Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jdog2050]

I knew this would happen: just as soon as the Seoul section of craigslist is taking off, we get hit by scammers.

My GF got this one. Basically, a guy is offering a 1.1 million won sublet in Hannam. However, he's a missionary and you need to send him the money via his "lawyer" and then he will give you the keys. When you ask for the house address, he types out something about the f'in McDonalds in Itaewon, then changes the subject.

It's a pretty bad scam, but only a matter of time before they perfect it. Here's the final email sent to my GF.

Thanks for getting back to me ,you can make the payment to the Lawyer through Western Union Money Transfer,and get back to me with Full Sender Information like Sender Name Address Amount send in dollar with MTCN,A Month Rent 1,100,000won with 200,000 security deposit with is refundable,just get back to me as soon as payment made with full Sender info,so that i can be able to forward them to the Lawyer who's is receiving the payment,

HERE IS MY LAWYER info Given Below..
SURNAME: TAWIAH

MIDDLE NAME ELLIS BORTEY

Receivers Address 465 CHURCH STREET

City: PRETORIA

Country: SOUH AFRICAN

Zipcode 0001

Test Question God Bless?

Test Answer You

Amount? 1,300,000k/convert to Dollar's
As soon as you make the payment get back to me with following information,
1. Full Sender Names You use in making the payment.
2. Reference number which is 10 digit.
3. Amount Sent

[RACETRAITOR]

I've received slightly more standard 419 scams that were supposedly in Korea. In one case I even wrote back and told the guy I was in the same country and we should meet. Didn't happen.

[sarbonn]

There's another scam that specifically targets ESL teachers. I came across this a few months ago when I started advertising to get a new job. Someone wrote me out of the blue, offering me a job in England, tutoring his two children. He claimed to be from Germany, an executive with Mercedes-Benz and that his wife had just died. The offer for employment was somewhat over the top (too much money and too many benefits). I then did a search on the guy's name, and it turns out that the name had been used many times before as a scam in the ESL community. Then, out of nowhere, I started getting similar job ads from others that all sounded slightly similar (although with different names).

Be wary of this sort of stuff because there are some real dickwads out there trying to separate us from our money through all sorts of different scams.

[crossmr]

This was getting really popular in Canada before I left. A lot of african scammers claiming to have apartments in tight housing markets, but they're all missionaries, all traveling, and they'll mail you the keys.

[asams]

Here's a little story about a Nigerian scam artist:

While I was in college I worked in a pharmacy during the summer. One day we get a call from a "Dr." claiming to be in Nigeria or somewhere like that. He asks us to send him some supplies (blood pressure cuffs, stuff like that) and gives us the address. He also gives us the number of a credit card and tells us to bill him. The credit card goes through and we take the stuff and ship it (wasn't too expensive). A day later we get a call from the credit card company saying the card was cancelled and that we would need to collect payment another way. We tried to contact the "Dr." to no avail. We contact the post office but our package was already on its way to Timbuktu (it's been too long for me to remember exactly where it was going). To get the package back we would have to wait until it arrived at its destination then ship it back, which would've ended up costing more than the equipment itself when all was said and done. We contact the police but without any information we couldn't do much. We just had to cut our loses and move on from that one.

[FMPJ]

www.419eater.com

[Robot_Teacher]

LMAO! McDonald's in Itaewon. That's where the crappy motel is located. It's tiny rooms above the McDonalds for 60,000 won a night with toilets that won't flush. He's trying to sublet a motel room!?

[bassexpander]

Someone else mentioned it, and I have seen it too... there are some Nigerian guys who keep bothering the GI's (usually african-american GI's) as the walk past the Itaewon McDonald's. They're trying to sell pot.

[hogwonguy1979]

Long time ago I got an email from one of those scammers that went something like this:

Dear_____:
I am Shin Dae Hee the brother of assassinated Korean president Park Chung Hee....

that was a classic

[Young FRANKenstein]

[friendoken]

The Nigerians moved into Laos about a year and a half ago. Rumour has it they heard that the Laos police were trained by The Three Stooges and scams were easy and they'd never get caught. They were selling $1 million US in forged $100 bills for $10,000. Three days later there were several Nigerians in Laos prison where they still reside and undoubtedly will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. A highly unpleasant location I am sure. For a while the streets of Vientiane were crowded with Nigerians, but their numbers have dwindled substantially as the Laos government, and the Lao people turn on them.

To my knowledge, Nigeria is the only country where you must have a visa to enter Laos prior to departure. Every other country you may be from, you get a visa at Wattay Airport or the Friendship Bridge.

There are still fake US $100 bills roaming around.

There are a lot of Lao women/girls around that are completely shunned by society because they hooked up with a smooth talking Nigerian guy who bounced as soon as they realizeda uthorities here aren't stupid.

A close friend and fellow teacher here who is Sudanese says Nigerians are very well known in Africa as being the kings of scam artistry.

I'm very happy they are leaving and hope all get the heck outta here.