Scam or possibly scamola?

Craigslist is a terrible place to look for jobs. That’s just a fact. There are tons of scammers out there, and whenever you do manage to find a legit job, it often pays the worst money possible—sometimes even less than minimum wage, which is actually illegal and should be reported to the Better Business Burea.

writingscamsHowever, given that it’s free to post jobs there, many start-up and small businesses and non-profits organizations take advantage of the freebie and post. The question is: Are these jobs worth having?

I guess the answer is yes and no. Yes, I have managed to find work via Craigslist. Yes, the work I (ultimately) found paid me actual money. No, it wasn’t what I was worth. And mostly, it wasn’t worth the hassle.

So why do I keep going back, hoping I will find something different? Something that’s a legitimate job offer? Frankly, I don’t know. But I do know that I like to post ads myself, mainly to see what type of response they will get. For instance, inspired by Aimee Davison (as mentioned in my previous post), I put up this ad:

Subject: Unusual jobs, only $100!

Laura Roberts, an Austin-based freelance writer and editor, is looking for unusual and odd jobs for one-hundred dollars each. Laura will work any job that fits the following requirements:

-Must be either Austin or Internet-based work
-Job must pay a minimum of $100 in U.S. dollars (trading services does not count as payment)
-Maximum number of consecutive hours available for each job = 8 (i.e. one full work-day)
-No X-rated proposals (Laura does not take her clothes off for money)
-Nothing illegal!

That being said, there are no jobs too small or too ridiculous! Laura will walk your dogs, fetch your groceries, house-sit while you’re on Christmas holidays, scrub your toilets, write (or re-write) your resume, edit your novel, wait for the cable guy to come, or make you dinner—so long as the price is right. Just $100 gets you the services of a multi-talented writer, editor, amateur chef and more. Got an interesting job? Get in touch!

So far the only responses have been from a) spammers and b) a cheap-ass university student who wanted to know if I could lower my rate and write one of her final papers for her. I told her $100 was a good deal for someone writing her paper, particularly if research was at all involved, but that I wasn’t interested. Seriously, kids, look up your school’s plagiarism policies; having someone write your paper is covered under the concept, and the penalties are always harsh (i.e. most schools will expel you for your first offense).

Sending out CVs to some of the probably-scam ads has netted one response from a dude who says he needs a personal assistant to help him out with stuff while he’s in Australia. He wants to have a client send me money, which I will then use to buy stuff for an “orphanage.” My red flags are being hoisted by this one, for a variety of reasons, including:

  1. Does anyone really use the term “orphanage” anymore?
  2. You can’t wait 3 weeks to interview me face-to-face, but want me to start immediately, only knowing what I put on my CV and in a brief cover letter? And you want me to manage your finances?
  3. This sounds suspiciously similar to the old scam where someone offers to buy your computer/guitar/lint collection on CL, offering you a check for more than your list price, telling you to mail them the difference. Once the check clears, banks typically find some form of fraud, the money gets removed from your account, and you’re now out the entire amount plus the “extra” they were going to pay you, plus surcharges (particularly if this causes you to require overdraft protection), plus whatever it was you were selling—which has, of course, been picked up by some mysterious intermediary.

I could be wrong, and this could be a legit business organization, but the dude also never told me what it is he does for a living, didn’t include any links to a website he claims to be his own, and emailed me from a Gmail account. I’ll reserve judgment while I wait for his responses to some very simple questions (easily answered if you’re legit, but undoubtedly prompting angry replies from actual scammers), and let you know.

Am I wrong to be so suspicious of CL ads like these? Help me out, kids: is this a scam or possibly scamola?

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Comments
Comment from Aimee - December 7, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Yes, it’s a scam. It’s a similar scam to the one the Nigerian man, Mike F, tried to get me to do. He wanted me to run errands for him and mail packages to him for several hundred a week, starting immediately. They get you on the illegitimate forms of payment used, and fake advances given for the errands.

Craigslist can be okay, though! I have made a lot off of it in the marketing jobs section.

Good luck with your search for new contracts,

Aimee

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