL

[romandaw]

Contacted by Sandy Qui (qisandy3@gmail.com) to email Marcus Ekman at Dexerials Corporation in Japan ( hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com )

Marcus claiming to be the HR Manager. The email was sent from hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com. Dexerials is a electronic company in Japan, but has the domain .jp, not .com.

They offered a flexible online Business English teaching position of 10-20 hours per week at $50/hour. The teacher sent their CV and cover letter and arranged an interview online via Skype. Within 3 hours of the interview they were offered the job and sent a contract to sign. They were also asked to approach the Asia Bureau Service in Japan
https://asiabureauservices.com/ and (info@asiabureauservice.com). Was asked NOT to use GMAIL due to VPN issues.

Following red flags:

1. All the emails were very generic and not addressed to the teacher personally
2. The video for the Skype interview was very low resolution, with no audio.
3. The interviewer (Marcus Ekman) then communicated via the chat (IM) function stating that the connection appeared to be poor and that the teacher should try and call him back on Skype. This didn’t work, so he asked if he could send the teacher a list of questions. This list arrived on Dexerials company letterhead. The teacher was asked if they could record video with their answers.
3. Within just 2 hours of the interview the teacher received an email with a job offer.
4. The teacher received the contract, which contained rather generic conditions more suited to a permanent employment contract and not a remote online job (such as housing allowance, etc.)
5. I received communication from the Asia Bureau Office and MY SOUTH AFRICAN CONSULAR NATIONAL SERVICES (legalisation@dirco.gov.za ) informing me that they needed to complete an application for some sort of security clearance. The timeframe for all this correspondence was just a couple of hours – a questionably quick turnaround time for such departments in my country. NOTE THEY MUST HAVE HACKED INTO THE GOV WEBSITE BECAUSE THIS IS THE CORRECT .gov.za ADDRESS!
6. There is no mention of a Marcus Ekman working at Dexerials based on a quick search.
7. I was asked to pay USD810 for the security check to a Japanese Mizhuo bank account.
8. The pay was $50/hour – very high.

[nikkinikki17]

This happened to again but, they changed the interviewer name and email. Did you report them? They asked for a scanned copy of valid passport and scanned copy of signed contract. They asked for home address and phone number to send work materials for the 3 hours a day 3 consecutive day training. This email started to have noticeable grammar and spelling errors.

Most of the red flags are the same.

Red flag:

10. They try to get your home address and phone number

[Sime1]

I received the same email but this time they used Harima Chemicals, Japan.
The DIRCO address is sent from enquiry@asiabureaumgtservices.com
They used delivery@jpairnowservices.com for their courier and customs clearance.

They asked a clearance fee for customs (for a macbook pro and a debit card with 60 000 USD employment benefits) to the amount of 128,968 Russian Rubles to an account in Russia: Name of Account Holder: ДЭНИЕЛ АРТУР (Daniel Arthur) | Account Number: 40820810038116770175 | Name of Bank: PJSC SBERBANK | Import Duty and Tax Fee: 128,968 Russian Rubles | BIC: 044525225 | Corr Account: 30101810400000000225 | TIN: 7707083893 | CPP: 773643001

In South Africa they wanted 14579,00 ZAR into Nedbank account (MT Nlangeni) account 1233903241
Mr Nlangeni en Daniel Arthur might be their accomplises, but they gather so many addresses and bank account num bers and emails, because if you look at the DIRCO email then they clearly had dealings with dIRCO in order to get the DIRCo letter format and names etc.

Their Turkey account was histerical, but my question: will we all who received these emails report them?

I did inform Sperbank in Russia and Nedbank in SA and Turkish bank what these people do are and what accofunts they use.
But we need to take a clear stand and all who recceived this should report them as well as on skype.
I also reported this to the authorities, but ifonly one person report them, it will not have the same effect as when a few others bring their stories to light.

We can make a difference! Let's report these crooks

[Sime1]

In short here is what we have learned about these scammers:

They use the following email addresses:
delivery@jpairnowservices.com
enquiry@asiabureaumgtservices.com
hrdesk@harimachem.com
qisandy3@gmail.com
hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com
info@asiabureauservice.com

They also use different bank accounts all over the world:
South Africa - Nedbank - MT Nlangeni rek nr 1233903241
Japan -Mizuho Bank Rek nr 630008041700 - Asia Bureau Management Services
Turkey _ MoneyGram - First name: Kruger
Last name: Clarke
Address: Askerocagi Caddesi Suzer
Plaza
No 6 Kat 4 Elmedag Asker Ocagi Cd
Istanbul Turkye
Russia - PJSC Sperbank - Daniel Arthur - rek nr 40820810038116770175

It seems they record videos with potential victims, offer them a contract, steel their identity and use their identity/photo in a fake skype interview, claiming they can't hear the victim and they need to send answers to their questions by skype video. 'They used a skype account live:.cid.8963fef76d25fd04 and claimed to be from Japan.

It seems they constantly change email addresses etc.They come accross as veryprofessional.

Does anyone have advice how we can trace the owners of these email accounts or Skype address? Or know someone in law enforcement to help us catch them? Even a bank inspector?

[nikkinikki17]

I reported their email addresses and Skype but I'm not sure if anything was actually done for the Gmail (the accomplices didn't use @gmail.com so it was difficult to report those.) Sadly I'm not sure if Skype and Google actually did anything 😞

[Sime1]

I have asked a friend to help me track the registration of those email addresses. They must have registered as somewhere.

Yes, I agree with you. Sadly little will be done, but if you're interested I can share the Japan police, SAPS, the banks email addresses I've reported them to, if You're up to reporting them.

Let me know. I will help and support you to track them and to get to he authorities involved.

[Sime1]

This happened to again but, they changed the interviewer name and email. Did you report them? They asked for a scanned copy of valid passport and scanned copy of signed contract. They asked for home address and phone number to send work materials for the 3 hours a day 3 consecutive day training. This email started to have noticeable grammar and spelling errors.

Most of the red flags are the same.

Red flag:

10. They try to get your home address and phone number

Do you have email addresses we can use to report this?

[Sime1]

Admin, I have an unusual request.
If the other user agrees, could you both come online so the 3 of us can discuss this.

I think we need to put our heads together as we already have more info that what it looks like on first glance. We can with a little patience identity the scammer. Yes, I suspect it's one scammer with innocent victims he use to pay back their "fees" into their accounts.

Please let me know

[Sime1]

Admin, I have an unusual request.
If the other user agrees, could you both come online so the 3 of us can discuss this.

I think we need to put our heads together as we already have more info that what it looks like on first glance. We can with a little patience identity the scammer. Yes, I suspect it's one scammer with innocent victims he use to pay back their "fees" into their accounts.

Please let me know

Contacted by Sandy Qui (qisandy3@gmail.com) to email Marcus Ekman at Dexerials Corporation in Japan ( hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com )

Marcus claiming to be the HR Manager. The email was sent from hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com. Dexerials is a electronic company in Japan, but has the domain .jp, not .com.

They offered a flexible online Business English teaching position of 10-20 hours per week at $50/hour. The teacher sent their CV and cover letter and arranged an interview online via Skype. Within 3 hours of the interview they were offered the job and sent a contract to sign. They were also asked to approach the Asia Bureau Service in Japan
https://asiabureauservices.com/ and (info@asiabureauservice.com). Was asked NOT to use GMAIL due to VPN issues.

Following red flags:

1. All the emails were very generic and not addressed to the teacher personally
2. The video for the Skype interview was very low resolution, with no audio.
3. The interviewer (Marcus Ekman) then communicated via the chat (IM) function stating that the connection appeared to be poor and that the teacher should try and call him back on Skype. This didn’t work, so he asked if he could send the teacher a list of questions. This list arrived on Dexerials company letterhead. The teacher was asked if they could record video with their answers.
3. Within just 2 hours of the interview the teacher received an email with a job offer.
4. The teacher received the contract, which contained rather generic conditions more suited to a permanent employment contract and not a remote online job (such as housing allowance, etc.)
5. I received communication from the Asia Bureau Office and MY SOUTH AFRICAN CONSULAR NATIONAL SERVICES (legalisation@dirco.gov.za ) informing me that they needed to complete an application for some sort of security clearance. The timeframe for all this correspondence was just a couple of hours – a questionably quick turnaround time for such departments in my country. NOTE THEY MUST HAVE HACKED INTO THE GOV WEBSITE BECAUSE THIS IS THE CORRECT .gov.za ADDRESS!
6. There is no mention of a Marcus Ekman working at Dexerials based on a quick search.
7. I was asked to pay USD810 for the security check to a Japanese Mizhuo bank account.
8. The pay was $50/hour – very high.

Romandaw, did you report this activity? Would you share the email address you used to report them?

It would be great if you can help with info so we can pin the scammer to point to get authorities involved. It follows a modus operandi that points to his location

Please let me to know.

[Sime1]

I received, before the scammer Sandy Qi send her email, an email from a Gmail account has raised no suspicion.

Shortly After I dealt with her, all these emails came to both me and another teacher, whose details she also have.

I suspect this is our famous Sandy Qi.

[romandaw]

I reported this scam to SAPS but not to anyone in Japan.
I reported the scam to the SA department of home affairs webmaster.
I reported all the the domain names to the hosting company after doing a Whois search.

[Sime1]

Romandew, thank you. I will also do this. Thank you for the feedback.

[Sime1]

Thank you:

These scammer can be reported to:
abuse@namecheap.com
for the criminal use of HARIMACHEM.COM

Report to abuse@wildwestdomains.com
for the criminal use of doains: jpairnowservices.com and asiabureaumgtservices.com and dexerialscorp.com

I still need a little bit more on Sandy Qi. Please help me if you know the folowing: On November 1, 2022 I received an email from Grlyt A Flores <grlyt14.esljobs@gmail.com> who claimed to be a Teacher Recruiter for schools in China. I have sent her my and my daughter's cv.

She uses the Skype name girly.aquino with telephone number +639958274983 and location Davao, PHILIPPINES.

Shortly after I had correspondence with her, one Sandy Qi (qisandy3@gmail.com) contacted me claiming she works for Harima Chemicals in Japan and if I am interested in a teaching job of Business English to their employees I should contact Lucas Jonsson hrdesk@harimachem.com.

Did you have a similar insident with this lady?

[Sime1]

The Japanese Bank he uses, has no email or page on how to eport them.
Does anyone have a lead here where he can be repirted.
It looks like this bank account is opened on the name of Asia Bureau Services with domain https://asiabureauservices.com/

https://shop.www.mizuhobank.com/b/mizuh ... _char_en=C

[Sime1]

https://complaint.ic3.gov/

abuse@namecheap.com is the service provider for hrdesk@harimachem.com

They advised we report the internet crime to the above link. They will give full cooperation with authorities

[teacherkai]

Only a greedy and unintelligent person will even pay attention to these guys.

$50/hour for an online English teaching position? Only a greedy person will continue such conversation.
Over 800 USD for a check that cost less than 60 USD? And people even made this a conversation? LOL

No one pays attention to these things nowadays and to me, there is nothing professional about someone offering you a too good to be true opportunity. It is shameful people still make this a discussion.

It is always clear, do not pay for a job.

[Sime1]

You have quite a nerve to show up here after you have scammed all these in people
Trying to make them feel guilty so you can carry on with your evil scheme!

[John V55]

Only a greedy and unintelligent person will even pay attention to these guys.

$50/hour for an online English teaching position? Only a greedy person will continue such conversation.
Over 800 USD for a check that cost less than 60 USD? And people even made this a conversation? LOL

No one pays attention to these things nowadays and to me, there is nothing professional about someone offering you a too good to be true opportunity. It is shameful people still make this a discussion.

It is always clear, do not pay for a job.

You're absolutely right.

Someone you’d never heard of offers you let’s say an average of 15 hours a week for TEFL at $50 an hour, plus $810 for a ‘security check.’ And they didn’t smile to themselves and walk away from it? That’s $3,000 a month for part time work! I don’t so much blame the scammers as I do for those that fall for it and sorry to say, it usually happens to Americans.

[Sime1]

That's just it, he used a legitimate company's website, and a fake company registered as a company in Japan where he opened a bank account on that name.
Very smart move.
I'm not American, and I think it's a bit harsh to call our American friends what you did.
Even the contracts he used were spot on from the Harima Chemicals company in Japan.
Don't blame the victims to justify his winning streak.
You wouldn't blame girls trafficed by Jeffrey Epstein and his sleezy friends, now why will you blame victims of this scam.
You seem to know details which only victims and the scammer would know. Interesting...

[John V55]

That's just it, he used a legitimate company's website, and a fake company registered as a company in Japan where he opened a bank account on that name.
Very smart move.
I'm not American, and I think it's a bit harsh to call our American friends what you did.
Even the contracts he used were spot on from the Harima Chemicals company in Japan.
Don't blame the victims to justify his winning streak.
You wouldn't blame girls trafficed by Jeffrey Epstein and his sleezy friends, now why will you blame victims of this scam.
You seem to know details which only victims and the scammer would know. Interesting...

I don’t mean to be harsh when I say Americans are generally gullible. It’s just something that’s well known and if you google “Are Americans gullible” you’ll find lots of agreement even among Americans themselves. You’ll also find that the majority of scams that have occurred on this forum affect Americans.

The scams are also invariably from the private sector, you know, the ones who promise fantastic rates to lure people in? Many fall for it and then look to blame others. Buyer beware? If someone thinks a basic TEFL certificate is worth $50 an hour and is willing to pay another $800 into someone’s private account on the other side of the world they’ve never met, it was both gullibility and greed that made them do it.

I spent several years teaching in Thailand and China and personally saw them come and go. As long as gullible people exist, the scammers will take full advantage of them. The answer is to teach in government schools, but many don’t have the qualifications and so are at the mercy of a scam industry especially set up to cater for them. If someone believes they’ll earn more with basic qualifications in a developing country than they will in a first-world one, that’s who the scammers are looking for and there's no shortage of them.