Sorry for being off-topic here, but I need some help and I do not want to post this in a forum open to the internet.
I found a job in the largest, Danish job site called jobindex.dk. The job was listed by a recruiting agency called
Litchfield Associates (www.litchfieldassociates.net (http://www.litchfieldassociates.net)) as a position as management consultant trainee. From their site, it seems they specialised in such jobs.
I found their site a wee bit simple and a bit well... amateurish... but decided to apply. I mean, what is to lose (most personal in my CV i sent was my age and my e-mail). After that I got a bit... nervous. The site seemed too poor, but I waited. I mean, come on - see what they call the email aliases on their site?? topcareer@..., success@...
And what do you know, I have today been selected from a shortlist for an interview somewhere in Copenhagen. The lady e-mailing me was from the Irish firm, but had an Eastern European name, and all I can find about that firm is in Easter Europe. I can't put my finger on it, but that firm, is just seems fishy. The email I got, well, see parts of it here:
QuoteDear Vidar Thorlaksson,
Congratulations, you have been selected in the shortlist for the Management Consultant Trainee position.
We will be conducting interviews shortly.
Please proceed with visiting the following website in order to schedule your interview:
http://www.la-scheduler.com/candidate/index.asp
Use the below details to login and select an interview time that suits you best.
Login ID: blah...
Password: more blah...
If you cannot attend an in-person interview in Copenhagen, we can offer you a SKYPE interview (web cam is required). If you wish to have a Skype interview, please type "SKYPE" AFTER YOUR SURNAME when booking a time slot. Thank you.
PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A "CT - INTERVIEW CONFIRMATION" EMAIL IMMEDIATELY AFTER BOOKING A TIME SLOT.
Best regards,
Katarina Cagalova
Litchfield Associates N.V.
Tel: +353 1 675 2401
www.litchfieldassociates.net (http://www.litchfieldassociates.net)
I will now reply yes to having an interview in Copenhagen, in person, and see what happens. But I will not provide a thing more personal details before I feel more confident.
Any internet master cruisers here who can dig something up on that firm? Or know anything about it? My bro, who has worked in recruitment, is also concerned.
Any comments greatly appreciated. I don't want to miss out on a job, but I also don't want to be caught up in a scam.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7680091.stm
that rang a bell.
Quote from: Jamoe;248078http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7680091.stm
that rang a bell.
Based on that I am already quite sad to realise that the firm in question has -
my birth date (but not my social security number)
my current address
my cell phone no.
I reckon they want to meet me to get my picture. I will disregarding any dialogue with them from now on and not proceed.
How would you guys proceed here? I am about to contact jobindex.dk to alert them, at least to the potential and my concern with this site being.. well... suspicious.
What can I do with the suspicion? Alert the Danish police? And can I proceed without evidence, just relaying my suspicion?
I have emailed the Danish job site and I will do drive by the local police station for a chat on how to proceed, to be sure.
Quote from: delanvital;248085I have emailed the Danish job site and I will do drive by the local police station for a chat on how to proceed, to be sure.
I called the Dublin telephone number provided on the pdf doc, and got an office answering machine, with the message " you have reached ******'s office, we are not able, etc etc". However, the name (***** above) was garbled (incomprehensible) so I'd be very wary.
I also noticed (doing a google) that there are several jobs of the same nature, in different countries, as in " must be resident in Slovakia or Czech Republic", or. "must be resident in Norway"...Be careful Delan, it doesn't look promising........
I've just come back from the local police station. I have a file now on it, and will contact the technical police investigation tomorrow.
Well done for being cautious :clap:
Geez, you cant even relax trying to get a job these days :sad:
Quote from: BlueBall;248109Well done for being cautious :clap:
Geez, you cant even relax trying to get a job these days :sad:
I feel like a naïve idiot. I should never ever have registered there. Now I just hope I can stop it and I hope putting the police on the case safeguards me a bit - so I don't end up having to pay for a credit card I never issued :sad::sad::sad:
I must admit I don't feel that good right now.
On the upside delan, you noticed it and took action before it got out of hand. Now if you would have went you could have been in a lot more trouble.
Sometimes you just got to trust your gut instinct.
Keep on fighting, a job will be forthcoming :boxing:
Quote from: delanvital;248127I feel like a naive idiot...
No, a naive idiot wouldn't have suspected anything in the first place. Sad though, how it weakens any faith one might have had in humanity. :sad:
I've read this thread with interest and a little sadness. Delan, I hope that you get things sorted and without any further problems.
Wisdom can be described as using other peoples experiences to ones own benefit. In your case, your 'unfortunate' experience in this has probably helped the rest of us:
1) Jabbs at remove address and personal details from CV
2) If (or when) I'm looking for another job, I'll stick to known and trusted sites here in the UK.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. :sad:
I have no evidence, but it reeks. I have called the jobsite and they will call me back asap with details. Letting them know that I am waiting for the information in order to cool the police sped them up a bit. Note, that I was wrong, it was not from jobindex.dk the advertisement originated, it was from stepstone.dk. Talking to the guy from stepstone on the phone was interesting, since there is no firm registered with the advertisement and the ad seems to come from
stepstone in the UK according to him. The guy got nervous himself and is calling the UK-department right now for details.
In the meantime I did a WHOIS lookup and found this:
QuoteDomain name: litchfieldassociates.net
Registrant Contact:
Litchfieal Associates
Charles Graves
PO Box 511126
Punta Gorda, FL 33951
US
Administrative Contact:
Litchfieal Associates
Charles Graves (gravescv@compuserve.com)
+1.9419160805
Fax: 9416392935
PO Box 511126
Punta Gorda, FL 33951
US
Technical Contact:
Litchfieal Associates
Charles Graves (gravescv@compuserve.com)
+1.9419160805
Fax: 9416392935
PO Box 511126
Punta Gorda, FL 33951
US
Status: Locked
Name Servers:
ns605a.privatelabeldns.com
ns605b.privatelabeldns.com
Creation date: 30 Sep 2003 08:06:31
Expiration date: 30 Sep 2010 08:06:31
I have marked with bold to show how well they spell. Also, I'd like to know what locked indicates?
And looking up the upload link I find that it is registered in Ireland to some non-familiar firm:
QuoteRegistrant:
FF Solutions Ltd.
Unit 4
Greenhills Industrial Village
Greenhills
Drogheda, Co.Louth NA
IE
Domain name: LA-SCHEDULER.COM
Administrative Contact:
McKeown, Pat pat@ffsolutions.ie
Unit 4
Greenhills Industrial Village
Greenhills
Drogheda, Co.Louth NA
IE
+353-41-9842346 Fax: +353-41-9842349
Technical Contact:
McKeown, Pat pat@ffsolutions.ie
Unit 4
Greenhills Industrial Village
Greenhills
Drogheda, Co.Louth NA
IE
+353-41-9842346 Fax: +353-41-9842349
I had a short conversation on MSN with Vidar yesterday.
I had my CV on 2 websites aswell but these were well known Dutch sites.
Even when I had a job allready they kept emailing and phoning me if I wanted a new job.
I finally deleted everything from both sites.
Hope it goes well for you m8.
Cheers mate.
I AM STORING WHAT I FIND HERE FOR LATER, HOPE THAT IS OK
FF solutions' site is this one
http://ffsolutions.ie/
It looks clean and neat. Does the co. name mean anything to anyone?
Do you have a site in the UK where you can search on firm registration numbers?
Edit: The Litchfield Associates N.V. firm in Ireland also now has a Dutch address (http://www.stepstone.dk/home_fs.cfm?contentpage=%2Fads%2Foffers%2Ecfm%3Fcompany%3D5782) and NV seems to be from Dutch, meaning naamloos vennootschap or nameless partnership... so the Dutch firm is the one in Ireland.
Edit2: From Duvel, firm now related to Costa Rica (http://www.findownersearch.com/owner/2467597/) or might be a firm with a similar name
Edit3: Linkedin gave a public profile from a dude (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/8/342/a30) which works there. I am beginning to wonder if this is just me...
Edit4: This ad (http://www.hib.no/aktuelt/oppslagstavle/default.asp?action=visMld&id=2455) was put up by the same person, it seems, as the one emailing me
Edit5: This link (http://www.europemadeeasy.nl/pdf/afio_bedrijvenlijst_america.pdf) seems to show that the NV-regged firm is from the US
Edit6: The US firm, if these are linked, seems to have some religious background
Edit7: They sure are all over (http://www.google.dk/search?hl=da&q=%22LITCHFIELD+ASSOCIATES+N.V.%22&start=10&sa=N) the NL and CZ with ads
Edit8: They seem to have another Dutch address (http://books.google.dk/books?id=qW2kiADQhHQC&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=%22LITCHFIELD+ASSOCIATES+N.V.%22&source=web&ots=4rXv-ny6-B&sig=58WYGaPWvERNFfWIjxhy6ZlQ474&hl=da&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result) (although this is from a text book)
Keep it coming. This is better than 24 on TV. :woot2::narnar::roflmao:
Quote from: Dr Sadako;248189Keep it coming. This is better than 24 on TV. :woot2::narnar::roflmao:
Smartass :bleh: But yeah, Cost Rica, religious people, US, the internetz. I can sell the movie rights after this :D
Movie; The hunt for Litchfield Associates N.V.
Starring; Vidar Thorlaksson & Katarina Cagalova
The plot;
Vidar gets trapped in an antanglement of lies spread all over the web.
Within minutes his life over the internet is gone and his name is no where to be found by just answering to a jobapplication.
Will he succeed in bringing down the corporation?
Or is there something else going on?
Find out in; The hunt for Litchfield Associates N.V.
Starring in cinemas soon.
(http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5167/afbeelding027la4vb8.th.jpg) (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=afbeelding027la4vb8.jpg)
Quote from: delanvital;248174Also, I'd like to know what locked indicates?
Locked means that it cannot be transferred at the present (Other words, fully paid up to the ISP)
Hahaha Duvel, good one :roflmao:
QUOTE=delanvital;248175]And looking up the upload link I find that it is registered in Ireland to some non-familiar firm:[/QUOTE]
Look, I know this is a very small world, and Ireland is an extremely small village, but I just don't believe this.....this is a screen grab from my old accounting software, I was in the Engineering business for 20 years....
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg208/_Browne77/FF.jpg)
Now that just freaked me out...so I had to take a breather....I actually know Pat very well, and, while no one can be completely certain, he always struck me as being an upstanding, honest bloke...Any chance that the upload link was to the Web Designer delan?
Well I just got off the phone with Stepstone.dk's administration. There are some issues, such as the ad is not properly registered in their system, and no firm registered properly to the ad, but it should be, at least, legal.
After the guy called their international office, he found out that they do have a valid contract with stepstone, they are however registered in Belgium (not Holland). That contract allows them to use stepstone worldwide. He then had stepstone Belgium contact the firm, and the response they gave back, was that it is true that there are interviews in Denmark next week, for some kind of job, of which there were no details.
The stepstone guy thought I was a complete nutter. But so be it. I would still say the business they run smells. A guy I know working at another job site was certain they would either sell me a course or try to make me do a 100% commission style job.
So what can I learn from this panic attack. I guess, be even more sceptic with my personal information, but ahem.. be more moderate :rolleyes:
Quote from: Browne;248202Now that just freaked me out...so I had to take a breather....I actually know Pat very well, and, while no one can be completely certain, he always struck me as being an upstanding, honest bloke...Any chance that the upload link was to the Web Designer delan?
A very good chance. I am sorry for all this paranoid stuff!