Strange job offer. Safe to take or no?

[holl2157]

Utah 6/16/2010

I posted a writing/editing service on craigslist a week or so ago (i.e. to help my fellow college students with papers, writing, and research for a small fee.)

Today an anonymous emailer ([email protected]) offered me a job filling out checks for him. Basically, I am to pick up a box of checks every week, fill them out, and mail them to various addresses. All the information is given to me via email from this employer, and all the postage is taken care of through his fed-ex account. He offers to pay me $300.00 weekly.

I requested that he send me some sort of written consent authorizing me to sign checks for him, and some sort of affidavit testifying that he is not involved in any illegal activity-- for the purpose of clearing me of any criminal or civil liability in the event that the job is his way of pawning off the risk of getting caught paying for drugs or something else illegal (although this is an unlikely scenario as most illegal transactions are in untraceable cash).

He seems to be local, and has agreed to give me his address and name and to pay me in cash.

Is this sufficient evidence to clear me of any legal repercussions?

Are there any other issues that I am not considering?

What could be the possible consequences if I am unknowingly sending checks to drug dealers or something else illegal?

Thanks.

 

[cbg]

Run, do not walk, as far away from this "job offer" as you can possibly get.

 

[FlyingRon]

You've got to be kidding. It doesn't matter whether you have authority to sign the checks for him. The checks are not his either and you are fronting his criminal enterprise. Take the whole mess to the police.

What makes you think some sort of "affidavit" that says he's not breaking the law is going to make any difference when you are arrested for check fraud or whatever is happening. Oh, and by the way, as the sender, FEDEX will come after you for all the shipping charges after they find out the billing number you are using isn't legitimate either.

 

[xylene]

Paid in cash...

He seems to be local, and has agreed to give me his address and name and to pay me in cash.

You are in college right?

You must have skipped the life lesson that cash paid jobs without taxes being taken out are illegal and very foolish

If this detail alone is not enough to convince you that the enterprise being proposed is criminal, then you are probably hopeless.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Utah 6/16/2010

Is this sufficient evidence to clear me of any legal repercussions?

Are there any other issues that I am not considering?

What could be the possible consequences if I am unknowingly sending checks to drug dealers or something else illegal?

This guy is a scammer, looking for a mule. He sees a car on craigslist advertized for $1000. He has you send a check for $2000 by 'mistake' to the seller. He asks the seller to send back the extra $1000 to another mule, who sends scammer a check.

Eventually, the seller figures out the check is bogus, and calls the police. If the police are able to track down who actually mailed the check, it will come back to you, not him. If they track down who the seller sent the 'extra' $1000 to, it turns out to be another mule, not him.

When the police come knocking on your door with a bogus check covered in your fingerprints, what do you think will happen? I;m sure they;ll get a good laugh from your 'affidavit' showing that the scammer has done nothing wrong.