Payment Processing Job Scam: Airgid Lingus

When phishers steal money, they prefer it to be laundered by a middle-man. Most people don't want to be involved in criminal money laundering, particularly when the money trail leads rather obviously to them, so the phishers tell big fat lies about "employment opportunities" instead. The basic job description is always the same: receive money, take your cut, forward the rest to someone else overseas (usually via Western Union). Only when the police come a-knocking at your door do you discover you're an accomplice to a crime.

This particular spam was received from 85.136.53.29 (apparently a cable modem in Spain) on Wed, 4 May 2005 19:50:17 -0000. The story in this case is you're an "escrow agent", which is fairly obvious bull in my opinion, but I'm sure there are people who are sufficiently ignorant and tempted by the lucre to get sucked right in without further thought. A search for "Airgid Lingus" shows that the same spam turned up on a web-archived mailing list on April 23, but has since been deleted by the list administrator. The reply address domain, "airgidlingus.com", presently resolves to 218.201.44.159, which is in China.

Airgid Lingus is looking for proactive and motivated prospects to fill
in a part-time position of Escrow Agent. The prospective candidate
should be a responsible and committed person with some multi-task
ability. Prior experience in the field of finance or accounting is
an advantage, but is not essential. Your compensation commission
based, and your commission depends solely on your performance and
efficiency. You should be able to get a substantial additional income
at the expense of just 4-8 hours per week.

WHO WE ARE
Airgid Lingus Private Equity Partners (Plc) is a venture capital
firm investing in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Established in
1994, it now has ˆ60 million under management. Our firm has a strong
focus on investing in early stage technology companies, and we have
made over 50 investments in such sectors as information technologies,
biotech and healthcare.

Given the recent decline of the European financial market, we are now
looking to attract investors from around the world, particularly the
Commonwealth countries. We are eager to provide our investment advice
and expertise to individual investors by offering stakes at Airgid
Private Equity Fund I.

JOB DESCRIPTION
We strive to provide the most efficient service on the highly
competitive global private equity market. Due to the tax and
legislative barriers set by many countries, the price of establishing
permanent office abroad may be forbearing. That is why we are looking
for energetic and disciplined accounts receivable managers to
establish cash flow between our investors and the Investment Fund
under close supervision of our financial management team.

Essentially, your duty will be to receive funds from our investors
and forward them to the investment and trust accounts designated by
your supervisor. This job is no rocket science, but it is rather
demands some responsibility and accuracy. It is in your own hands
to build a skyrocketing career on this solid basis.

OUR REQUIREMENTS
In order to qualify, you must be an individual aged 21 and above,
committed and good with numbers. You should also have a bank account
set up in your name or your business name. You should be looking at
dedicating 4-8 hours per week to your duties, communicating with your
supervisor via phone and email.


YOUR COMPENSATION
Your commission is calculated on the following table:

Amount transferred, per annum 
(USD equivalent)      Commission rate
Up to 100,000 5%
100,000 - 250,000 7,5%
250,000 - 500,000 10%
500,000 and over 12,5%

You retain your commission directly from the amount that you receive
for further transfer, so you will not have to wait for any payroll
check in the mail. Instead, you receive the commission as soon as
you transfer the money to the client investment account.
 
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the position, please email a short resume and a
motivation letter to career@airgidlingus.com.