So I got an email today from what at first glance appeared to be a recruiter, looking to set up an interview between me and one of their clients. The recruiting company is called EmployersZoom (no link….you’ll see why in a moment.) The email, while very ‘form’ in nature, was well written, with no obvious grammar or spelling issues, and what at first glance seemed to be a very professionally done website. But something smelled off about this, so I decided to do some checking. A search on Google found almost nothing about this company, which is both unusual, and the reason for this post. A quick check around their website showed what appeared to be a good looking site, with your typical stock images and sections, but a lot of the things you’d expect to be live links were just text…like job listings! So then I decided to see just what might be involved in actually registering, which is required to connect with the alleged client, so I read the fine print. Seems their clients require a CREDIT CHECK before interviewing. Uhm, yeah, about that…
Here is the body of the email…
Hello Ed Fisher
EmployersZoom is the nation’s original "Screen and Schedule" recruiter and works with dozens of INC 500 employers.
Our recruiting and scheduling system is responsible for hundreds of successful employment calls every month.
We are pleased to inform you that one of our "Elite Employers" wishes to schedule a telephone call with you to discuss employment.
Our process is searching major online employment sites for the perfect employee. Work history, job skills, and the applicant’s personal situation must match our client’s exacting requirements.
Our staff reviewed your information on Dice and have determine your skills and work history meet or exceed the requriements for a postion we are currently scheduling for.
If you are still in the market – looking for that "perfect career", we cordially invite you to take the next step and schedule the call that could result in your best career move.
More than 68% of our scheduled calls are successful! (employers pay all fees)
To schedule your call, send an email to:scheduling AT employerszoom.com (changed by me to remove active link-ed)
In the subject line, please insert: "Scheduling for 2155"
Be sure to include the above number as it refers to your prospective employer.
We will reply with the full details on how you can schedule the call that could be the best call you have ever made.
Wishing you every success,
EmployersZoom Scheduling Staff
If you do not wish to receive employer notification emails, please click here.(changed by me to remove active link-ed)
Yes, I see that position and requirements are both misspelled, but at 7:00AM I am only on my first cup of coffee, so that didn’t jump out. Now it does.
And here is the SMTP header…
Thu, 6 May 2010 02:05:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.224.96.199 with SMTP id i7mr7446561qan.354.1273136707440; Thu, 06 May 2010 02:05:07 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <karnava@continental.websitewelcome.com> Received: from gateway14.websitewelcome.com (gateway14.websitewelcome.com [69.93.82.2]) by mx.google.com with SMTP id 2si1383983qwi.19.2010.05.06.02.05.06; Thu, 06 May 2010 02:05:07 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of karnava@continental.websitewelcome.com designates 69.93.82.2 as permitted sender) client-ip=69.93.82.2;Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of karnava@continental.websitewelcome.com designates 69.93.82.2 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=karnava@continental.websitewelcome.com Received: (qmail 21923 invoked from network); 6 May 2010 09:10:09 -0000 Received: from continental.websitewelcome.com (74.53.102.162) by gateway14.websitewelcome.com with SMTP; 6 May 2010 09:10:09 -0000 Received: from karnava by continental.websitewelcome.com with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from <karnava@continental.websitewelcome.com>) id 1O9x0y-0000Ff-2n for (changed by me to remove active link-ed); Thu, 06 May 2010 04:05:04 -0500 To: (changed by me to remove active link-ed) Subject: Regarding your Monster posting X-PHP-Script: www.karnavati.in/rotofilt/index_new.php for 122.169.82.24 Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 04:05:04 -0500 From: Scheduling Team <scheduling@employerszoom.com> Reply-to: Scheduling Team <scheduling@employerszoom.com> Message-ID: <98e4cacbbf9e492c7985a0694fcaf7e4@www.karnavati.in> X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.73] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - continental.websitewelcome.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - gmail.com X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [32551 32554] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - continental.websitewelcome.com
So some PHP script on a box in India bounced this email through an SMTP server in the US. And finally, here is the whois…
H:\>whois -H employerszoom.com
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: EMPLOYERSZOOM.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: NS1659.HOSTGATOR.COM
Name Server: NS1660.HOSTGATOR.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 30-jan-2010
Creation Date: 17-dec-2009
Expiration Date: 17-dec-2010
If you look at their site, you’ll see that their copyright is 2007-2010, and their corporate HQ is allegedly in New York, but they used an anonymous domain registrar only a few months ago, to register a corporate domain for one year.
So, reported as a phishing attempt, and posted here. If I am mistaken, and they actually are a legitimate company, I’ll be interested in seeing if they reach out to me to dispute this. If I am wrong, I’ll be happy to retract this post and create a new one stating that my suspicions were wrong, but I doubt that is going to happen. And maybe, just maybe, someone will do a little checking before being taken in by this crap, find this post, and avoid any unpleasantries.
Considering what I think of this sort of scam, I think Penn & Teller’s Bullshit is the perfect material to close out this post. Audio probably NSFW or small children, so use headphones, or at least discretion. I loved these guys as Rebo & Zooty. Zooty-Zoot zoot!
Direct link for RSS and email subscribers…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kKZ3wy2Iww
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good Catch Ed,
I have found a few attempts at this in my job search last year.
Very frustrating to get involved with some idiot that has his office in his bed room at GrandMas House
#Fail Me Shakes Fist!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for commenting Dave, and I love how you characteriise them!-Ed
Received a similar email just today. I was suspicious since they said they found me on dice but set it to my CareerBuilder email address. Definitely a phishing scheme. They also addressed it to the wrong person.
Hi Bill,
Thanks for dropping by. Nothing like a well thought-out scam that uses the wrong name, and a tagged email account.
Will these bozos never learn?
Cheers,
Ed