litch | (no subject)

So I got e-mail from something called ford-commonwealth recruiters claiming to want me to apply for jobs they have listed. This makes my spidey senses tingle. I look and no jobs are particularly screaming for my talent set (which is the only reason I can think a recruiter would come to me). So I look on their website and find no information on the people behind the company. Definately has the odour of scam.

I look on the web and can't find anything referencing them except a site that includes them in a big list of recruiters. So I do a whois search on them and find the domain was created on 10-27 of this year and the Admin information is suspicious, "Bill Williams" with a fictious phone number and a paper mail address what looks to be a drop box in suburban Minneapolis.

Pretty sure they're some sort of identity theft front. That the thing I fear a lot these days, that in all the myriad applications I've filled out looking for a job I've gotten tagged by someone and had my ID stolen.

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From:

jonabbey.livejournal.com

Dunno, seems like it's probably legit, at least at a first pass. They don't ask you for SS# or anything else that sets alarm bells ringing.

Now, if you actually gave them info and they contacted you and started asking dodgy questions, I might worry.

From:

trav23.livejournal.com

plus a lot of the mass recruiting places will just hit EVERYONE who has a resume on monster/dice/hotjobs saying we have a great position for you insert-name-here, so you will provide them the information to get you into their system with them doing the least amount of work, then they can tell investors or whoever that they have x large number of contractors working for them just based on the number of resumes they have in their system. doesn't mean it's not a scam, might be a different scam than the one you're wary of though..

From:

corwinok.livejournal.com

My favorites are the ones where their software burps and forgets to replace $NAME$ (or similar variables) in their form letter.

From:

ieuleron.livejournal.com

strangely enough, I live in suburban Minneapolis... I might be able to confirm/deny if it's simply a drop box.

From:

litch.livejournal.com

If you want the address is:
Organisation Address. 1609 W. Cty 42, #240
Organisation Address. Burnsville
Organisation Address. 55306
Organisation Address. MN

but I really think it's pointless, I did a google search on the address and found a modeling company, real estate, and some chubby camgirl at the address so I am pretty confident it's a drop box.

From: (Anonymous)

I received the same email. It looked a little odd, so I, too, looked up the basic information on the domain, and it made me leery.

I just started my new job search, and all the forms I've filled out have been at larger sites like Monster.com, Dice.com, CareerBuilder.com, etc...

From: (Anonymous)

Yeah, I got their email as well. Looks like they're using CareerBuilder's public resume feature to pull email addresses. The thing that made ME nervous was the reply. I'm not sure they're precisely identity-theft related (with regards to SSNs, credit card #s, etc.), but the reply they sent me said something about giving them permission to email on my behalf. I saw NO language like that in their Website, even in the fine print. And the email only offered an "unsubscribe" option, not an "opt out". If they are NOT legit, then it seems to me that they're canvassing for email addresses they can use for spam rather than for personal information. Possibly they're looking for MS Passports as well. UNTIL we see something definitely wrong, I'm not sure there's anything to do, though it might be a good idea for all of us hooked by these guys to get hold of the folks who have the tokens we submitted and provide new information.

From: (Anonymous)

The thing that is MOST suspicious is the info on the contact page is not HTML, but rather an image... the name 'Ford-Commonwealth' does not exist on the site anywhere as HTML. Hmm.

From: (Anonymous)

So glad that I saw your comment when I did my search about this company too. Anyone who gets this kind of suspicious email from this company should notify yahoo that they are using their hotjobs site to obtain info, and see if they are really a legit recruiting company. Makes me kind of nervous too.

From: (Anonymous)

Got the same message. Complained to HotJobs and Yahoo, the owner of HotJobs.

This is a total SCAM!!!

From: (Anonymous)

I recently had the same experience. I reported it to the FBI. Maybe if everyone else does, too, the FBI will shut them down!

From: (Anonymous)

AGREE!!!!

From: (Anonymous)

SEEMED FISHY TO ME TOO ..
ALL WAS GIVEN WAS A E-MAIL ADDRESS UNDER CONTACTS
USUALLY RECRUITERS GIVES BETTER INFO THAN THAT IF THEY REALLY WANT YOU
TO CONTACT THEM.
THANKS FOR MAKIG THIS POST .. MY SPIDER SENSE CAN STOP TINGLING NOW.

From: (Anonymous)

thank you, i almost fell for it too.

From: (Anonymous)

I was contacted by Ford-Commonwealth recruiting too
I've reported them to Yahoo! Mail to prevent future e-mails.
Thank you.

From: (Anonymous)

Hey all.

I received a response from Career Builder (inquiries@careerbuilder.com).

and they replied:

"This is not Spam."

The plot thickens.

From: (Anonymous)

I was in the process of filling out the form when I too got a sense that something was up. The site is too "frontpage template" and there is no actual content similar to any other job site (current openings lookup, etc.) The "jobs" and "more jobs" links are not what one would expect from professionals either. It's all static content w/ a form for someone to put in their info. Probably not ID theft but certainly an email collector with lots of good, specific info about the person behind the email, They could sell their list each week/month for a very nice price.

From: (Anonymous)

I just received their email, same comments. I am sending info to monster.com's fraud department.

From: (Anonymous)

Ya, this site looks a little dicey.. I mean, if they are tied in w. all the major companies as they say, couldn't they have gotten a better look 'n feel over a typical ISP looking template for their website?

:-)

Yo, founder's of Ford-Commonwealth recruiters.. I'll do a full site redesign for $1999.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks for the insight. I'm glad I discovered this forum on FC Recruiters. I got an email from them as well. Funny how none of the positions listed locations. Generally, that's half the selling point of a new job.

From: (Anonymous)

The Better Business Bureau has no info and has never heard of Ford Commonwealth Recruiters.

From: (Anonymous)

When I tried to use the HotBlock feature to block some of HotJobs'
member companies from viewing my resume and sending me email messages, and I search for “Ford-Commonwealth”, HotJobs returns a “Sorry, No matches were found” message!

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks for the heads-up guys! I'm sure glad I found you all. I was near to responding to them, but as you said, something about their site set the spidey senses off big time.

I'll be contacting Yahoo HotJobs too. This job search business is hard enough without the added excitement of possible theft identity.

Thanks again.

From: (Anonymous)

I don't know if F-C is for real. But if it smells like a rat, then it probably is. The listed "jobs" suck, anyway. What kind of a come-on is that? At the very least, a brainless program scanned my resume and drew all the wrong conclusions. That's why they call it "AI"! At minimum, I resent the intrusion and waste of time. The "recruiter" didn't even mention where he found my name on the Web. Damn! Even without the rats, jobs are difficult enough to find. A recession just makes the predators more aggressive. Now where's that can of D-Con? C'mere, whiskers!

From: (Anonymous)

I also got this email and it states in the bottom of the message that they got my email from HotJobs and/or Careerbuilder. I also got a strange feeling about this site. It seemed very unprofessional and a little creepy. Glad I found this thread. I also got an email from an recruiter using an @juno.com email ... I don't think I like that.

From: (Anonymous)

Yes, that's right, I too have been sent an email from FCR. Contacting Yahoo's Hotjobs about them as well... Thanks for the Forum posts, kept me from sending my info on as well.

From: (Anonymous)

I too collected a peice of FCR's garbage in my inbox. It appears they're the ones who really need a job.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks for the thread! It's the #2 hit of "Ford-Commonwealth" on Yahoo! (: Anyway, found this journal entry from someone else who received an email from them:

http://www.corporateasylum.com/notesfromasylum.html

I don't know what to make of these folks. And remember to have a separate email account for your job hunting...!

Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

From: (Anonymous)

shady company
my coworker and I both got the e-mail, the fact that there is no company history, etc made us a little suspicious... then finding this by searching google sealed the deal.
*delete*

From: (Anonymous)

I got the e-mail from Ford-Commonwealth on 12/22. I thought it was fishy. I finally had time to do a search and could not find much. I also noticed that the Ford-Commonwealth name was not in the HTML.

I thought this might be a small recruiter that might mass mail your resume with the Ford-Commonwealth (or some other) name, which may shut down your job search because you would be represented by the recruiter.

From: (Anonymous)

If your read way down in the fine print on their privacy statement, you'll see that by providing them with information you agree to receive their monthly "Interviewing Tips Newsletter." Although they say their recruiting services are free, I will bet you anything that the newsletter contains tons of come-ons for books, courses, what-have-you that those without a job are vulnerable to feel a need to purchase.

There are other "bait and switch" prowlers on the popular job listing boards, such as CareerManage.com and executivejobsusa.com (also known as Executive Search Online.com, but really just a front for McKenzie Scott Partners). There's a large networking organization with branches in many cities (the name eludes me at present) that insists you must buy their book prior to attending a single session.

These people are not trying to confirm your e-mail address or build spam lists. They're a front for companies selling job search services. They have no openings, they're not recruiters.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks for the information about Ford-Commonwealth. Have sent a complaint to HotJobs about their lack of 'Employer' screening prior to posting what may turn out to be bogus job openings. There is a company at the Hotjobs site (with about 20 job openings listed) called Oakbrush. I have been absolutely unable to locate any real information about this company. Running a job search at Oakbrush's website will return zero results, but there is an address for the company:
Oakbrush, Inc.
6911 S. 1300 E. #186
Midvale, UT 84047
866.856.8099 tel
650.463.5793 fax

Neither Hoovers nor Dun & Bradstreet have any information about this company.

Looks like Oakbrush is trying to collect personal information for unknown reasons.