Did you receive a job offer email from a recruiter at Bright Pioneer Consulting offering you a remote work opportunity? Beware! it’s a scam. Presently, more than 100 job seekers have received the job invitation.
The remote job offer has all the tell-tale signs of an employment scam.
- Firstly, it’s unsolicited (you never applied for the position). You might think you might have sent them a resume, but when you check your sent mails, you wouldn’t see any sent to Bright Pioneer Consulting.
- The income quoted for the remote job role (data scientist, data entry clerk, e.t.c) is too good to be true.
- The interview is done via texts only on Ring Central or Signal App (which is unusual for a reputable firm). Lacks formal onboarding process.
- The grammar used in the email is unprofessional with lots of grammatical errors.
Is Bright Pioneer Consulting a Legit Recruiting Firm?
Our investigations revealed it’s not a legit recruiting firm. Firstly, there’s no registered company, firm or organization named ‘Bright Pioneer Consulting’.
Its website ‘brightpioneerconsulting.com’ was launched recently – 25th September 2024. This data is available on Who.is (a domain registry). Examining the website we noticed some red flags; the website design is unprofessional and not up to standard, there’s no contact telephone number or email address.
Secondly, they offer to send check so employees would take part of the money to buy work equipment and send the balance to an offshore account. This is an accounting and tax no-no. Legit businesses send work equipment directly to employees instead of routing the expense through personal accounts and have them buy it.
How Does Bright Pioneer Consulting Scam Works?
The fake job offer is an advance fee scam. There are two methods with which the scam works;
The fraudsters would email you a check which they want you to deposit to your bank for buying work equipment. Then they ask you to send some money back due to “overpayment,” but the check will ultimately bounce, and the bank will want you to repay the full amount of the fake check, while the scammers keep the real money you sent them.
Or, a third party would be introduced as a certified vendor whom employees are to buy the equipment from. However, this person is involved in the scam. The check is an invalid one and doesn’t get approved immediately, but the fraudsters coerce their victims to make the payment with their own money while awaiting bank approval.
All these are examples of advance fee scam. Once you make the payment, the scammers would disappear and cease all communication with you.
What to Do If you fell for this Employment Scam
If you’ve already submitted your personal details and CV to the crooks behind this fake employment offer. You should do the following;
Enroll in identity theft monitoring services
Identity protection services like Experian or Aura monitor databases that collect different types of information. When you enroll with them, you’d receive an alert notifying you of suspicious activities like –
- a change of address request
- court or arrest records
- orders for new utility, cable, or wireless services
- an application for a payday loan, etc.
Experian.com for example, has a basic Identity Theft monitoring plan which is free. I advise that you sign up for it, if you can’t afford the premium plan which is $24.99 monthly.
Alert your Bank of the Fraudulent Transaction
If you fell for the equipment vendor plot and made the payment using your account, immediately notify your bank. Send screenshots of the conversations between you and the criminal, payment receipt, etc.
You should also request for a chargeback if it’s possible to recover your money.
Spread Awareness of the Ongoing Scam
It’s very important that you inform people of your experience with the crooks impersonating Conformal Medical. You could do this on Forums, or even Threads like Reddit. This would help prevent others from being victims of the scam.
You can also go a step further by reporting the scam to government authorities like – FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov). This would make them put up a notice warning the public of the scam.
Warning Signs of Job Scams
1 – Unsolicited Recruitment Text
Received an unsolicited job offer via WhatsApp, text message or email? There’s a likelihood that it’s a scam, especially if it came from a company you’ve never applied to. Legit companies wouldn’t send you job texts out of the blues. There’s always a due process for hiring.
2- Too Good To Be True Pay
This is one of the very first red flags. It’s true we all like the idea of being paid high, but when the quoted pay is far above what the industry normally pays, you need to pause. If they’re promising to pay higher than the market rate, tread with caution. Sometimes they might promise unrealistic work hours with no specific skill for huge pay, making the job look irresistible. That’s just a bait with which to entice their victims.
3 – Conducts a Shallow Interview
The interview process is always a dead giveaway. It’s always quick and short, without any depth. Then you’re told you’ve been hired. Most times, the interview is hosted on Signal App or Telegram, via text messages with just an acting HR.
No legitimate business or company would hire an employee without a thorough interview to ascertain if they indeed meet the criteria.
4 – Requests for a Fee
If after the interview and onboarding, you’re asked to pay an amount of money, then it’s a scam. This fee could either be labelled ‘Application fee’ or ‘Upgrade fee’. Whatever name it’s called, legit companies don’t collect money from employees.
Precaution
Job offers from Bright Pioneer Consulting should be treated as scam and disregarded. It’s a fake check scam that gets job seekers to cash fake checks then send legal cash back to the scammers. If you fall for this scam, your bank would make you repay the amount of the fake check. You could also lose your account, have limited access, or legal action against you.
When approached by a job recruiter either online or offline, the first thing to do is research the company and the job opportunity. Find the company on the internet and review their online presence, including their social media. Enter the company’s name and the word “scam” on search engine, paste the email address too to find out if it has been flagged as scam.
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Nora