Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jlee83]

My friend recently signed up for a "software survey" that paid a generous 40,000 for 30 minutes.

I tried to convince my friend that this was some form of identity-theft scam/fraud but he just wouldn't listen.

Can you guys take a look at the ad and tell me what you guys think? Pay close attention to the bolded parts.

http://seoul.craigslist.co.kr/edu/4030513574.html

[globusmonkey]

This sounds like a focus group. In the States, you provide similar information (and in most cases more), and the pay is anywhere from $50 to $100 for a session, depending on what and how long. Is this a scam? Maybe. He can ask about the company who commissioned the survey or what the purpose of this is, but with the information you've given, who knows? None of the information requested is that sensitive, but just about anything could be used to find out personal data nowadays. I would recommend not letting them photocopy the passport, though. What type of visa does your friend have? Maybe this is an elaborate sting to suss out foreigners who are making outside income...

[Ranman]

^What he said. Sounds like a focus group. If they make a copy of the passport page, that's when I'd be suspicious.

[jlee83]

No idea if they photocopied his passport page. I'd have to ask him later.

I had to be somewhere else so I didn't go inside with him, but I did see the facade of the "office" where he did the survey. It seemed real sketchy from the outside, at least in my eyes, as there was nothing to indicate that there was even an office on the second floor.

He did show me the email that he got from them. I believe the company who commissioned the survey was Eico HR (that's who they were claiming to be in the email). I did a google check and it appeared to be some type of job listing site for English teachers in Korea.

Well it's a relief to know that there are some surveys out there that require this much personal information. Maybe my friend isn't an idiot after all. I sure hope so!

[Ranman]

^What he said. Sounds like a focus group. If they make a copy of the passport page, that's when I'd be suspicious.

[12ax7]

Ask yourself this question: if he wakes up in a bathtub with a cut where he used to have a kidney, would you be a bad friend if you said, "I told you so"?

[salutbonjour]

Sounds fairly typical. I've never seen these gigs ask for a passport, but after seeing people go one day as an American, the next as a Brit and the next as a South Africans, I can see why that would happen.