I have received about my 10th email now from Thallium, another front for Career Network. They are all worded about the same on the email, and if they don't say CN, the terms and agreements page always says Career Network. I actually answered a craigslist posting the first time I was caught, and it came back of course, with a rep's email who directed me to the CN webpages. I realized though, that evan an on-line agency who is legitimate would never ask for references in this manner, so I filled out fake info, but put my real email address just to see what would happen, and I did get an auto-response email. Unfortunately, except for the front people hired to scan emails on Yahoo, whom I've complained to, most of this is done with auto-generating software programs. I don't believe the person behind this is comitting identity theft, as I used to work for a lender in the fraud investigation department, and we also worked with identity theft victims that had fraud loans on their credit. Although, we sometimes found that they made new personas as a compiliation of identities, so it is possible. Harder for FBI to trace a name and address from one place, a social from another person, etc. etc. I stupidly have my complete address on my resume as well, but who knew once my lender had to declare bankruptcy that fraudsters are in the job seeker market now too.
The really bad news is that I've traced the name behind Career Network to Alexander Simon another he was tracked to Kids Talent Network out of Las Vegas, and there are reports on www.ripoffreport.com. It doesn't end there, they all trace back to Ahmed El-Defrawi who was partner with Lou Pealman in a big model agency scam. Lou Pearlman is now spending 25 years in jail, and it took 5 yrs of investigating and trials to get him there. El-Defrawi has also spent 4 yrs in jail on a different fraud related case, and time for child abuse (gee, the person called Alec Simon behind Kids Talent Network). I wouldn't trust what is happening with your information since he took money from kids parents, but in all of the charges, it seems he was selling info to 3rd party broadcast spammers, or charge fees for services that he didn't perform. No Identity Theft. He may be smart enough to not do anything totally illegal. Similar to Lou Pearlman harder to press charges and get conviction for services not rendered, and it has to be proved servcies weren't up to par. If you search Wikipedia for these names you'll find the histroy plus a lot on the fraud alert sites. Yahoo Answers has someone posting Career Network, then bogus people answering saying, yes, great place, got a job through them. Oscarthegrouch avatar seems to be the one promoting the most, and I saw a fraud alert saying he is Defrawi or related. I looked up everything I could on Defrawi and he joins blog sites or boards as his own name, such as college boards, and a trucker school site board, and eventually the conversations get around to him suggesting Career Network or he knows of a place. And, later when I thought to look at the member list, Career Network was signed up as a member? gee, not a person, but a company. So he is preying on students. I haven't seen anyone talk about this part either, and I believe it is against regulations to sign up a company not a student on a member list. But, I feel this even more proves that Defrawi is behind Career Network. Too much of a coincedence.
All we can do is continue to report, to the job boards and yahoo, but also report to the FTC (Federal Trade Comission), FCC, and FBI. If enough of us report, there will be continuing investigations and eventually he'll be caught. But there are others. All I can say is never give out information until you check out a company first, and never give out confidential information unless in person. An job search agency, never asks for references until you are actually 'signing' an agreement or you are scheduled for an interview. That's not the normal process, even if it is on-line. Even the job boards are bogus.
Another one I just figured out but they seemed to be okay in the beginning is Sky Shout Agency, that has a job board and suposedly real jobs, but I have now had 2 emails saying I don't quite qualify and need Quick Books, and they send me to a site to purchase a low cost version. There was another email about another job, and they sent me to another site to pay for services, can't remember what. But the really bad thing is, this again, came from a posting I replied to on craigslist that really did seem legitimate, they may get some jobs, but I never ever signed up on the Sky Shout job board, and they must be new, very little is out there about Sky Shout.
Life Path Unlimited is another scammer, they are selling ministry webinars and books, the reps keep some and the rest of the money is turned over to whoever is behind the scheme. It seems to be some kind of pyramid thing, as I found out about them through a solicitation after posting my resume on Yahoo Hot Jobs, trying to get me to be some kind of ministry coach or something. Not much about them either, but enough.
Just keep on reporting and be aware. Even if some are never charged, if the consumers get smarter, they will not have a base to pull from and will be out of business. |
Date
465 days ago by Jessica Davis 
432 days ago by Juanita Walker 
