Scam emails using RallyPoint?

2015-05-31T10:21:08-04:00

I just received an email at 0342 EST stating that a recruiting scout had viewed my profile on Rally Point and decided I would be perfect for a position at PanAust Limited. For those that don't know (because I didn't) PanAust is a gold and copper producer in Laos. Here's a bit of the email I got:

"After viewing your profile on RALLY POINT, We feel you may be a good candidate for a position within our company, and

hereby invites you for an on-line interview on Monday 1st June 06/01/2015, at 09am Your time with Mr John Crofts, of the

human resource department. I encourage you to read more about the position details below.

Job Title: Administrative Executive/Administrative Assistant/ Data Entry/ Receptionist

Organization: Panaust Limited"

That's just the first half of an email rife with grammatical errors. Anyone else getting these?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 31 at 2015 10:34 AM

2015-05-31T10:34:09-04:00

No. Could you keep the community up to date on what you discover about this situation, pathfinder?

Response by LTC Jason Strickland made May 31 at 2015 10:37 AM

2015-05-31T10:37:49-04:00

Probably a good idea to let the RallyPoint Team know about this, just so they're aware.

Response by SSgt Charles Edwards made May 31 at 2015 10:39 AM

2015-05-31T10:39:22-04:00

A simple Google search can pretty much weed out a fake. However, if the email was full of grammatical errors, chances are it's a scam.

Response by LTC Yinon Weiss made May 31 at 2015 11:40 AM

2015-05-31T11:40:51-04:00

Hi,

This is definitely a scam. The scammers are not receiving your email address from RallyPoint, but are using the RallyPoint name in order to try to lure you. Things to watch out for:

1) The reply email is not legitimate (it's not from @rallypoint.com) or from a legitimate company email (for example @sears.com) that is listed in our Careers page.
2) They use hotmail or other non-official email addresses (like @fastmail.com)
3) You can't find the people listed in the email on RallyPoint as legitimate members
4) Spelling and grammer mistakes
5) They use "RALLY POINT" as the name for RallyPoint
6) They try to schedule an interview with you through shady non-official channels (such as Instant Messenger)
7) The timeline is very quick and overly aggressive
8) They promise something which just doesn't really make complete sense (may be too good to be true)

We are investigating this on our end and are tracking down those responsible. Rest assured though that your information did not come from RallyPoint, and that this is a classic "phishing" scam, where the scammer throws out some legitimate brand names and tries to get the user to give up personal information.

We will contact you shortly to work with you on your specific case. If anybody else has received an email such as this, please contact [login to see] and forward to us your original email so we can help track down the senders. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your help in resolving this.

Response by PO1 John Meyer, CPC made May 31 at 2015 4:54 PM

2015-05-31T16:54:55-04:00

Not yet, but thank you for this. I'm very skeptical when it comes to email offers for jobs. I always go to the Better Business Bureau before responding to any on line offers. That and I Google the business just to be a little more safe, even though scammers can simply create a false web site, even though they normally don't bother.

Response by SP5 Michael Rathbun made May 31 at 2015 10:09 PM

2015-05-31T22:09:59-04:00

Getting these? Every day (not necessarily from RP). But then I'm in the online fraud biz as part of my other work, and I have some trap accounts out there that get some interesting traffic. Plus my family, friends and cow-orkers send me samples.

In general, watch out for things that look real, especially with a friend's name or business you are aware of, with little supporting text in the body.

Unfortunately, most end-user email clients only show you the Subject: and the "Friendly" from. As a result my wife sees something that looks like it came from our son:

Subject From<\pre>
Cool site. Check it out. Lucas Rathbun

If the client had shown her the rest, it would have looked like

Subject From
Cool site. Check it out. Lucas Rathbun [ [login to see] ]

What has happened, normally, is that somebody you know gave up their account credentials to a phishing operation.

The phishers then logged in to the compromised account, grabbed that person's address book, changed the password on the account, erased the address book, and began sending spam using someone else's stolen address book. (They erase the address book so that when the legitimate user regains control of the account, they have no easy way of notifying everybody formerly in the address book that there has been a breach. Nifty, eh?)

They then take the stolen address book, log into another stolen account and begin sending phish and malware spam to the entries in the address book, using other entries as the "Friendly From". So everybody gets something supposedly from somebody they know.

As this works out typically, my wife receives something claiming to be from a friend or relative, sent from a completely different account. Pretty cool op -- lots of folks click on "new vacation pics here" or similar links from people the think they know.

DISTRUST the "friendly" From:. If you have a non-lame email client, force it to show you the entire "From" address. If you can't do that, obtain a non-lame email client.

Response by SPC Ei McS made May 31 at 2015 10:19 PM

2015-05-31T22:19:36-04:00

Nothing here! Thanks for letting us know!

Response by SSG Laureano Pabon made May 31 at 2015 10:43 PM

2015-05-31T22:43:55-04:00

I response to this I did two things. First I looked for such company. Second I googled your name. While I can't prove anything what so ever, I thought I put something here in relation to that company.
I don't why Rally Point or why you personally. But use precautions, I cant understand why an over seas company would want to hire an American. However it was me I personally would have a field day with them.

http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4492817

http://www.panaust.com.au/company-profile

Company Profile | www.panaust.com.au

PanAust’s producing assets are the Phu Kham Copper-Gold Operation and the Ban Houayxai Gold-Silver Operation; both are located in the Company’s prospective 2,600 square-kilometre Phu Bia Contract Area in Laos.

Response by SPC Andrew Griffin made Mar 8 at 2016 10:32 AM

2016-03-08T10:32:33-05:00

I haven't gotten any!

Response by Capt Tom Brown made Mar 8 at 2016 10:35 AM

2016-03-08T10:35:37-05:00

Makes one wonder if they somehow got access to RP member list and/or email addresses. Let's hope not..

Response by SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D made Nov 21 at 2020 8:32 PM

2020-11-21T20:32:54-05:00

10-4, received one two days ago soliciting sex and was astounded that such a message appeared in RP. Needless to say, without opening it, I deleted it fearing a serious virus or scam.