I received a prospecting letter yesterday and job offer today that were nearly identical to what was posted by Bob Loblaw (post 14044) except that the company now is "FT West Invest", and the "Human Resources Director" is "Michael McHugh". The prospecting letter was sent by the Monster Job Search Agent, and the reply went directly to hr@ftwestinvest.com. They use identical coordinates (physical address and phone number), only the US fax number is different.

Here are the letters. First the prospecting from Monster:

Quote:

We Have A Business Partnership For You! Dear Candidate, Whether you are looking for a job in your town or across the country, Monster is always working to help you land the perfect position. Here is a Business Partnership you might be interested in: COMPANY: FT West Investments Inc. LOCATION: USA, CANADA JOB TITLE: Executive Financial Manager (Business Partner) Apply By Replying To This E-mail FT West Investments Inc. ABOUT US FT West Invest is a team of seasoned top executives in Finance and Investment Operations who have unparalleled track records of success in hotel operations, the airline industry, and other large firms at the Fortune 100 level. We have earned the trust and confidence of property owners in the hospitality industry worldwide with our expertise, credentials, and commitment to create value. Today, we manage almost $1B in assets. OUR WORK FT West Invest provides chain investment resources without the associated chain bureaucracy and their associated costs. Instead of stand-off management, FT West Investments' operations teams provide daily, hands-on involvement, thrive on interaction, and inject the intensity of firm principals into the working environment. CURRENT RECRUITMENT FT West Investments Inc. is currently looking for US based business owners and business opportunity seekers willing to become our collaborators and work with us towards structuring our worldwide investment program. Your participation does not require any investment. We are looking for people that own a business and have a business bank account in the United States of America or Canada and that are willing to collaborate with our company in order to place strategic investments in the name of our company and by doing so also increase their incomes. WORK DESCRIPTION The Business Partner is required to be a business owner with a valid business checking account with any US or Canadian bank. These transactions are fairly easy to process. The Partner will receive instructions that will guide him/her through the entire process. Requirements: Location: USA, CANADA; Required to be a business owner with a business checking account with any US or Canadian bank. Daily task: Keep in touch with the Recruiting Director at least twice a day through e-mail; Manage certain Funds Transactions; Receive and Forward Documents and Papers; Place strategic investments following the instructions given by our company; Must have reliable transportation. Business Partners not required to: be experienced in this domain, as they will be thoroughly instructed; sell products or have any contact with customers; quit their current job, since this is a Partnership involving only a few hours of work per week. Equal Opportunity Employment We encourage and support equal employment opportunities for all associates and applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or veteran status. Employment decisions are based on an individual's knowledge, skills, abilities, job performance, and other qualifications that may be evaluated during the first phase of employment (Instruction Period). FT West Investments Inc. maintains policies and procedures designed to comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which FT West Investments Inc. operates. Individuality is the key to our success. We treat each client, candidate and employee as an individual with their own individual needs and tailor our offerings to best fit these needs. Total work time per week will not exceed 5-6 hours. For further information about this job offering, please contact us at hr@ftwestinvest.com. NO PHONE CALLS. PLEASE DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO hr@ftwestinvest.com Thank you, Michael McHugh, Recruiting Director

And the offer from the "Human Resources Director":

Quote:

Dear Prospective Collaborator, FT West Investments LTD is a specialist recruitment consultancy working on behalf of financial services clients. Based in London, we recruit on behalf of an extensive portfolio of companies including Investment Banks, Asset Management Firms, Hedge Funds and Custodians. Our Asset Management arm is one of the largest investment managers in the Europe. We provide expertise in a broad range of asset classes, from traditional cash management, equity and fixed income to private equity, real estate and other alternative sectors. We also manage a large family of proprietary mutual funds, and provide online brokerage services. The business venture we offer is very simple and also very effective, if you fulfill all the requirements we mentioned in our previous email. You will receive funds from us and our business partners or clients, which will also come with a set of instructions on how and where to place strategic investments in different investment programs worldwide. Your company will act as a subsidiary of FT West Investments LTD. You will receive a 5% commission from any investment placed on our behalf. This commission will be kept by you on every single transaction. The amounts are ranging between $70.000.00 and $200.000.00 depending of your company business figures and your business relationship with your bank. If you are interested in starting a business venture that we can guarantee will be very profitable for both parties involved please read the attached documents and we can start our collaboration once the contract and addendum are signed and returned. There is no need for a broker or financial license to be able to perform the tasks that come with this collaboration. You may ask yourself why anybody would pay such a big percentage for cash disbursement. The answer is very simple. The funds that will be deposited in your accounts are going to HYIP ( High Yield Investment Programs) based on oil, real estate or fresh cut paper investments offered by European based investment trusts. These programs are very hard to access because the payout percentage is very high and the rules are very strict and only certain amounts of funds can be received from each participant. Because of that we need collaborators such as you to be able to place the funds in these programs. Since the profits from these programs are extremely high we are willing to give out this commission to your company. Attached are the documents we need you to sign and complete in order to start our business venture. Please read everything carefully so you can understand the entire process as well as the benefits of this collaboration. Once you have completed the documents please email us the signed copies. You can also, fax the documents at: US Fax Number: (201) 282-3772 Once your fax/email is received we will call you to confirm the successful receipt and also to inform you about the exact date when our collaboration will start. Exact information on how to complete all transactions in perfect timing will be delivered to you trough email or fax. The opportunity we are offering is in accordance with the laws of US and Canada. You are not required to relocate. Most of the payments are being made online. You are not required to promote market or sell any of our products. All our investors are advised by our consultancy staff. Please be aware that unauthorized funds will NOT be placed into your account. There are no bad checks deposited to your account. You will receive the funds trough ACH or Wire Transfer from our company clients’ accounts to your business account. Once the funds are placed and cleared into your account we will send you exact instructions on how to proceed with the investment placing. FT West Investments LTD will never ask for sensitive information such as PASSWORDS, USERS IDS OR ANY OTHER CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. FT West Investments LTD is acting under the laws of international Anti Money Laundering Association and also under the USA and Canada financial laws. Thank You anticipated and we look forward to have you on our team. Michael McHugh hr@ftwestinvest.com Human Resources Director Fax Number : (201) 282-3772 Phone Number: 44-20-7691-9432 FT West Invest - Assets Management and Executive Correspondence Directorate FT West Investments Ltd 43 Spring Grove London W4 3NH London UK

A couple of minor clues: 1) the letter is not addressed to me directly by name, even though it is known to the sender; 2) the company was called an "Inc" in the prospecting letter, then an "Ltd" in the offer; 3) the guy replied from hrftinvest@aol.com, rather than hr@ftwestinvest.com, where I sent my reply to the prospecting letter; 4) his title changed from "Recruiting Director" to "Human Resources Director" in a day.

Then some more serious problems: 1) the explanation why they would be willing to pay 5% commission for cash disbursement doesn't sound credible; 2) there is no such organization as an "international Anti Money Laundering Association"; 3) a search for "ft west invest" turns up a total of 6 hits on Google (four career sites: indeed.com, jobster.com, monster.com, experience.com) - obviously a brand new company, busy looking for eager but gullible people.

Unfortunately, it takes a while to find relevant info on them exactly because they are a new company. Which is why I decided to post this, so that hopefully this page gets up to Google soon.