Is this a job scam?

[jagjoe]

Received an e-mail from Petro Allied International in Dubai saying they had read my profile on an oil and gas job site and would I give some details. Minimal details sent and just had a reply saying I am successful. Too good to be true? Well they have decent looking website, seem to have all the usual contact details etc. However when I googled the tel no it came up as a fees paid upfront scam (419). They have sent me a form to fill in and asking me to contact their travel company (Orient travel LLC) to arrange work permit etc. Any fees will be reimbursed on submitting to Petro Allied International. This is my 1st time looking at Dubai for jobs, no interview, no phone call just fill in the forms contact travel and off you go. Definitely alarm bells ringing, especially reimbursement of fees is odd. The text of the letter is identical to that written on the 419 scam from the tel no. so I shan't be sending anything through. Anyone else had this? any advice? Is it definitely a scam? I need a job and this would have been ideal.
Joe
Apologies if this breaks the name and shame rules.

[supertouring]

If you have to pay anything up front then that is a scam IMHO.

Seems a bit more "complex" than the usual scam however.

[Troubleatmill]

Does the email have a named person on it?
With a phone number / location on it?

Look up the original website... phone the switchboard number and ask to speak to said person.


Then.... a couple of simple checks on the company/ website being real.


And you got a job offer without any form of interview????

[Flooble]

On which oil and gas website are your details?

[jagjoe]

I have checked the website number and its different to the number sent to me. Called the website number and asked for the guy, lady told me they do not have anyone of that name and she believes it to be a scam as they have had a few calls asking for the same guy. Hey ho it was too good to be true anyway. Hopefully nobody loses any money to these scum. Bit gutted but glad its sorted. Now, do I reply and send them on a wild goose chase or just ignore? Probably ignore.
Thanks for all your advice
Joe

[jagjoe]

Fooble
Oil and gas job search.com

[Flooble]

Ah okay, so my thought is to go back to him and ask which website he found you on - after all, you want to ensure you are marketing in the right place.

Have a look at 419 eater for some ideas, at least it will keep you amused!

[Zoon]

[jagjoe]

Strangely my father was actually killed by Ninja's. Do I really need karate lessons and will the affluent society of Birkenhead donate to these lessons? Now I am worried.

[supertouring]

Sorry it did not turn out in your favour.

Definitely wind them up a bit for some revenge. Time spent running around for you will mean less time they have to scam others.

[AB]

jagjoe said:

Strangely my father was actually killed by Ninja's. Do I really need karate lessons and will the affluent society of Birkenhead donate to these lessons? Now I am worried.

Birkenhead has never done anything remotely useful.

[parabolica]

Definitely a scam; the Company I work for (global O&G Services company) has suffered from these for the last few years. Scammers copy and paste genuine job adverts from our website onto non-descript job websites and change the contact details to something they've set up to make it look as official as possible. They even googled our UK MD to get his name and started using that on the letters of employment.

Offers are eleventy-stupid; admin assistants being offered £65,000 per annum plus travel plus car plus 40 days vacation etc etc. Then when people (from all over the world) fall for it, they demand payment up front for visas and travel and those not familiar with UK law fall for it and pay. Then when the fraudsters bugger off with a few thousand of their cash, the scammed contact our office directly to find out what's going on. Then we have to tell them, then they blame us, even though there is nothing we can do to stop this.

Worst case scenario, we had a disgruntled scammed person come to our UK headquarters and staged a sit-in protest, claiming that we were behind it call. Threatened to call the papers and TV news as he had sent almost £10,000 to the scammers. Felt sorry for the guy, but there is nothing we can do and he just sat there and took it out on us. Had to call the police to remove him; he then tried to sue us but that didn't get far.