employment moneygram scam

Working from home is now becoming an increasingly popular option allowing fraudsters to utilise the moneygram scam. Technology allows people to communicate through the Internet such that there is really no need to be at the office. Many positives associated with home working there are neagatives too, one of them is the moneygram scam.
Home working would seem attractive to the parties involved. With someone working from home it saves space in the office, they do not need to have a big offices or working environments to accommodate employees. For the employee gives the freedom to potential flexible working hours. The work need not be completed with the regimented 9 to 5 can be done within the course of the day. It allows people to have the freedom to spend more time at home with friends and family.
Its attractive to fraudsters too, the avenue exists to come up with scams to take advantage of home employment opportunities by posing as legitimate businesses. They usually advertise on the Internet or the classified sections of newspapers.
One common way to involve the moneygram scam is to post adverts for a "Mystery Shopper". The role involves the employee visiting various shops and stores to provide feedback on things experienced in the store.
When applying for such as position the potential employee ask for a payment some kind for the administration. This itself should set alarm bells as most legitimate businesses do not work in such fashion.
When someone has successfully applied for a position and employment is given their first task would be test the services of a named moneygram agent. They are posted a cheque by the fraudster (posing as the employer), told to pay the cheque into their bank.
Once the cheque has cleared, the victim is required to take the money to the named moneygram agent with relevant identification (such as passport, driving license), complete the moneygram 'send' form along with the amount to be sent and handed over to the moneygram agent. Once processed they are given a reference number which the the employee is required to send back to the fraudster. For carrying out the role they are allowed to keep a small amount from the original cheque as payment for the job, all of which is an eloborate part of moneygram scams.
To make the whole scam legitimate, the employee is asked to make notes on things such as the courtesy of staff, the waiting time to be served as a result of queues, knowledgeability of staff, and so on. This information is also required to be sent back to the fraudster so they can 'assess' the service provided by the agent.
The cheque supplied in the first instance of a fraudulent nature. The bank will honour the cheque initially but weeks later it will bounce leaving the victim to pay the money back. In the mean time, the victim has transferred the funds to the fraudster who has walked away with the victims money.
An alternative moneygram scam is where the employee is seeking a job far away from his residence, such as overseas in other countries. The scammer may send relevant application forms to complete the process, follow it up with a request for payment through moneygram for equipment required to do the work such as uniform. It so that everything in ready and in order to commence employment as soon as the victim arrives to the new place of work.
Again this is a scam, fraudster employing means to extract funds from unsuspecting victims.
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