I have received a job offer from a company claimed to be called "Chef Platinum Industries" which is located in UK in Luton. They have send the job contract and it sound legitimate and reasonable and they haven't asked for any money or processing fees. But several things doesn't add up and made me suspicious, for a starter, when I run a search in google about the claimed company I have found no entries at all. second, I searched if they are registered company at companieshouse.gov.uk but I found they are not!! plus the e-mail they use is a free e-mail and not a company registered domain.

I have sent back to them and asked for more information and about their company profile, they send back with information that made me more suspicious, This is part of the company history as they told me:

"Chef Platinum Industries ,popularly referred to as the Chef Group, is one of the leading independent oil and gas companies with approximately 298.9 million shares on issue and a market capitalisation approximately US$600 million in April 2008. Chef Platinum Holdings is also incorporated in the Netherlands as a subsidiary of The Chef Group with registrar nr: 28083956(Rijnland) and listed on the Netherlands Stock Exchange in 1999 and the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004.
The UK-based company has a strong operating emphasis, an international focus and a worldwide workforce of about 156 employees.
The Company’s assets are grouped into four main regions: Holland, China, Africa and UK; all of which are associated with proven petroleum systems, two of which were recognised as such as a result of exploration drilling by The Chef Group and its co-venturers.
As a result of the Company's encouraging exploration results, The Chef Group has participated in the development of a field offshore Mauritania and as operator, in the Perth Basin, offshore Western Australia. Production commenced at both these fields in 2006. The Chef Group also has two other fields in the North Sea; both commenced production in 2007.
The Chef Group's sequence of drilling successes includes discovering commercial oil in each of its first exploration wells in offshore Mauritania and offshore Western Australia and potentially commercial oil with its first well in China. In June 2004, the Chef Group made its debut as a deep water drilling operator when it drilled, on schedule and below budget Bravo-1, located in 1,500m of water, offshore Equatorial Guinea. In May 2006, the Chef Group as operator made an oil discovery in the Beibu Gulf, offshore China, which is currently undergoing pre-development studies.
In the next 18 months the Chef will participate in multi-well exploration, appraisal and development drilling programmes in onshore Angola, offshore Mauritania, offshore Western Australia, offshore China and the UK North Sea. Exploration drilling is also expected to take place in deep water offshore Equatorial Guinea."

I ran a check up again about The Chef Group registry number at Netherlands that they provide, and found out it belong to another company called CaptureTech. However, I asked them about the next step, and they said they need to check up my credentials - through an institute called Diplomats Notaries Publics. which they ask for my credentials in my CV.

they asked me also about my bank account details so they can send the first allowance ( 1,200 pound). But they never asked me for any up front payment yet.

Am not sure if am being paranoid or am wasting a great opportunity .. so would you please help me to check about this company?


Their address in Luton as they claimed to be is:

Chef Platinum Services
235 Strent Road,
Luton.Bedfordshire
LU3 4AW
United Kingdom
Tel;+44-7031802648
Fax;+44-7024059329

Dear A. H. Z.

Welcome to 419Legal

As you are skeptical about the company, there are many doubts!!

First of all, why they send you allowance before confirming credentials of your CV???
It seems that they only want to know your bank account details for phishing purpose
and never remit 1200 pound to your account.

Second, if they are a legit company, they normally don’t use a mobile phone started with +4470***** for their work
and it is so-called “follow-me-up” number which can redirect to any part of the world.

Third, at this moment it isn’t so clear as you didn’t supply emails to and from them,
but when they use free email account for communication with you, it should be redflagged.
Also if the email account was not gmail and if you supplied them with full headers to us, we could locate where the emails come from.

Forth, as you stated that the company registration in Netherlands shows with another company name, you need to be very careful.

Altho was trying to investigate more about the company, also failed to find it. If somethings come up, will update.
Hope this will be of some help to you!!

Other members in this forum would reply to you if they have more things.

Awareriskinc

Dear Awareriskinc,

Thank you for your reply.

regarding the allowance they want to send, they actually mentioned that they won't send until after the confirmation of the validity of my credintials in my CV.

also I didn't know that the phone they provide is a mobile phone, but I called before anyway, and the guy who answered confirmed his name and that the phone is registered to Chef Platinum Industries. But it surprised me that he spoke with strange accent, not British as I expected.

Also, thanks to you as you reminded me about checking where the e-mail comes from, I checked the headers in the e-mail to check their ip, and guess what, the e-mail comes from Nigeria!!! I think the concludes it.

I didn't take the offer seriously anyway, but what I want to know is how they are going to pull off the scam in the end, as until now they didn't ask for any up front payment.

Thanks again Awareriskinc for your support

I would like to add on to AHZ because i also recieved the same from "chef platinum industries" as i was searching about the legitimacy of the company i found this address and read the details.
The address they gave me was also the same and other.
In this i would also like to know if this is just a scam job offer or not because as of now they didnt ask for any amount from my end.
Please help us.

ARO

Dear ARO

Welcome to 419Legal.

If the email you received came from Nigeria as same as A. H. Z.,
then it is definitely an "employment scam" email.
Whether or not they ask you to pay for any upfront money, it is very strange if UK company sends an email from Nigeria???
Please check your email with full headers.

Or please copy and paste your email received with full headers (minus your email info in it) in this thread if you are not so familiar with “how to locate it”.

Awareriskinc

Hi,

I have also received the job offer from the same group. I was also skeptical as i could not find any in formation regarding the group at all. They also gave me another email address "kanderson@onet.eu".

As to my request for details of the company this is what they sent

"Chef Platinum Industries ,popularly referred to as the Chef Group, is one of the leading independent oil and gas companies with approximately 298.9 million shares on issue and a market capitalisation approximately US$600 million in April 2008. Chef Platinum Holdings is also incorporated in the Netherlands as a subsidiary of The Chef Group with registrar nr: 28083956(Rijnland) and listed on the Netherlands Stock Exchange in 1999 and the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004.
The UK-based company has a strong operating emphasis, an international focus and a worldwide workforce of about 156 employees.
The Company’s assets are grouped into four main regions: Holland, China, Africa and UK; all of which are associated with proven petroleum systems, two of which were recognised as such as a result of exploration drilling by The Chef Group and its co-venturers.
As a result of the Company's encouraging exploration results, The Chef Group has participated in the development of a field offshore Mauritania and as operator, in the Perth Basin, offshore Western Australia. Production commenced at both these fields in 2006. The Chef Group also has two other fields in the North Sea; both commenced production in 2007.
The Chef Group's sequence of drilling successes includes discovering commercial oil in each of its first exploration wells in offshore Mauritania and offshore Western Australia and potentially commercial oil with its first well in China. In June 2004, the Chef Group made its debut as a deep water drilling operator when it drilled, on schedule and below budget Bravo-1, located in 1,500m of water, offshore Equatorial Guinea. In May 2006, the Chef Group as operator made an oil discovery in the Beibu Gulf, offshore China, which is currently undergoing pre-development studies.
In the next 18 months the Chef will participate in multi-well exploration, appraisal and development drilling programmes in onshore Angola, offshore Mauritania, offshore Western Australia, offshore China and the UK North Sea. Exploration drilling is also expected to take place in deep water offshore Equatorial Guinea.
This programme is part of the Chef’s “Organic Growth” strategy. Presently, the Company is pursuing a “Diversify-the-Company” strategy, with establishment of major recreational facilities in the Netherlands,prominent of them is the Platinum Mega Hotels in Groningen.
Finally,we currently have vacancies in our petroleum industry with supervisors also wanted in our hospitality industry."

They havent asked any money upfront . Please advice as to what is the best course of action here

I have attached 2 mails i have received from them with the header

Attached Files

mail.txt (11.3 KB, 16 views)

Id been receiving the same e-mail from this company. Submitted my CV to them but im also having doubts if this is legal or not. Been trying to call their office in Houston to verify if they' really have job openings bad sadly i coudn't reach them even the UK number.Someone from their notary public e-mail me and asking me to submit my credentials for verification so they can give me the advance payment of 1,200pounds to cover the airfares and everything.

jannet0724 Welcome to 419legal.
If you read the comments from other members here, you should be concerned about this "opportunity" Many things do not seem to add up.
The email has been checked as coming from Nigeria, possibly the worst place for scams on earth!
As a business man of many years I find it strange that recruits cannot be sourced locally and if the pay was good they would be lined up for miles outside to get the job, so why should anyone try to get people from elsewhere? what unique qualifications do you have that cannot be sourced locally?
Why cannot you reach them by phone?
If you continue with this you will find that suddenly certain 'fee's will appear that must be paid by you!
IF a cheque arrives from them and it is forged and you try to cash it who will have to answer the police when they ask you why you are trying to pass a forged instrument with a penalty of up to fifteen years in jail in some countries?

Some of the posts by members here have been very good especially Awareriskinc so it would make sense to follow their advice, thank you.

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Thank you for your reply,
I had attached the mails I recieved from the said comany since i am not familiar on how to locate them.

Attached Files

doc.doc (42.0 KB, 18 views)

Dear ARO

Thank you for your post with attached file.

Altho the file doesn’t include “Full Headers”, looking into your email message comparing with member SAP’s post,
the contents seem similar to SAP.
So it would be adequate to say that STOP contact with the scammers and NEVER reveal your bank account details
and DON’T send them your detailed CV.
Also please be aware that the email address "*****@chef.net" is nothing related to “Chef Platinum Industries” at all.
The scammer seems to find similar domain name resembling their (fake) company name in appearance which maybe overlooked.
DON’T be fooled by it.

Awareriskinc