Age121
Complaint 289450 Details

Applied for a job on Gumtree.co.uk; Legal secretarial/admin/PA work. The next day I received a call (from tel. no. 0207 055 2990) from a lady who asked if I was still seeking work and who proceeded to grill me on my experience and suitability for the 'role'.

This is a clever psychological tactic they use. They initialise the conversation in such a manner as to lead you to want to validate yourself to them, thus putting you further into the mindset that they have something you want, and that you need to convince them that you're good enough. This tone helps them when they later ask you for money.

After giving me the approval I'd been worked into seeking, by saying that I seemed suitable (she should already know this given that she has my CV) she describes what my role and responsibilities would be in the, as yet, undefined, non-specific role she claims to have for me.

Legal secretarial/PA, flexible, part-time or full-time to suit me, starting salary of £19000 - £25000pa, with potential to rise to £35000 in the first few years.

Finally, they say, I'll need to take a one day training course before I can start, which is even more fantastic, because who wants to start a job with the feeling that they don't know what they're doing, without training?

This is when they mention that I would have to pay for the course myself, a one- time fee of £150-£200. For a one-day course.

This is where the BS detectors start to sound off in your head.

I personally was never asked for card details or immediate payment because I immediately told them that, as an unemployed jobseeker, I haven't got that kind of money to throw around. Her interest cooled significantly after that but she still emailed me details of the 'job' and 'training course', which has a fee of £165.83 + VAT = £199.

A quick google search of AGE121 brought scambook up as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th results, and someone on scambook had related the following fraud hotline. I reported my experiences to them, they said this was very likely to be a scam. If you have a similar experience call this number and file a report! If enough people do then the scammers will get their comeuppance eventually!

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ and call 03001232040