recruiting-scam[See Update at end of this article.]

SevenFigureCareers is a recruiting firm that doesn’t recruit. Real recruiters are paid by employers to find candidates to fill jobs — they don’t charge job seekers. In a recruiting scam, you pay the fee.

SevenFigureCareers’ recruiters charge you a fee to set up bogus interviews with phony managing partners at fake private equity (PE) firms. And then you’re out $1,500, $2,500, $4,500 or $10,000 — depending on which iteration of this racket you did business with.

After months of research driven by loads of information crowd-sourced from the Ask The Headhunter community, best estimates are that this international scam has generated as much as $18 million since 1999.

A 17-year racket

The people behind this scam have operated at least four different recruiting firms that have each operated under several names themselves:

  • Executive Headhunter Group (Executive HGG)
  • Private Equity Headhunters (PEH)
  • Executive Top Gun Search (Top Gun, ETG)
  • SevenFigureCareers (7F, 7figcareers)

With each iteration, complaints have piled up on sites like RipOffReport, Scam.org, and Ask The Headhunter. Victims have sued for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, common law fraud, and consumer fraud — and won judgments in court.

The owners of these firms have impersonated attorneys and threatened their victims. They use invalid contracts and have had their credit card merchant account cancelled as a result. Since 1999, when the heat got too high from victims they burned, the scammers created new fake websites, new fake PE firms, and new fake recruiters — and kept running the same racket.

Who could fall for such a scam? How can a fake business collect millions in fees via credit cards? Who’s behind this — and why haven’t they been busted?

We’ve already answered the first two questions in 7F: Anatomy of A Recruiting Scam and in WWEJSS: How does a fake recruiting firm get a credit card merchant account? Information and documents supplied by people familiar with the scam lead step-by-step to companies, websites, street addresses and names that are all connected by WWEJSS, LLC, “a Texas corporation” that does not exist.

WWEJSS

In the current scam, SevenFigureCareers, victims sign a contract for services and pay thousands of dollars by credit card. As we’ve already seen, the contract is bogus because the company behind it, WWEJSS, LLC, “a Texas corporation” is phony. (Even the wording on the contract is bogus, because an LLC is not a corporation.) The Texas Secretary of State confirms there is no such legal entity registered — and it must be registered if it is to conduct business.

While the contract is legally invalid, an American Express merchant account tied to that contract was very real. The contract, the account, and the domain SevenFigureCareers.com are all tied to WWEJSS.

We know WWEJSS is phony because American Express cancelled its merchant account and refunded charges collected from cardholders for fake “services” rendered.

7f-wix-1So, who’s behind this scam outfit, and who owns SevenFigureCareers.com?

A search for WWEJSS turns up a tech-support thread loaded with profanity at Wix.com, a website developer tool. The customer wwejss refers to his website, 7figuresrecruiting.com, one of the Internet domains related to SevenFigureCareers.com.

This bit of information will be helpful later. But what we’re looking for is a name tied to WWEJSS.

Who Is It?

A WHOIS database search for SevenFigureCareers.com turns up a domain registration whose owner is hidden. For a few bucks, anyone can privately register a domain name. Note the creation date of this domain registration: March 20, 2015.

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DNS Record History

But what’s hidden on the Internet is not always completely hidden. StatsInfinity — an Internet statistics tool — reveals a Domain Name System (DNS) record history that confirms SevenFigureCareers.com was registered on March 20, 2015.
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Unlike WHOIS, StatsInfinity also shows the history of the domain, which reveals the owner’s name, street address, e-mail address, and phone number. The owner’s name is listed as “Worldwide WWEJSS.”

Note the phone number: (832) 912-4445. We’ll call it later to see who answers.

Apparently, whoever established this domain locked the ownership information afterwards. But the details were captured and preserved by StatsInfinity.

Craig Chrest

Closer inspection delivers the gold nugget of information we’ve been looking for. There’s a name now connected to WWEJSS and SevenFigureCareers.com on a public document that also serves as a legal Internet registration: Craig Chrest.
7f-statsinfinity-chrest

Iterations of the scam

Internet research reveals that this recruiting scam is not new. Several iterations going back to at least 1999 can be traced to the same operating entity — WWEJSS — and Craig Chrest. Before we get to the name connected to SevenFigureCareers.com, let’s go back to the domain name we found on the Wix.com support page, 7figuresrecruiting.com. (If this is not a chronological history, it’s how Internet data led to each of the companies involved.)

#1: Private Equity Headhunters

A Google search for “7figuresrecruiting.com” takes us to ScamOrg.com, where we find a lengthy report about another company, Private Equity Headhunters LLC, which pre-dates SevenFigureCareers. (You may need a score card to keep track.)

7f-pehhsOne victim connects this firm with 7figuresrecruiting. And who turns up in the complaints but “Art French (salesman),” who refers to himself in e-mails as “VP Recruiting” at SevenFigureCareers.com. (For more about Mr. French and his twin brother Tony, see 7F: Anatomy of A Recruiting Scam.)

And right beside French is “John Chris, account manager,” known as “James Chris — V.P. Account Management” at SevenFigureCareers. He apparently goes by “Chris Johnson” at PEH.

#2: Executive Top Gun Search

An earlier recruiting firm surfaces when we examine the addresses of these entities, and it’s tied to the same owner.

The street address on Craig Chrest’s current SevenFigureCareers.com domain registration is 12841 Jones Road, Houston, Texas. A search for this address on TexasCorporates.com turns up another Chrest property: Executive Top Gun Search, LLC — at the same address.

7f-top-gun-address

While WWEJSS and SevenFigureCareers are not legally registered entities, Executive – Top Gun Search, LLC was registered in Texas on May 30, 2002 by Craig N. Chrest at 12019 Bexhill Dr., Houston, TX, 77065. The registration is still active.

Now let’s jump forward to SevenFigureCareers. Note Chrest’s middle initial on the Top Gun registration — N. While his name is never used by anyone at SevenFigureCareers, his initials make their way into the business. 7f-chrest-nAccording to myrelatives.com, the N stands for Nicholas.

When victims of SevenFigureCareers filed disputes with American Express, the merchant was required to document the transactions and submit supporting information to AmEx. When those victims also complained to Art French, he called them back to announce “we won the settlement — we always do.” Then French offered to put them in touch with “the CEO of the company” — C.R. Nicholas — because “our CEO would like to make things right with you.”

Listen to a voicemail left by French for a victim:

Mr. Nicholas” (CRaig Nicholas Chrest?), later left this message for the same victim:

When the victim spoke with Nicholas, Nicholas ranted about how Ask The Headhunter is “scamming” SevenFigureCareers and causing trouble — but Nicholas would “look into getting you your money back.”

French was lying, and so was Nicholas. AmEx not only refunded the victims’ money, AmEx cancelled the merchant account.

Now that we have a first, middle and last name for the owner of these companies, let’s get back to Top Gun. Websites for Executive Top Gun Search disappeared after customer complaints revealed the scam on sites like RipOffReport. (See links to complaints below.) Searches for the firm turn up nothing but complaints.

#3: The Executive Headhunter Group

The earliest iteration of Chrest’s recruiting business is referenced in a press release that claims Craig Chrest started The Executive Headhunter Group in 1999. This glowing article on SBWire is dated 2011 and is loaded with text links to Top Gun — but they’re all dead pages.

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A 2013  prweb press release refers to this iteration by another name — “Executive HHG.” It’s filled with links to a “domain for sale” page.

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The firm’s website is gone, but there are plenty of complaints lodged against it and Craig Chrest. The complainants tie Executive HGG to Top Gun.

#4: SevenFigureCareers

7f-wwejsslss-usplacesThe most recent iteration of this recruiting scam has been documented extensively on Ask The Headhunter.

WWEJSSLSS?

Another variation of the WWEJSS name turns up on USplaces.com — this time as WWEJSSLLS. LLS has no meaning I’ve been able to discern.

Is this another recruiting business? Perhaps it’s just another sloppy error — intended to be “LLC.” More likely it’s intended to cause more confusion for potential suckers doing their due diligence.

But it’s yet another business listed at the 12841 Jones Road address that again and again leads back to Chrest.

Unraveling WWEJSS

Legal filings connecting WWEJSS and Craig Chrest tie all the entities together with names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

There was no indication what the letters WWEJSS stood for until one of the victims pressed American Express for more detailed information about the name of this merchant on credit card bills and on the SevenFigureCareers contract. AmEx coughed up the solution: Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions. But the only address AmEx would provide is “Suite 201, Houston, TX.” A spokesperson for American Express declined to explain why it won’t give cardholders the full address of one of its merchants.

While WWEJSS is not a registered entity, thus rendering the SevenFigureCareers contract invalid, Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions, LLC is registered in Texas. But the registration — like the SevenFigureCareers.com domain name — is hidden, this time behind a “registered agent service.” Someone doesn’t want to be found.

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But in the world of government registrations, you can’t hide. Ask The Headhunter’s attorneys turned up this summary of the LLC’s true owners:

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Craig Crest is listed as a member, or owner, of the LLC. The rest of the details are in the complete Certificate of Formation filed by Chrest’s partner, Franklin Wescott Straussbaugh, with the State of Texas.

LLCs are interesting legal entities. They’re not corporations and technically they’re not partnerships. They have members (owners) and they have managers. The formation certificate declared all the members managers. Less than a month later, Straussbaugh filed a Certificate of Correction making Chrest the sole manager of the LLC. The other two members, Jaree Zafar and Franklin W. Straussbaugh, remain members and owners. (Soon we’ll see that Straussbaugh is more than just a member.)

[See Update at end of this article. Zafar claims Chrest added him to the LLC without his knowledge or consent and says he is taking legal action to be removed.]

Executive Top Gun Search, LLC (a.k.a. ETG) was registered by Craig N. Chrest on May 30, 2002.

7f-etg1

The Ask The Headhunter legal team pulled ETG’s Articles of Organization, filed May 30, 2002 by Chrest. He is the only member and manager of record.

Privateequityheadhunters.Com, LLC (a.k.a. PEH) was registered June 27, 2013 by another registered agent, InCorp Services, Inc. But PEH’s Certificate of Formation shows this LLC was organized by Jaree Zafar, Chrest’s partner at Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions, LLC. [See Update below. Zafar claims Chrest forged his digital signature.] But according to the Certificate, Craig Chrest is the real manager behind all the legal shielding — he’s the guy behind Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions, LLC, which is listed as “the governing person…” and “Managing Member”:
7f-peh-cert1

By skipping from one business entity to the next, Chrest and his team tried to escape the torches and pitchforks that were pursuing them online and in the courts.

12841 Jones Rd Ste 201, Houston, Texas

 

The address listed by Chrest on business filings, 12218 Jones Road, Suite D-108, Houston, TX, 77070, is a Mailboxes Plus store — a mail dropbox.

7f-12218jonesrd-ste-d

According to public records, Executive Top Gun Search (ETG), Top Gun Executive Group, Worldwide WWEJSS and WWEJSSLLS are located at 12841 Jones Road, Suite 201 in Houston, Texas, phone number (832) 912-4445. It’s not clear why American Express hides the “12841 Jones Road” part of this address from cardholders who have demanded contact information about the AmEx merchant that bilked them.

Earlier, we noted the phone number listed on the domain registration for SevenFigureCareers.com — it’s the same. While the number listed on the SevenFigureCareers website (at 600 W. Broadway, San Diego, CA), and the number C.R. Nicholas says he’s calling from, is (866) 621-1062, the telephone number under which the businesses are registered, (832) 912-4445 is answered by a man who says, “Billing.”

When I called for comments about the subject of this article, the man answering denies he is Craig Chrest and says he is not familiar with any of the firms or people we’re talking about. He says he’s not in Suite 201, but in 301. The building’s manager says there is no Suite 301 or third floor in this building, where offices are rented to lawyers and other businesses.

The voice answering  (832) 912-4445 is, in my opinion, the same as the voice on voicemails left by C.R. Nicholas.

When Ask The Headhunter visited the building, we found a directory of occupants inside the front door. The business occupying Suite 201 is “CNC.” Could that refer to Craig Nicholas Chrest? This seems to be the real home of all the recruiting firms connected to WWEJSS.

Who is Craig Chrest?

Craig Chrest, the documented owner of the SevenFigureCareers.com domain is also the man who owns, manages and controls Top Gun Executive Search, Private Equity Headhunters, Executive HGG, and Worldwide Executive Job Search Solutions (WWEJSS) — but has no LinkedIn connection to any of these business entities.

What successful business person isn’t on LinkedIn? Not Arthur or Tony French. Not C.R. Nicholas or Wesley Strauss or others connected to these firms. Franklin Wescott Straussbaugh does not exist on the Internet. Not even the notable entrepreneur Mark Allen is on LinkedIn, and he’s the managing partner at the notable Agile Capital Partners who “interviewed” victims for seven-figure jobs… just on the phone.

But Craig Chrest has quite a presence online, if you know to look for him.

According to public records and to promotional materials he published himself, Craig “Chip” Chrest played football at the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse, and later in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns.

Chrest published the Top Gun Executive Group’s Blog during 2011. Judging from comments on his posts, the blog was used to create a “presence” to bolster the brand. The names and comments on his posts are nonsense.

7f-weebly
Many other Top Gun pages appear on third-party hosts, clearly intended to create as big an Internet presence as possible. For example, Yola lets anyone build a free business web presence.

7f-chrest-pix-17f-chrest-pix-2Chrest published The Top Gun Executive Group on Yola. It includes a promotional headshot, reproduced here.

Another photo captioned with Chrest’s name appears on a recruiting association website, Top Echelon.

A biography published on fandom reports that Chrest majored in journalism and marketing, sold software and medical equipment, and founded Executive HHG in Houston, Texas in 2013.

Top Gun In Trouble

Fandom also reports that:

In 2013, Chrest and Top Gun were defendants in two civil court cases in which the jury awarded the plaintiff all actual damages and attorney fees of 4 times actual damages for one and subsequently additional damages for the second.

The biography links to Texas attorney Bradley J. Aiken, whose website provides more details about Michael Heartsong v. Executive-Top Gun Search LLC.

7f-lawsuit-1

Chrest testified in this trial and lost. A unanimous jury awarded four times actual damages to the plaintiff for “misrepresentations and breach of an employment search services contract.” Michael Heartsong never collected a dime of the judgment. Chrest claimed bankruptcy.

In 2010, New Jersey resident Vincent Peters sued The Top Gun Executive Group and, after multiple appeals, in 2013 won a final judgment from the 14th Court of Appeals in the State of Texas. LawCitations.com provides details, including this excerpt:

BACKGROUND Peters is a resident of New Jersey, and Top Gun is incorporated in Texas with its principal place of business in Texas. Peters and Top Gun signed a contract for Top Gun to locate employment opportunities for Peters, among other things. Peters paid Top Gun $4,500 for the service. Peters eventually sued Top Gun in New Jersey for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, common law fraud, consumer fraud in violation of a New Jersey statute, and attorney‘s fees. Peters obtained a default judgment for $18,680.62 and filed the judgment in Texas pursuant to UEFJA.

According to public court records obtained at MoreLaw.com, Top Gun “owner Craig Chrest” was the only witness. Additional court documents are available at Justia.com. According to plaintiff Peters, Chrest has never paid the judgment. He claimed bankruptcy.

Complaints

Websites connected to older iterations of Chrest’s recruiting firms have disappeared. But complaint sites document more PE firms, addresses, and names of individuals connected to this series of scams. While people posting complaints do so anonymously, their stories are consistent and the pieces fit together across sites and time.

7f-scamorg-3 7f-scamorg-4Complaints dated 2013-2016 appear on FacebookYelp, Scam.org and RipOffReport and refer to Craig Chrest, Arthur French, Wes Strauss, Wes Anderson, CR Nichols, Wade Ahmed, Douglass Robinson, to “The Top Gun Executive Group AKA Executive Headhunter Group (along with other aliases),” and an enormous cast of characters.

7f-scamorg-5

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Threats against victims

One of the RipOffReports features “retaliation responses” trying to discredit victims. The responses are never credible and offer no trackable source. A legitimate company would respond and provide a name and contact information.

Perhaps the most interesting collection of victims’ stories appears on ScamOrg.com, about Private Equity Headhunters LLC. It’s chock full of names associated with various iterations of the scam, among them some familiar to victims of SevenFigureCareers. These complaints also triggered “responses” threatening the complainers.

7f-scamorg-1 7f-scamorg-2
It seems the threats frightened some complainers into silence, including a case where the scammers posted the full name of a victim — apparently to intimidate her. But judging from Scam.org postings, victims caught on and lost their fears.

Evolution of the non-disclosure threat

As complaints mounted, each firm disappeared and a new one popped up to replace it. This seems to explain why the newest “contract” — for SevenFigureCareers — includes a wild non-disclosure (NDA) clause that warns victims they’ll be liable for tens of thousands of dollars if they ever speak up.

7f-contract-2

This NDA strategy seems to have shut up new victims, notably John Rice, who first posted his complaint on Ask The Headhunter. Rice then asked me to remove it when a phony lawyer sent him a nasty e-mail invoking the confidentiality clause. The NDA seemed to be working — for a while.

But we learned the lawyer was fake — which prompted legal review of the contract, and investigation of WWEJSS. It’s all phony, thus the threats are once again empty. And now victims are not just posting complaints. Victims are delivering documentation that has led to the exposure of the entire ring and the whole string of recruiting companies under Craig Chrest’s registrations.

How big is the scam?

It’s big. Multi-million-dollars big.

Size of the operation

While it might seem there are many people involved in the operation discussed in this series of articles, indications are that it’s just a handful.

According to victims, Chrest handles the database and operations from Houston (including “Billing”). People familiar with Straussbaugh suggest he’s the voice on the phone — Arthur and Tony French, a.k.a. Wesley Strauss and Wes Anderson — doing the sales pitches and coddling the victims until they realize their money is gone. A changing roster of programmers seem to be helping with the back end in Pakistan. According to a 2013 prweb article, Jaree Zafar — an LLC organizer and current member — handled information technology, though his involvement today is unclear. [See Update at end of this article.]

It doesn’t take many people to run a scam when it’s automated. Judging from communications received from SevenFigureCareers by victims, boilerplate “reports” and “updates” are mail-merged with different names and sent out en masse every day to hundreds of victims and targets at a time. Most notable is the boilerplate included in supposedly confidential e-mails between French and the managing partners of PE firms. This bit of social engineering has generated loads of laughs among the Ask The Headhunter team:

Good talking to you and glad to hear Julie is doing better.

— See 7F: Anatomy of a recruiting scam

Suckers are supposed to think they’re listening in on personal repartee that reveals the close connections between Art French and his clients. But Julie is referenced in e-mail threads attributed to multiple sources and included on mails pertaining to multiple job opportunities from different “managing partners.” Poor Julie.

Big bucks

Ask The Headhunter has been contacted by people to whom Chrest has bragged about his accomplishments. How much money have victims been scammed out of since at least 1999?

Reasonable estimates are between $4 million and $10 million, possibly more. Chrest has changed his fees over 17 years to what the market will bear — $10,000 per “client,” $4,500, $2,500, $1,500. The number of victims per month is shocking.

When American Express cut off the WWEJSS merchant account, the credit card company’s fraud unit kicked into action. Victims have confirmed that AmEx has already begun refunding fraudulent charges to cardholders. VISA and MasterCard participate in a fraud clearinghouse called MATCH. Because of the scope of the scam, it’s reasonable to expect that federal authorities are investigating. One victim has reported that:

The good news is that I have all the addresses, contracts and bank info to turn over to the FBI.

The credit card companies and banks have a lot of explaining to do. Now that victims are demanding charge-backs, does anyone think the card companies are going to eat the costs in dollars and damage to their brands? How did they let this go on for 17 years?

International

Art French solicited a leading telecommunications scientist in Israel who contacted Ask The Headhunter immediately. He played cat and mouse with French while feeding along French’s e-mails and audio recordings of their conversations.

The scientist believes French found him in an executive networking database he’d recently joined. This suggests time zones and country boundaries are no obstacle when everything is done online and on the phone — and that there are many more overseas victims and targets who will come forward.

Here a condescending French pitches the “opportunity” for a phony job with Apax — a renowned London-based venture firm — and an interview with the non-existent Mark Allen. It’s all very, very confidential. (Audio approx. 3 minutes.)

At the end, French lays the hook — he’s got to get approval to “let” his victim do the interview.

In the next call, French tries to reel in the victim. He explains how “the program” works. Finally, the frustrated French discloses that an interview for the job in San Jose is going to cost $1,500. And, if the Apax job doesn’t work out, for thousands of dollars more, “7F” will make him “a client” for three months. (Audio approx. 6 minutes.)

International fraud is what attracts federal authorities. French is still waiting for the scientist in Israel to wire $2,500.

Craig Chrest: “Someone is scamming us!”

When victims have confronted Craig Nicholas Chrest — calling himself Mr. Nicholas — after they realized he’d ripped them off, he has responded that, “Someone is scamming us!” Someone was using his firm’s name, ripping people off, and making it look like it was him.

But Chrest’s signature across a span of 14 years doesn’t lie about who’s behind it all. Here it is on the 2002 Articles of Organization for Executive Top Gun Search, LLC that he filed with the Texas Secretary of State:

7f-chrest-sig1

And here’s Chrest’s signature, dated September 1, 2016, on a contract he signed as SevenFigureCareers with one of his victims — while claiming he was C.R. Nicholas, CEO of the firm:

7f-creditcard-sig

This particular victim’s $2,500 was refunded by American Express after the credit card company’s fraud unit turned off the lights on Chrest’s merchant account.

Scam firms beyond this series of articles

Fortune recently published two articles by Dan Primack about a recruiting scam the magazine referred to as The Ghost In The VC Machine, but they never got to the actual culprits. (See also The Venture Capital Firm That Wasn’t There.) Could these be connected to Chrest and SevenFigureCareers?

I think they are. The names are different. But note the address of one of the scam recruiting firms discussed in the Fortune article: 600 West Broadway, San Diego, California.

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That’s the address of SevenFigureCareers, which appears in press releases like the one below, and on the firm’s erstwhile website, and which is confirmed by the receptionist when you call (866) 621-1062:

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This scam is bigger than anyone has guessed until now.

Have you been scammed?

Repeated calls to SevenFigureCareers’ advertised phone number, (866) 621-1062 (which is also the number on the firm’s contract) to reach Art French, C.R. Nicholas, Franklin Straussbaugh, Craig Chrest, and Jaree Zafar for comment failed. Only an answering service is available.  [See Update at end of this article. Zafar contacted Ask The Headhunter after publication of this article and provided a detailed comment.]

What’s interesting is that the receptionist — like the guy answering the phone at 12841 Jones Road — answers, “Billing,” then denies you’ve reached SevenFigureCareers. When pressed to speak with Art French, she goes to get him, then says “your account representative is not available” and denies any of the aforementioned individuals are at the number.

If you’re a victim of any of the recruiters and recruiting firms described, I’d like to hear from you. So far the people behind these firms have stayed far enough under the radar to trigger only small lawsuits — which the plaintiffs have always won.

The scam continues

Recently an Ask The Headhunter reader who paid SevenFigureCareers with his VISA card contacted me and referred to Chrest & Crew as the “7F CROOKS.” He said:

Anthony French solicited and sold me on a PE package and I actually got an interview with a PE firm that was questionable at best. Now their emails are all dead! I welcome a chance to share this bad experience with your readers.

Is it possible to go after people who hide behind ever-changing business names? Lawrence Barty, an attorney who has specialized in employment and labor law, offers this:

If you can identify the person who perpetrated this fraud, a tort claim of fraudulent inducement might be possible (as always, State laws vary) against that person — not against the illusory 7F. You were induced by X (identity presently unknown) to enter into a contract that cost you money, but was known in advance by X to be worthless. So, you should sue X, the person who tricked you into entering that contract. A claim of that type can be a tort claim, possibly giving rise to compensatory and punitive damages.

While Chrest’s victims have sued and won judgments in court, it seems the mistake they made was to sue his LLCs. According to attorney Barty, they should have sued Chrest personally. As in TheLadders case, individual victims need not hire lawyers. As more evidence and more plaintiffs surface, a massive consumer class action is likely the best legal strategy. (See TheLadders: How the scam works and Federal Court OK’s Suit Against TheLadders: Breach of contract & deceptive practices. This action arose out of complaints published on Ask The Headhunter, too.)

In the meantime, American Express found enough evidence in these articles to start refunding money to victims who were each defrauded of thousands of dollars by “WWEJSS.” No matter which credit card you paid with, you should contact your credit card issuer, include links to this series of articles, and ask for restitution.

All crooks are sloppy

This story started with an Ask The Headhunter reader who complained about getting scammed out of $2,500 by SevenFigureCareers on the comments section of this website. (See SevenFigureCareers: Threats and fraud.) He immediately received a threatening e-mail from a lawyer. The lawyer’s name was real — but the lawyer didn’t write the threat. He was impersonated by someone at SevenFigureCareers — a crime in all 50 states.

Arrogance makes scammers sloppy, especially when they do their business on the Internet. But when it’s on the Internet, information is forever — and any number of people can play.

Many thanks to all who have shared their experiences and information, and e-mails, contracts, recordings, and other documents to help expose this recruiting racket. Special thanks to the Ask The Headhunter legal team for digging up and reviewing documents, and for their insights, comments and legal advice. A big shout out to the field team that visited actual locations discussed in this article.

>Update: November 30, 2016

Jaree Zafar contacted Ask The Headhunter after publication of this article and says that he himself is “a victim of this fraudster,” referring to Craig Chrest.

Zafar says, “I am not his partner,” but that he worked for Chrest as an independent contractor “handling his IT needs between 2012 and 2013,” and decided to leave when he discovered Chrest’s “fraudulent practices.” He says that since 2013 he has had “absolutely nothing to do with Craig Chrest or his businesses,” that he has “not been paid a single cent from him” since 2013 — and that Chrest “still owes me thousands for my last month” of work.

Commenting on the LLC filings that bear his name, Zafar says, “I found out that [Chrest] had forged my signatures on his LLC formation and added me as a member without informing me and without my permission.”

It’s worth noting that, while Craig Chrest’s and Franklin Straussbaugh’s actual signatures appear on the Texas State filings obtained by Ask The Headhunter (see links above), Zafar’s actual signature does not. He explained that the forms were filed online and that Chrest merely had to type a name in place of an actual signature — without Zafar’s permission.

In 2013 Zafar “assumed that [Chrest] would have removed my information [from the LLCs] after receiving three demand letters from my attorney.” Unable to afford legal costs, Zafar says he did not go through with litigation.

About Chrest, Zafar says, “This guy has a long history of impersonating and defrauding people. I have contacted my attorney regarding this matter and I intend to start criminal proceedings for identity theft and fraud… but since he has all my personal information including my date of birth and social security number, I am now seriously concerned about the extent of this thief’s intentions. I am sorry for everyone who has been victimized by this fraudster.”

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Have you been solicited or ripped-off by a similar scam?

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184 Comments
  1. Very interesting post and thorough research. I’ve been following your 7F series since the beginning and I’m perplexed at how people can be so $hitt¥. I’m fortunate in that I never was scammed and glad those who were have been getting their money back. It might be worthwhile to let the FBI know as well. Hopefully more people have done so.

    Anyways, you mentioned you weren’t aware of what Jaree Zafar’s current role in the scam might be, but based on a March 2015 whose screenshot you included towards the top, my guess is he could be “account manager John Chris/Chris Johnson.”

    Keep it up, Nick, and thanks for the time you invest in helping your readers.

    • See the Update at the bottom of the article. Zafar claims he’s a victim, too.

  2. Wow. Please update us if the FBI or other authorities do move against the Chrest gang. Thank you, sir.

  3. Nick,

    Super reporting. In the careers biz, you’ve fashioned a remarkable legacy.

  4. Bravo, Nick ! Headhunter who now it seems moonlights as a private investigator !

    How CAN this have been going on for seventeen years ?

    • Rich: What’s stupefying is that victims through the years have disputed the credit card charges, but banks and credit card companies did nothing but suggest to their cardholders that they hire lawyers and sue the scammers. Meanwhile, the credit card companies seem to have done nothing after being informed of the scam again and again, and the indication is that merchant accounts are handed out without adequate due diligence. The credit card companies didn’t create the problem, but they clearly seem to have enabled the scam to continue.

      When victims cited in these articles showed AmEx the fraudulent contract the signed, AmEx failed to do the simplest thing — verify that the contract was valid and that the vendor on the contract matched the merchant on the account.

  5. How CAN this have been going on for seventeen years ?

    Now, that’s the beauty of this scam: the marks don’t know that they’ve been duped. The “interviews” they pay for may go okay, but the “firm” decides not to move forward. Results aren’t guaranteed, no refunds, oh well.

    Rinse and repeat, and you’ve got some serious money.

    As an aside, have any headhunters ever made a legitimate go at representing job seekers instead of employers, like the Hollywood agent business model?

    • It’s been tried, but it’s hard to determine what comes out of it. I think such a biz is shaky ground and I don’t advise paying anyone to find you a job. If you ever decide to try using such an agent, protect yourself on the downside and only pay as you go, not an up-front lump sum. Better yet, tell the “agent” this works like headhunting – you get paid only if I get a job that sticks.

      The concept just lends itself to scamming.

  6. Process servers may find the address

    12019 Bexhill Dr
    Houston TX 77065-2613

    of interest.

    Consult a lawyer before any legal action is contemplated, of course.

  7. Well done, sir. In a world where veracity and integrity are increasingly scarce you have provided a shining example for all.

  8. Could SevenFigureCareers be a follow on firm to 6-Figure Jobs (http://www.6figurejobs.com/ now a dead link)? I think that firm was promoting itself in the 90’s – and also seemed “not quite kosher.”

    • Dennis: Others have raised this question. I have not researched 6figurejobs or looked for a connection, but during the extensive research I did do, that old firm never came up. It’s worth looking into.

      The problem with recruiting scams like this is, it costs virtually nothing to launch them except a bit of web work and time spent creating fake presences online.

  9. Fantastic work. You have a second career if recruiting gets old.

    I am always amazed at what people will do with fast talking strangers. I met a guy who sent $30,000 to a consignment dealer for an RV. They had a listing on Google Maps so he thought it was a legit store. Initially he was going to go get the RV and pay for it but the “consignment dealer” offered free delivery (included in the consignment fee paid by the seller) and a 10 day money back guarantee if the vehicle wasn’t exactly as described. So he wired them $30,000 and waited – and waited – for his RV to (never) show up. Turns out it was a national scam and the money was out of the country by the time things caught up with the perps.

    Problem is that law enforcement is pretty much zero in these cases. These guys go on with the same scam for 20+ years with zero repercussions. Funny thing is that they are probably talented enough to make $300K a year being legit recruiters.

  10. Kanny: There will never be enough cops to keep up with the scammers, and the scammers know it. But they play the odds. Some of them get nailed at some point; they just don’t know when. That must be part of the fun and the thrill. Every game ends somewhere, somehow. The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away.

  11. The croc DOES have teeth! Nice work Nick.

  12. Nick,

    You are awesome. Wonderful to see people who are passionate about justice and integrity. The world needs more like you.

  13. Fantastic job Nick. Not only great research, but great writing as well. You have performed an invaluable service with this takedown and helped many scam victims begin the process of getting their money back. I’ve read your articles and followed ATH for years. Well done. (And that’s an understatement)

  14. I echo Daniels comments. I am tired of people using legitimate businesses to provide cover for their nefarious deeds. I think this deserves more than prison time exacted by those he wronged!

    • BJ: Hopefully authorities will pick up this research and make a big example of this scam, both to educate the public and to put other scammers on notice.

  15. Nick, I have been scammed by these guys. Signed up in March Is there a class action in progress? Please give me your email or phone. This all too familiar unfortunately. Will be calling my back to see if I can reverse the charges first thing in the morning.

    • Michael: I’ve dropped you a note offline. Victims like you, sharing their experiences and documents, are what led to this series of articles. I welcome others to get in touch with me if they’ve been victims, or even if they’ve just been solicited without signing or paying up. Every case like this yields useful information.

  16. Apologies for the spelling errors as I am in a rush and disappointed.

  17. I was just notified by these people and something didn’t “Smell Right” so did a quick search and found your site here is a copy of the text I was sent and a new address in New York?

    William Nolan Unsubscribe
    5:10 PM (3 hours ago)

    to me
    Eric,

    I trust all is well. I am the Chief Executive Officer at Worldwide Executive Search and I am contacting you to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. My team and I have been retained by a large asset management firm to replace the current C-suite team of a recently acquired company. Our talent sourcing team has been shortlisting qualified candidates and based on your previous experience and credentials, we believe this is a perfect opportunity for you to take your career to the next level. Company is in your industry and re-location will not be necessary but does require some travel. We get paid by employers, there is no cost involved for candidates.

    If you are interested in exploring new opportunities, please let me know by replying back to this email. As soon as I have your confirmation, I will introduce you to the recruiter assigned to this project and he will schedule a brief phone call to discuss details.

    Looking forward to your reply.

    Respectfully,

    William Nolan
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-nolan-executive-search

    Worldwide Executive Search
    http://www.worldwideexecutivesearch.com
    5 Penn Plaza, 19th Floor
    Manhattan, NY 10001
    1-800-348-3150 x 203

    • Eric: Thanks for posting this. If anyone else has been contacted by “William Nolan” of “Worldwide Executive Search” (WWEJSS??), please share what you’ve received — either here, or please e-mail me.

      The building management (Regis) at 5 Penn Plaza, 19th Floor, NYC, has never heard of Worldwide Executive Search or William Nolan. The phone number listed on the firm’s website — 800-348-3150 — is not one of the numbers issued by Regis to any tenant, and no one answers the phone. Attempts to leave a message result in highly garbled sounds.

      If Worldwide Executive Search is legit, I’d love to hear from the management.

      Thanks again, Eric, for posting the information. Why not call them and ask what’s up, since they contacted you?

      • I have received exactly the same email and now I have sent my resume to Jesse Martinez. I googled Jessie Martinez + Scam. That guy pops up all over the web with arrest records and complaints. While he may have gotten my basic info (linked in) I have not given him anything else.
        As I am in the market, I am quite annoyed and a bit paranoid. However, my contact info is available on job boards, so its already out there.
        I am wondering how I can make this guys life miserable, without exposing myself to anything else.

        • Dave: You’re right – Mr. Martinez is all over the place. You’d think these idiots would at least change their names, eh?

    • Someone else??

      De: Donald H. Smith
      Enviado: jueves, 14 de septiembre de 2017 1:57 p. m.
      Para: Pepe
      Asunto: New Executive Level Opportunities

      Hello Pepe,
      I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am CEO/Founder of Valued Global Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.
      If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.
      P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.
      Best Regards,
      Donald H. Smith
      CEO/Executive Recruiter
      Valued Global Recruitment Inc.
      http://www.vgrecruitment.com
      115 East 23rd Street, 3rd Floor Union Square
      New York, NY
      1- 888-242-6491 x167

  18. Here you go, hot off the press 12/13:

    New C-suite Opportunity – Interested?

    I trust all is well. I am the Chief Executive Officer at Worldwide Executive Search and I am contacting you to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. My team and I have been retained by a large asset management firm to replace the current C-suite team of a recently acquired company. Our talent sourcing team has been shortlisting qualified candidates and based on your previous experience and credentials, we believe this is a perfect opportunity for you to take your career to the next level. Company is in your industry and re-location will not be necessary but does require some travel. We get paid by employers, there is no cost involved for candidates.

    If you are interested in exploring new opportunities, please let me know by replying back to this email. As soon as I have your confirmation, I will introduce you to the recruiter assigned to this project and he will schedule a brief phone call to discuss details.

    Looking forward to your reply.

    Respectfully,

    William Nolan
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-nolan-executive-search

    Worldwide Executive Search
    http://www.worldwideexecutivesearch.com
    5 Penn Plaza, 19th Floor
    Manhattan, NY 10001
    1-800-348-3150 x 203

    • One other thing I noticed about the message to indicate its falsity, I am in NY, and “Manhattan” is never a part of any mailing address in the city; the correct address would be 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001

      • Hey, Dave,

        “I trust all is well.” I totally missed the “Manhattan” address. Nice catch! No one ever lists an address in Manhattan — it’s always New York. Clearly, these guys are not locals.

        Why don’t you call Mr. Nolan and see what he says. The way this seems to work is, the rented receptionist will only put you through if your name is on “Nolan’s” list of targets.

        If he’s legit, he’s got nothing to worry about. Otherwise, ask him what you need to do to sign up. He’ll give you a link and ask you to click on a non-disclosure form. Tell him you want him to sign it first and send you a PDF, before you’ll sign it.

        They never sign anything.

    • Latest version… now David Doe. Suspicions raised when he had no linkedin profile.

      I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am CEO/Founder of JS Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

      If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

      Best Regards,

      David Doe
      CEO/Executive Recruiter

      P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

      JS Recruiting Inc.
      http://www.jsrecruiting.com
      622 3rd Avenue 16th Floor
      New York, NY
      1- 800-290-6982? x106

  19. Glad I read these posts doing my homework. Received the same exact emails as mentioned above by William Nolan. Was dumb enough to sign the electronic NDA but that’s where it ended. Recruiter did send me an email as well that he had a meeting with the client and PE firm and would be back to me next Tuesday. I won’t be answering that call. Any concerns on the fact that an NDA was inadvertently signed? I certainly haven’t provided any financial or personal data at this point. HELP!

  20. Im in the same boat. I signed the NDA and sent my resume. However, that info is on linked in and other job sites. So no loss there. All they have is my basic contact info. I anticipate more spam phone calls for a while. I will have to change my passwords however.

  21. I had the same email as well. This is a scam

  22. The C Suite gave it away?
    Dan,

    I hope your day is going well. My name is Mark Perez and I am VP of WorkoMotion Recruiting. One of our network member referred me to you so I thought I would send you a quick introduction and see if you are interested in any of the available opportunities through our professional network of recruiters.

    We have a large selection of confidential senior level opportunities and offer direct access to hiring managers and executive recruiters. If you are interested in confidential senior level jobs or advisory board opportunities, please visit our website to see how it works and join us. Workomotion is an invite only network exclusively designed for senior level candidates, please enter your email address (listed below) in the invitation code field after sign up for instant access.

    Your invitation code

    MY EMAIL

    I look forward to helping you advance your career and connect you with the decision makers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me any time. Thank you

    Best Regards,

    Mark Perez
    WorkoMotion Recruiting
    https://www.workomotion.com

    1055 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA
    Tel: 1-888-599-5155

  23. I received the same email from William Nolan at Worldwide Executive Search on Dec. 8, 2016. Likewise, a signed NDA was required. The process included setting up a conference call with the client company. In my case, however, Jesse Martinez wrote back saying that they discovered a conflict of interest and the purchase agreement for the company fell through.

    Today I tried sending emails to William Nolan and Jesse Martinez and received delivery failures. I started doing some research and discovered this discussion.

    DJD

  24. I had a similar experience as Donald with Misters Nolan and Martinez, back in December. Sent my resume, signed the NDA (I read through it and didnt see any real issue with it, it was fairly toothless). But then after a couple of scheduled calls that didnt happen and a few emails back and forth, they told me that their client’s deal fell through due to a conflict of interest. I shrugged and moved on. Found this page after I tried to send a follow up email, it bounced, found their website dead and did some google searching.

    My question is, what is the point of a scam that doesnt try to hook anyone?

  25. I got this the other day and just googled it and found your article. If this is them they have changed the game. I have been self employed for years but did just get a seat on a national league board and think that is where they got my email because it is my private one not used for business. I haven’t clicked on anything and don’t plan to. Thank you for the work you did on this, by far the best investigative journalism I have seen in a long time. Please feel free to contact me if there is anything else I can do!

    Mark Perez
    To Shannon
    May 5 at 3:12 PM
    Shannon,

    I hope your day is going well. My name is Mark Perez and I am VP of WorkoMotion Recruiting. One of our network member referred me to you so I thought I would send you a quick introduction and see if you are interested in any of the available opportunities through our professional network of recruiters.

    We have a large selection of confidential senior level opportunities and offer direct access to hiring managers and executive recruiters. If you are interested in confidential senior level jobs or advisory board opportunities, please visit our website to see how it works and join us. Workomotion is an invite only network exclusively designed for senior level candidates, please enter your email address (listed below) in the invitation code field after sign up for instant access.

    Your invitation code
    ********@yahoo.com

    I look forward to helping you advance your career and connect you with the decision makers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me any time. Thank you

    Best Regards,

    Mark Perez
    WorkoMotion Recruiting
    https://www.workomotion.com

    1055 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA
    Tel: 1-888-599-5155

    Click here, to stop receiving these emails or report user for Spam Violations.

  26. I just received this today and found this article:

    [my name],

    I hope your day is going great so far. One of our members referred me to you so I thought I would send you a quick introduction and see if you are interested in any of the available opportunities through our professional network.

    We have a large selection of “confidential” senior level opportunities and offer direct access to hiring managers and executive-recruiters. If you are interested in confidential senior level jobs or advisory board opportunities, please visit our website to see how it works and join us. Work-o Motion is an invite only network exclusively designed for senior level candidates, please enter your email address (listed below) in the invitation code field during sign up for instant access.

    Your invitation code
    [my e-mail address]

    I look forward to helping you advance your career and connect you with the decision makers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me any time.

    Best Regards,

    Ali Khan
    SVP, Work-o Motion Network
    https://www.workomotion.com

    1055 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA
    (888) 599-5155

  27. Hello all,

    We were just notified about this post. People seem to be confusing us with Sevenfigurecareer.
    Workomotion has nothing to do with these guys. We do not offer recruiting or coaching services. We only offer job search tool and application with curated content. Please do not confuse us with these guys.

    Thank you.

    • TO Workomotion – Just saw this. I got a email from you about a position like ones above. just want to make sure this is for real. Can you state address of your location and your biz tel#? Then I will reply with information you asked for, but I am sure you can understand I need to make sure I know who I am dealing with before I email back. Thanks, I will wait for you to post here then I will get in touch.

    • TO Workomotion – You are a scam. You took money from someone who was unemployed, did not meet your end of the agreement, and then chose never to respond to direct complaints or the complaint submitted through the BBB. Now you are looking for every article that mentions Workomotion to see if you can scam more people.

      To everyone else, I received the same Workomotion email from that “Mark Perez” while using several other legitimate work sites that did get me interviews. I signed up at a discounted rate. Workomotion simply took my money and didn’t follow through with their end of the agreement. They also did not offer a refund. They then also ignored all emails, and their phone number is just a voice recording. If any service offers you a 3-month promotion, do not use it. After 3 months, you won’t be able to dispute the credit card charge – that’s how they scam you.

      • …and I just saw Workomotion charged me again, a year later, using a different name, “WM EMPLOYING NETWORK 866-267-2493 TX”. If anyone else has signed up for one of these scams, make sure you cancel the card/account you used. What a hassle.

      • @My-Money-Was-Taken: One of the tip-offs is a firm will sell under one name and use another on the credit card voucher they ask you to sign, and on your credit card statement. Makes it harder to track them down, and harder to file a credit card complaint.

        Eyes wide open is the first rule. The second rule is, no recruiter or headhunter that’s legit ever charges for any services. They get paid by the employer. If they want to charge you, RUN.

  28. Nick, you should contact me – I’m in the initial stages (email) of being a potential scam victim. I’d love to help you nail these guys.

  29. I think this scam is now called TB Recruiting. I got the same email as someone above did from JS Recruiting, but this one is from TB Recruiting. Looks like the JS Recruiting website is offline, and TB Recruiting has 4 bios of people that do not have any linkedin profiles.

    The scam email says:

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am CEO/Founder of TB Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best Regards,

    Colin Henry
    CEO/Executive Recruiter

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    TB Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.tbrecruiting.com
    315 Madison Avenue, Suite 215 Midtown
    New York, NY
    1- 877-373-2279? x111

  30. Thank you guys for this thread!!
    it confirmed my suspicions…

    Victor Morgan victor@recruitinggrounds.com via amazonses.com

    Why is this message in Spam? You clicked “Report phishing” for this message. Learn more
    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am CEO/Founder of Recruiting Grounds Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best Regards,

    Victor Morgan
    CEO/Executive Recruiter

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Recruiting Grounds Inc.
    http://www.recruitinggrounds.com
    142 East 39th Street, suite 109, Murray Hill,
    New York, NY 10016
    1- 844-344-4511? x121

  31. And here’s the 2018 version, but now it’s WCC Recruitment (http://www.wccrecruitment.com/).

    Here’s the email I got:

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at WCC Recruitment Group. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Albert Benson
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    WCC Recruitment Group
    http://www.wccrecruitment.com
    307 West 38th Street, 13th Floor –
    Suite 1206 Chelsea New York, NY 10018

    1- 800-340-7461 x22>>

    Struck me as odd that the website didn’t name any clients, but in a “you never know, can’t hurt to chat” mood I responded and sent my resume. Then got a n email from a Nancy Potter that really set off my radar:

    This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am team leader on this project and have received your information from Mr. Benson.

    I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call.

    I am having trouble uploading your resume in our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is. Did you pay a professional to write this?

    Kind Regards,

    Nancy Potter
    Executive Recruiter

    WCC Recruitment Group
    http://www.wccrecruitment.com
    1- 800-340-7461? x36

    They couldn’t get my file, but she knows my resume was professionally written? I reflexively resent, but then started (belatedly) researching, doing a reverse Google Image search on the “leadership team” pictured on the bottom of the page, assuming they were plucked from random Facebook pages. Hit some dead ends, but for the CEO Sean Kelly, it said the best guess was “David Doe, JS Recruiting.” Googled him and found your article.

    Another interesting thing is that when I reverse-searched the pic of “Sr. Exec Recruiter” Albert Benson, I only got his WCC page, with the URL http://www.wccrecruitment.com/albert. But I ALSO got a result for what looks like an identical page for http://www.wccrecruitmentcom/jeff.html: It has the same pic, except this time the guy’s name is Jeff Wilson, and it accidentally says he’s from JS Recruiting Inc. (The link is now dead.) So they seem to just copy the bio and flip the names.

    I wrote “Nancy” back to tell her to delete my resume and cease communication, as I knew it was a scam. (Also mentioned I’m a journalist so let’s not fuck around.)

    I didn’t go so far as to talk to anyone or sign anything (or pay anything) but any time you stumble into something like this you find yourself metaphorically checking your own pockets, wondering what small crack you might have opened for them just by responding. It’s not like my resume had anything on it other than what’s on LinkedIn…other than my address.

    Thanks for all this research; wish I’d searched for it when I first got the email and sensed something was up and saved me some agita.

    • And a follow-up: Even though I told her to cease communication, “Nancy” ignored it and sent the following, trying to steer me to a resume-writing service, checkresume.net. Which I’ll assume is a side-scam, or a scam on top of a scam. The new email below:

      I am still having the same issue with your resume. I asked my colleague and apparently it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to check your resume through a free tool (https://www.checkresume.net) and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

      We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we dont have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

      We have a call scheduled with the client on Thursday and I will try to make a brief introduction. I am available for call anytime on Friday, let me know a time that works for you and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

      Kind Regards,

      Nancy Potter
      Executive Recruiter

  32. Jeff, they did the exact same thing on me stating that they were having “problems” with my resume.

  33. Well,
    I’ve actually started looking for a new position recently and thought what an opportune time when I get an email from Brad Steele @PE-Recruit.com.

    Hello,
    My name is Brad Steele and I am a recruiting specialist in PE Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. One of our client is in final stage of acquiring a mid-sized company in your industry for a turn-around opportunity in partnership of a large private equity firm. They plan to replace most of the teams over the next few months.

    I was referred to you by an independent talent sourcing expert and based on your qualification & experience I think you are a very credible candidate. I thought I would send you a quick email to see if you are interested in exploring new opportunity.
    If you are interested, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.
    Note: We cannot disclose client’s information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.
    Company Size: $2.5B

    With my best
    Brad Steele
    Recruitment Specialist
    Website: http://www.pe-recruit.com
    101 West Broadway, Suit 300
    San Diego, California 9210

    So like the folks I this thread I thought nothing ventured nothing gained and responded with my resume’ Of course I immediately had some regrets and started researching after sending it out. I found this link and thank you Nick for providing such a great forum. I really thought how much of a coincidence could there be in having the 7F San Diego address be so close to PE-Recruit address which made me even more anxious. I went back and carefully re-read the initial c’mon email and realized there were some major indicators it was not a legitimate opportunity: the grammar had errors, it was non personalized, the resume’ before the NDA, not knowing the specific industry I am in and not naming the referring party all should have been flags. Hindsight is 20/20. I received this reply: my resume could not be read into their ATS and to help the process Brad sent me a link to a service that could help me out:

    “Hi Jim – Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into ATS. In order to move forward, I need your ATS optimized resume ASAP.

    You may contact http://www.atscompliantresume.com for ATS Resume.

    Thanks”

    It was at this point when I saw that the packages ranged from 29-39 I just responded back to “Brad Steele” thanks but no thanks and asked to be removed from his contact list.

    Thanks again for everybody who has gone through this before and posted up their experiences.

    Just thought I’d flag these two sites as well if anybody has heard about or from them.

    • I just got an identical email from the same Brad Steele, but he now ‘works’ at workforce-recruit.com

      Glad I checked before I sent him my resume. He’s not on linked in. The same san diego address does not show that business there. Definitely a scam.

  34. Sounds like same scam.

    From: Brad Steele
    Date: February 20, 2018 at 11:07:29 EST
    To: ******************
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,
    My name is Brad Steele and I am a recruiting specialist in PE Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. One of our client is in final stage of acquiring a mid-sized company in your industry for a turn-around opportunity in partnership of a large private equity firm. They plan to replace most of the teams over the next few months.

    I was referred to you by an independent talent sourcing expert and based on your qualification & experience I think you are a very credible candidate. I thought I would send you a quick email to see if you are interested in exploring new opportunity.
    If you are interested, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.
    Note: We cannot disclose client’s information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.
    Company Size: $2.5B

    With my best
    Brad Steele
    Recruitment Specialist
    Website: http://www.pe-recruit.com
    101 West Broadway, Suit 300
    San Diego, California 9210

    Inline image 1

  35. Hi Folks – here’s another iteration of the scammers…this time someone named “Jose Phillips”. Like a previous poster, I instantly checked LinkedIn and didn’t see this person, nor anyone from his firm listed. The most glaring give-away was their website — totally awful wording and poor grammar. I am so glad I decided to search the internet for any scams like this. I wasn’t sure what I would find, but so glad that you all shared enough details about the previous iterations, that I feel reasonably certain these folks are just another bunch trying to take advantage. Full disclosure, I, too, received communications from a “Mr. Nolan” and a “Jesse Martinez”. I did send my resume, and then was later told, that their PE client’s deal had a COI. I never sent any money (nor was I asked), and did not share anything more than what was listed on LinkedIn. See the latest iteration:

    New Executive Level Opportunities

    Jose Phillips

    Hello Lave,

    I hope that this message finds you well.

    I am senior executive recruiter for C-Suite Recruitment Inc., a recruitment firm in New York that provides professional executive recruiting and consultancy services.

    I am writing to you to see if you might be interested in exploring new career opportunities?
    Based on your professional experience, I think that you are a very credible candidate for one of the open leadership positions that our client is looking to fill. The client is a reputable company that offers very competitive salary packages with benefits.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply to this email with updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call. Know that this is a retained search and that you will never be asked to pay any fees.

    Hoping to hear from you!

    Best regards,

    Jose Phillips
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    C-Suite Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.c-suiterecruitment.com
    312 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Suite 415,

    Midtown New York, NY 10001

    1- 800-709-1319 x102

  36. I got the same c-suiterecruitment.com email, word-for-word identical to yours. No LinkedIn presence for the company or recruiter. A search on archive.org shows that their web site is only a week old, with zero presence in any previous year. Definitely a scam.

  37. Here we go again… LOL!!!suite 203 is on the THIRD floor, and no one in NYC uses “Chelsea” as a mailing address:

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at HirePro Recruiting. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Brad Larsen
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    linkedin.com/in/brad-larsen

    HirePro Recruiting
    http://www.hireprorecruiting.com

    124 West 30th Street, 3rd Floor – Suite 203
    Chelsea New York, NY 10001

  38. I worked for this guy. At the beginning of when he started all this. Nick I tried to contact you on Facebook for my message.

  39. Brad just reached out to me this week too. These scammers are too much.The email smelled bogus – no phone number, wanted my resume yet I seemed like a good fit, said his firms name was Work Force Recruiting but had a logo with Workforce Recruit as the name. So I googled, I saw this and then decided to engage to see where this would go for fun. These are my back and forth emails with “Brad” for your enjoyment. Thanks for the deep dive!!! Craig Chrest is on Facebook for people who like to go deep like I do!

    From: Brad Steele
    Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 1:09 PM
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Not available for calls before the initial process.

    With my best,
    Recruitment Specialist
    101 West Broadway, Suite 300
    San Diego, California 92101
    http://www.workforce-recruit.com

    From: Me
    Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 7:57 PM
    To: Brad Steele
    Subject: Re: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Have time for a quick call first? Let me know the best number to reach you at as I didn’t see one in your email signature! Thanks

    On Apr 18, 2018, at 7:52 AM, Brad Steele wrote:

    As mentioned earlier, your resume is required for the initial process with client. I am sorry that I can’t disclose any information at this stage. Thanks

    From: Me
    Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 3:34 AM
    To: Brad Steele
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    What would I be a candidate for? What type of position?

    From: Brad Steele
    Sent: Friday, April 6, 2018 10:27 AM
    To: Me
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,

    My name is Brad Steele and I am a recruiting specialist in Work Force Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. One of our clients is in final stages of acquiring a mid-sized company in your industry for a turn-around opportunity in partnership of a large private equity firm. They plan to replace most of the teams over the next few months.

    I was referred to you by an independent talent sourcing expert and based on your qualification & experience I think you are a very credible candidate. I thought I would send you a quick email to see if you are interested in exploring new opportunity.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    With my best
    Brad Steele
    Recruitment Specialist
    101 West Broadway, Suite 300
    San Diego, California 92101
    http://www.workforce-recruit.com

  40. Received similar email and didn’t realize it was a scam until I got the response back and recognized the wording from something I had seen in 2017. I only gave my resume, nothing else. Here is the latest name they are under:
    Hello Stacy,

    We just got off the phone meeting with the client. Unfortunately the deal fell apart due to some conflict of interest. This is a surprise for us as we were under the impression that deal was already completed and were expecting to get our retainer agreement signed today. There is another investor who is interested and we have already sent them an intro email, if they complete the acquisition we will try our best to get back on the project.

    I really appreciate your time and interest and I am sorry about how this turned out and I hope you understand, this has nothing to do with your candidacy. This is just how these things work sometimes. If you let me know your salary, location and any other important requirements I can forward it to my colleagues and see if there is another matching opportunity.

    I will keep your contact information saved and will contact you if something similar comes up in the future. I wish and hope things work out better for everyone. Again, thank you very much for your time, and good luck with your search. Let’s try to stay in touch via email incase something else comes up in the future but either way, I wish you best of luck with your search.

    Best regards,

    Tom Walsh
    Executive Recruiter

    Stark Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.starkrecruiters.com

    156 5th Avenue, 8th Floor, Union Square
    New York, NY 10010
    +1 800-462-8695 x21

  41. I got the same email from Stark Recruiters, and today I got this email:

    Hello,

    My name is Charlene Dackerman and I am a recruiting specialist in Work Force Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. One of our clients is in final stages of acquiring a mid-sized company in your industry for a turn-around opportunity in partnership of a large private equity firm. They plan to replace most of the teams over the next few months.

    I was referred to you by an independent talent sourcing expert and based on your qualification & experience I think you are a very credible candidate. I thought I would send you a quick email to see if you are interested in exploring new opportunity.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    With my best,
    Recruitment Specialist
    101 West Broadway, Suite 300
    San Diego, California 92101
    +1 888-767-1104 x22
    http://www.workforce-recruit.com
    for email

  42. I got the same one from Stark Recruiters that Stacy D got. I had supplied a resume earlier but never did the resume appraisal that they were trying to get me to do. I had gotten the Finnburg Switzer scam back in 2016 and the Jim Zak scam a few months later and all the emails from those the one below that I just got today are identical.

    Hello Thomas,
    We just got off the phone meeting with the client. Unfortunately the deal fell apart due to some conflict of interest. This is a surprise for us as we were under the impression that deal was already completed and were expecting to get our retainer agreement signed today. There is another investor who is interested and we have already sent them an intro email, if they complete the acquisition we will try our best to get back on the project.

    I really appreciate your time and interest and I am sorry about how this turned out and I hope you understand, this has nothing to do with your candidacy. This is just how these things work sometimes. If you let me know your salary, location and any other important requirements I can forward it to my colleagues and see if there is another matching opportunity.

    I will keep your contact information saved and will contact you if something similar comes up in the future. I wish and hope things work out better for everyone. Again, thank you very much for your time, and good luck with your search. Let’s try to stay in touch via email incase something else comes up in the future but either way, I wish you best of luck with your search.
    Best regards,
    Tom Walsh
    Executive Recruiter
    Stark Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.starkrecruiters.com
    156 5th Avenue, 8th Floor, Union Square
    New York, NY 10010
    +1 800-462-8695 x21

  43. I got exactly the same email after I sent my resume. He was trying to get me to subscribe to some resume fixing service because supposedly it didn’t fit their system and I told him i was not interested.

    • Hi – I have been hit with the same scam and like a dolt I fell for it. I did pay to have my resume made “ATS Compliant.” But it did not seem to be a recurring fee. Do you happen to know how I can check?

  44. Registered Nov 2012:
    http://www.krgrecruiting.com/about.html

    Registered May 2018
    http://globalperecruit.com/about.php

    More than 1 site with the same people and text.
    James Moore
    CEO & C0-FOUNDER

    Steven Patrick
    SENIOR EXECUTIVE RECRUITER

    Brian Smith
    EXECUTIVE RECRUITER

    Rachel Dolezal
    MANAGING DIRECTOR

    Email:

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Steven Patrick and I am a Senior Executive Recruiter in Global PE Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Steven Patrick

    Senior Executive Recruiter

    +1 (917) 994-7795

    Global PE Recruiting

    http://www.globalperecruit.com

    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District

    New York, NY 10038

  45. I was hit by this scam last year. And was just contacted again. Last year they used JS Recruiting, this year its FS Recruiting. I did sign the NDA last year and got the same response about the deal falling through. They also said my resume didn’t fit but I was not asked to pay anything. I looked up their website and some of the officers on Linkedin before I signed it. I also spoke to Jeff Wilson on the phone and he sounded legit. However, I felt uncomfortable afterwards and notified my bank to be alert for any unauthorized transactions. Within a few days my bank account was hacked and they attempted to steal more than $7000 from my accounts. Even though I never gave any financial information, it is my belief that they used the NDA doc or software to plant spyware on my laptop. I think its also possible, they use this to match up data stolen through all the large scale hacks to match up credentials.

  46. exact same story as Kate for myself, including $7000 from bank account, except the bank account was not hacked, but via a phone call to the bank these people were able to convince the bank to send the $7000 to another account electronically. They were able to fool the bank by spoofing my phone number (the phone number they called the bank electronically appeared to be my home phone number). The phone number coupled with other info was enough to convince the bank. The bank then called me to confirm within the hour, realizing their error quickly, but not quick enough to have lost the $7k in the wire transfer that had already occurred.

  47. I just fallen twice, first time with C-Suite Recruitment Inc. and now with FS Recruitment. They’ve used exactly the same plot of COI with their client, which did look strange even the first time.

    Has anyone tried to report them to FBI Internet crime complaint center or other agencies? Should I even try?

  48. Here is the one I received today:

    Hello Christopher,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at FS Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best regards,

    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    FS Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.fsrecruiting.com
    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403, Midtown
    New York, NY 10036

    Toll Free
    +1 866-302-3881?x11

    • Funny how no one ever answers the phone at these firms.

  49. Received another of those same letters today (same wording as the one CMC above received). It was from David Miller, Sr Executive Recruiter at ProRecruiting Solutions, Inc at 1450 Broadway, 7th Floor, NY, NY 10018 with a phone number of 888-398-0230. I called, no one answers and it goes to voicemail.

    • Just got the exact same email from the same person:

      Hello James,

      I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at ProRecruiting Solutions Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

      If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

      P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

      Best Regards,

      David Miller
      Senior Executive Recruiter

      ProRecruiting Solutions Inc.
      http://www.prorecruitingsolutions.com
      1450 Broadway 7th floor,
      New York, NY 10018, USA

  50. Here is one from Tiffany (they are getting smarter about the address, note they leave it out):

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Tiffany Carter and I am a Recruiting Director in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B
    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter

    Executive Search Director

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    FS Recruiting Inc.

    New York, NY 10036

    • Has anyone tried calling the number provided? I’ve called a few of them. Never an answer. Just an automated system that leads to voicemail and a hangup.

      Has anyone filed a complaint anywhere?

      I love the addresses they list in their mail and on the various websites. Try chasing them down — great fun.

  51. I received similar email today – November 1, 2018 from David Miller, ProRecruiting Solutions Inc.

    The Scam continues. However saying in email there are no fees, but think that is just an attempt to pull you in initially.

    Here is the email I received today.

    From: David Miller
    Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2018 1:17 PM
    To: XXXXXX
    Subject: Executive Level Job Opportunities (ProRecruiting Solutions Inc)

    Hello

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at ProRecruiting Solutions Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best Regards,
    David Miller
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    ProRecruiting Solutions Inc.
    http://www.prorecruitingsolutions.com
    1450 Broadway 7th floor,
    New York, NY 10018, USA

  52. I received an email from David Miller, ProRecruiting Solutions, Inc.

    Hello Jessie,
    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at ProRecruiting Solutions Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.
    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.
    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.
    Best Regards,
    David Miller
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    ProRecruiting Solutions Inc.
    http://www.prorecruitingsolutions.com
    1450 Broadway 7th floor,
    New York, NY 10018, USA

  53. Another scam:

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,

    Jeff Walker

    Sr. Recruiting Specialist

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    FS Recruiting Inc.

    https://fsrecruitinginc.com

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403

    Midtown New York, NY 10036

    Then:

    Your experience is convincing. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.

    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.

    Best Regards,

    Jeff Walker

    Sr. Recruiting Specialist

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    FS Recruiting Inc.

    https://fsrecruitinginc.com

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403

    Midtown New York, NY 10036

  54. Latest fake recruiter to join the fray with the same BS language. Thankful my red-flag radar picked up on this pretty quickly and I stopped responding. Since this message below, they’ve sent me one more trying to keep up a dialogue. Let’s expose these scumbags:

    I am still having the same issue with your resume. I asked my colleague and apparently it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to get a free resume review from https://www.resumereviews.net and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

    We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we dont have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

    For reasons of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any details of the vacancy or company with you at this time, unfortunately. However, we have a meeting scheduled with the client on Tuesday next week, and I would love to discuss the opportunity with you in detail after that.

    I will be available for a call any time on Wednesday next week. Simply reply to this email and let me know the time that suits you best and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

    I look forward to speaking with you.

    Best regards,

    John Hazelwood
    Executive Recruiter

    JBR Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.jbrrecruitment.com
    510 West 22nd Street, Suite 210,
    New York, NY 10011, USA

  55. JBR is a complete fraud. I got the same email from Kevin Luther. There isn’t anything on the internet for this company other than a fake web site.

  56. I received an email from JBR Recruitment with the same wording as well.

  57. Also received the same email, the same wording and everything from Kevin Luther at JBR. Glad I found this thread! What an awful scam.

  58. “Kevin Luther” from “JBR Recruitment” emailed me today as well. Exact same content as the many above.

  59. yes – me too. Thanks to all of you for the heads up! I found your postings after receiving a JBR email and doing my due diligence on these dogs. NONE of the about us staff are on LinkedIn which is a red flag in my opinion since they claim to be a recruiter.

  60. Thanks to all for sharing the solicitations from fake recruiters. You’re all starting to get it. Do your research and vetting! I’ve stopped digging carefully into each one as it comes along — they’re like dung flies. A few tips:

    Look for names of the firm’s owners on the website. No names, no dice.

    If you find names, Google them and check LinkedIn, as many of you are doing.

    Look for physical address of the firm. Read it carefully. We’ve seen some funky ones, like “Manhattan, NYC” or “Midtown New York, NY 10036.” !!!!

    Google Earth the address. Is it real? Identify the building management company and call them. Do they recognize the firm? I’ve had some great laffs doing this!

    Copy a chunk of the e-mail solicitation and paste it into the SEARCH box on this website. You will likely find another iteration of the scam has already used it.

    If nobody answers the phone, you know all you need to know.

    If there’s a photo of the guy on the website, copy it, save it, go to Google Images and upload it. If you find a match with a different ID, you’re done. If you find no match at all, you’re done again.

    If they tell you your resume can’t be scanned, it’s all you need to know. This is the main M.O.

    If they want money up front for ANYTHING, tell them to go take a flying leap into a cactus bush.

    Did they send you a non-disclosure agreement? No legit search firm ever does that.

    Then ask yourself, how did they find me? Then ask them. If it was on LinkedIn, odds are high it’s a scam. That’s not “search,” that’s dumpster diving. (Yes, even legit headhunters dumpster dive and that’s a sign they’re gonna waste your time, too.) A headhunter that gets paid a standard fee — 20%-30% of the position’s salary — is going to do real work to find good candidates, not skim the listings on Linked.

    Then keep one painful thing in mind, folks — anyone who “finds” you as easy as that didn’t find you. They’re working you like all the others.

    Be careful out there, people!

  61. I got the same email frim Jeff Walker this past week, and I have to admit I was falling for it. Ironically, not for myself. I wanted to find out about the position because I have several friends who recently got laid off, and I wanted to recommend them. I sent my resume, and got the email back that it was not ATS compatible. So now they recommend a website to make your resume ATS readable. The website they promote is called cmsresumes.com. I went to that website and they charge $40 to redo the resume. I got lucky; the links don’t work to order the service. So I emailed to find out how to order. Luckily I started to get suspicious about that and started searching for JS Recruiting, Jeff Walker, and CMS Resumes. I found this site. I’m worried I may have downloaded malware to my laptop by clicking on the site. Thank you for this website. I’ll be more in guard in the future. I’m attaching the text of both emails. Hopefully it helps someone.

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc..com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

    The second email:

    Hello,

    Your experience is convincing. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.

    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

    • If Jeff Walker and FS Recruiting are legit, I invite him to contact me to explain why the listed telephone number does not answer or acknowledge who is behind the number.

      Folks: Always do these tests before you respond to any such solicitation:

      1. GoogleMap the address. Is it legit? Nobody lists “Financial District” on a NYC address.
      2. Call the phone number using *67 to block your caller ID. Does a real person answer? If you get voicemail, does it tell you whom you have reached? The number listed for JS does not answer usefully.
      3. Google the name of the person who solicited you. Jeff Walker does not turn up any useful results.
      4. Copy the picture of the person you find on the firm’s website and upload it to Google Images. What results do you get? I can’t find any useful results for Jeff Walker.
      5. Cross-check contact information. The address for JS on its website does not match the address on a “press release” about the firm.

      I repeat: If Walker and JS are legit, I invite them to post here and explain.

    • The importance of researching recruiters:

      The management team at FS Recruiting appears not to exist on LinkedIn. The firm isn’t listed, either. No profiles for:

      Vernon Smith
      Jeff Walker
      Fred Green
      Tiffany Carter

      What recruiting firm doesn’t have a presence on the leading professional networking service?

      If I’m missing something and these folks would like to correct the impression, I invite them to post here and explain.

    • Then there’s CMSResumes.com, the firm that FS Recruiting suggests you pay to re-format your resume so the ATS machines can read it. The management team is:

      David Dhris
      Paul Adler

      But neither has a LinkedIn profile. The only Google results for either of them is a connection to CMSResumes.com — nothing else.

      Uploading their photos to Google Images turns up no matches.

      What does turn up connected to the same names and photos is another resume formatting service, ResumeExperts.com.

      Neither firm has a street address or phone number. Paul Adler, however, has penetrating eyes! If I’m mistaken about any of this, I invite Messrs. Adler and Chris to post here and explain.

  62. Nick, thank you for your help in exposing this resume scam. They’re at it again, this time under the guise of HTT Recruiting:

    From: Andres Robinson
    Date: March 11, 2019 at 1:11:05 PM EDT

    Subject: Re: New Executive Level Opportunities
    Reply-To: Andres Robinson
    Hello,

    This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am team leader on this project and have received your information from Mr. Martinez.
    I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call.
    I am having trouble uploading your resume in our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is.
    Best regards,
    Andres Robinson
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    HTT Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.httrecruiting.com
    25 West 43rd St, Suite 211
    Midtown West, New York, NY 10036
    1-844-268-7799 x65

  63. Just got this today. Probably their third attempt in the last several years. First was with C-Suite Recruitment, in which I went through an NDA and deals falling through. First found out about this after reading the “The Ghost in the VC Machine…” article referenced above. When the email starts with “I hope this finds you well,” alarms go off in my head.

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter at SS Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best Regards,

    Steven Lee
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    SS Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.ssrecruiting.com
    110 West 40th Street, 23rd Floor –
    Suite 501, New York, NY 10018
    1- 866-302-7802? x19

  64. Thanks Nick for managing this website. You just saved me some heartburn, and $. Glad I was suspicious and googled this solicitation first.

    Received today:

    Hello David,
    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter at SS Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.
    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.
    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.
    Best Regards,
    Steven Lee
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    SS Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.ssrecruiting.com
    110 West 40th Street, 23rd Floor –
    Suite 501, New York, NY 10018
    1- 866-302-7802 x19

    The phone number rolls over to a non-working voicemail box. The website is generic, supported by a single press release soliciting C-level candidates to submit resumes. Steven Lee at SS Recruiting doesn’t appear to exist on LinkedIn. So, all of your warnings appear accurate and legit. Seems like a miserable and pathetic way to make a living, hope your efforts help these type of scam operations to rot and die on the vine. Thanks!

  65. Here is the latest iteration of this scam. Again, no NYC address is “Midtown West”

    Hello XXXX

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter at BSA Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I got your contact details from one of my recruiter friend and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best Regards,

    Greg Horner
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BSA Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.bsarecruiting.com
    25 West 43rd St, Suite 215,
    Midtown West, New York, NY 10036

    • Midtown West — I’ve seen that kind of address used before on similar solicitations. Any New Yorker would laff their cojones off. These “people” have become quite the Whack-A-Mole, eh?

      “How many 3-letter names before Recruiting, Inc. you GOT???”

    • Got a similar email from Greg Horner and David Kassel. Here is the whois info:

      Contact Information
      Registrant Contact
      Name: Registration Private
      Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
      Mailing Address: DomainsByProxy.com, Scottsdale Arizona 85260 US
      Phone: +1.4806242599
      Ext:
      Fax: +1.4806242598
      Fax Ext:
      Email:bsarecruiting.com@domainsbyproxy.com
      Admin Contact
      Name: Registration Private
      Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
      Mailing Address: DomainsByProxy.com, Scottsdale Arizona 85260 US
      Phone: +1.4806242599
      Ext:
      Fax: +1.4806242598
      Fax Ext:
      Email:bsarecruiting.com@domainsbyproxy.com
      Tech Contact
      Name: Registration Private
      Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
      Mailing Address: DomainsByProxy.com, Scottsdale Arizona 85260 US
      Phone: +1.4806242599
      Ext:
      Fax: +1.4806242598
      Fax Ext:
      Email:bsarecruiting.com@domainsbyproxy.com

    • BSA for BullShit Artists…..Got it, too.

  66. Thank Goodness for Google:

    Greg Horner greg@bsarecruiting.com via amazonses.com
    12:06 PM (3 hours ago)
    to me

    Hello XXXX,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter at BSA Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I got your contact details from one of my recruiter friend and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best Regards,

    Greg Horner
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BSA Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.bsarecruiting.com
    25 West 43rd St, Suite 215,
    Midtown West, New York, NY 10036

    +1-844-329-9298 x29

    • Has anyone ever visited that address? Is it real?

    • I received and thought a little weird too so I decided to play along. Appears that they are in with the resumereviews.net scam. I finally received these emails as I played along:

      Hello XXXXX,

      This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am team leader on this project and have received your information from Mr. Horner.

      I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call.

      I am having trouble uploading your resume in our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is. Did you pay a professional to write this?

      Best regards,

      David Kassel
      Senior Executive Recruiter

      BSA Recruiting Inc.
      http://www.bsarecruiting.com

      25 West 43rd St, Suite 215,
      Midtown West, New York, NY 10036

      +1-844-329-9298 x35

      _______

      Hello XXXXX,

      I am still having the same issue with your resume. I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to get a free resume review from https://www.resumereviews.net and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

      We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

      For reasons of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any details of the vacancy or company with you at this time, unfortunately. However, we have a meeting scheduled with the client on Thursday, and I would love to discuss the opportunity with you in detail after that.

      I will be available for a call any time on Friday. Simply reply to this email and let me know the time that suits you best and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

      I look forward to speaking with you.

      Best regards,

      David Kassel
      Senior Executive Recruiter

      BSA Recruiting Inc.
      http://www.bsarecruiting.com
      25 West 43rd St, Suite 215, Midtown West, New York, NY 10036

      +1-844-329-9298 x35

      • Update today; received the following email. Did a search on the internet for it and like the other ones, part of the scam.

        Hello XXXXX,

        We just got off the phone meeting with the client. Unfortunately the deal fell apart due to some conflict of interest. This is a surprise for us as we were under the impression that deal was already completed and were expecting to get our retainer agreement signed today. There is another investor who is interested and we have already sent them an intro email, if they complete the acquisition we will try our best to get back on the project.

        I really appreciate your time and interest and I am sorry about how this turned out and I hope you understand, this has nothing to do with your candidacy. This is just how these things work sometimes. If you let me know your salary, location and any other important requirements I can forward it to my colleagues and see if there is another matching opportunity.

        I will keep your contact information saved and will contact you if something similar comes up in the future. I wish and hope things work out better for everyone. Again, thank you very much for your time, and good luck with your search. Let’s try to stay in touch via email in case something else comes up in the future but either way, I wish you best of luck with your search.

        Best regards,

        David Kassel
        Senior Executive Recruiter
        BSA Recruiting Inc.
        http://www.bsarecruiting.com
        25 West 43rd St, Suite 215, Midtown West, New York, NY 10036
        +1-844-329-9298 x35

    • HERE’S A NEW NAME FOR BS RECRUITING INC (Pretty Funny name, really): Not on LI, Website typos, appear to have stolen the ID of another recruiting company that is probably legit: https://www.signium.com/assnfe/companydirectory.asp?MODE=FINDRESULTS

      Hello Jeanine,
      I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring part-time or full-time consulting opportunities. I am a Senior Executive Recruiter at BS Executive Recruitment Inc. If you are interested to learn more, please reply back to this email.

      P.S. This is a retained search and we get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

      Best Regards,
      Robert Scott
      Senior Executive Recruiter
      BS Executive Recruitment Inc.
      55 Water Street
      Water Street Corridor
      New York, NY 10041, USA
      http://www.bsexecutiverecruitment.com
      +1-866-394-2709 x406

      • @Jeanine: “This is a retained search”?? No retained headhunter would send you an e-mail like that! BS indeed! The feds shut down the phony “SevenFigureCarers” and “CJO” — wonder why they haven’t laid into these characters yet?

        https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/12779/ftc-halts-sevenfigurecareers

        • I posted a link to this feed on LinkedIn, Nick. That’s where they’re finding people who are looking, so perhaps if we all post that will help. Is there someone we should report this to?

  67. I received the same letter as James Stewart (above) within the past 2 weeks.

  68. Got the same email on March 29th… looked up Greg Horner on LinkedIn and there’s a recruiter with that name but not affiliated with BSA Recruiting… thanks for this site, I was about to contact them.

  69. Just got this email from Greg Horner and it seemed “off” -So glad I looked at this info here first. Thank you!!

  70. I just got this same email from Greg Horner today (9 April 2018). I looked on LinkedIn: this Greg Horner is not there (odd for any executive recruiter). Then I checked the bsarecruiting.com website and was disgusted with the grammar and syntax errors: certainly not representative of a “top” retained search firm. Then I found this article/post… so I’m gonna pass on Greg’s offer to help me. Thanks for validating my concerns.

  71. Thanks for your site. I also received this sequence of emails…you saved me time, hassle, and disappointment.

  72. I just got an email too from Greg Horner. I went to LinkedIn and found the real Greg Horner who’s profile says “*(FYI … I am not affiliated with BSA Recruiting Inc in any way. There are some emails and press articles circulating using my name and title. It appears BSA Recruiting does not have a presence on LinkedIn and nor do any of their recruiters …)*“ He’s back at it again.

  73. Received the following scam. This time from MKExecutiverecruitement.com.
    Be careful, folks!
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Hello XXXX,
    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring part-time or full-time consulting opportunities. I am a Senior Executive Recruiter at MK Executive Recruitment Inc. I got your contact details from one of my recruiter friends and based on your previous experience, I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested to learn more, please reply back to this email; I will connect you with the Executive Recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.
    P.S. We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.
    Best regards,
    Patrick Johnson
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    MK Executive Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.mkexecutiverecruitment.com
    01 Park Avenue South 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10016
    +1-866-300-1259 x26

  74. I received the same exact emails from 3 different “recruiters”, who all use the same template emails almost exactly copy and paste. I’m wondering if this is consistent with the feature where you can turn on your LinkedIn private visibility to recruiters, and so I’m turning that off.

    Hilariously they all say they “have trouble uploading my resume” and ask if a professional wrote it. Same sample emails as above, including the all the ones JPK posted about the “conflicts of interest” in closing some alleged client’s deal. (In over 15 years of M&A and deal work as a lawyer, I’ve never heard of a conflict of interest killing a deal. What? Please.)

    Here’s a list of all the identical emails I’ve gotten with the same content as JPK posted above, from different scammers:

    12/20/2017 (NOW DEFUNCT)
    Barry Turner
    bary@surgerecruiting.com (sent via amazonses.com)
    bary.t@surgerecruiting.com
    Surge Recruiting Inc.
    surgerecruiting.com
    1115 Broadway, 11th Floor
    NY, NY
    800-349-9039 x 105

    4/12/2018 (NOW DEFUNCT)
    Stanley Philips
    Stanley@recruitmentspace.com
    Recruitment Space Inc.
    recruitmentspace.com
    315 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
    NY, NY 10017
    1800-678-0552 x 31

    4/17/2019 (STILL LIVE!)
    David Kassel* & Greg Horner*
    greg@bsarecruiting.com
    david.k@bsarecruiting.com
    BSA Recruiting
    bsarecruiting.com
    25 West 43rd St., Suite 215
    NY, NY 10036
    1-844-329-9298 x35 and x29

    *both of these REAL recruiters are with REAL firms (not BSA Recruiting) and have warnings consciously placed on their LinkedIn profiles.

    I have several friends who are professional recruiters, and these antics just make me sick. Thank you to everyone for reporting it. It took me a little google stalking, but landed here on this forum. Two recruiters I asked had no idea about this scam; I am informing them tonight.

    As a reminder to everyone – as a candidate you should NEVER be asked to pay for a placement.

    I will be reporting this to the FBI and other agencies and you should too.

  75. Also: if you are receiving these emails with (sent via amazonses.com) after the “from” email address, you can send a complaint using PLAIN TEXT only, no attachments, to abuse@amazonaws.com. I believe they are using this e-commerce marketing platform provided by amazon to perpetuate the spam.

    • This was very helpful and I’ve reported the scammers using that link. THANK YOU, LFB! :)

  76. I received the same exact emails from 3 different “recruiters”, who all use the same template emails almost exactly copy and paste.

    Here’s a list of all the identical emails I’ve gotten with the same content as JPK posted above, from different scammers:

    12/20/2017 (NOW DEFUNCT)
    Barry Turner
    bary@surgerecruiting.com (sent via amazonses.com)
    bary.t@surgerecruiting.com
    Surge Recruiting Inc.
    surgerecruiting.com
    1115 Broadway, 11th Floor
    NY, NY
    800-349-9039 x 105

    4/12/2018 (NOW DEFUNCT)
    Stanley Philips
    Stanley@recruitmentspace.com
    Recruitment Space Inc.
    recruitmentspace.com
    315 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
    NY, NY 10017
    1800-678-0552 x 31

    4/17/2019 (STILL LIVE!)
    David Kassel* & Greg Horner*
    greg@bsarecruiting.com (sent via amazonses.com)
    david.k@bsarecruiting.com (sent via amazonses.com)
    BSA Recruiting
    bsarecruiting.com
    25 West 43rd St., Suite 215
    NY, NY 10036
    1-844-329-9298 x35 and x29

    *both of these REAL recruiters are with REAL firms (not BSA Recruiting) and have warnings consciously placed on their LinkedIn profiles.

  77. I too received a scam email from “Jeff Walker” today.

    Fortunately, my memory is exceptional so I recalled having received an email from a “Jeff Walker” in the last year. I did a search of my emails and found that “Jeff Walker” had contacted me in October 2018. In both instances, I replied but did not provide what “he” requested and I never got a reply. Since no job description was provided and I could not verify “Jeff Walker” on LinkedIn nor did he, nor anyone at his company, answer the telephones, my red alert went off like it did would do for James Tiberius Kirk.

    Do note that the FS Recruiting Inc site has changed their domain name since last October, as the email address “Jeff” used to contact me October 2018 is:
    Jeff Walker jeff@fsrecruiting.com.

    While the one “he” used April 2019 (today) is:
    Jeff Walker jeff.walker@fsrecruitinginc.com.

    ======================================
    ======================================
    This is the email from today:

    From: Jeff Walker [mailto:jeff.walker@fsrecruitinginc.com]
    Sent: Monday, April 29, 2019 8:27 AM
    To: xxxxxxx
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We cannot disclose client information until the candidate e-sign our standard NDA.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

    ==========================================
    ==========================================
    While the one from October 2018 is:
    ( Note: My name is not Drew but that is how it was addressed)

    From: Jeff Walker [mailto:jeff@fsrecruiting.com]
    Sent: Monday, October 01, 2018 12:13 PM
    To: Drew
    Subject: New Executive Level Opportunities (FS Recruiting Inc)

    Hello Drew,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am senior executive recruiter at FS Recruiting Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best regards,

    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    FS Recruiting Inc.
    http://www.fsrecruiting.com

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403, Midtown
    New York, NY 10036

    Toll Free
    +1 866-302-3881×11

  78. Hello Nick.

    I fell victim to the PEH scam but never pursued legal recourse. Are you aware of a statute of limitations or how far back credit card companies are issuing refunds as this was several years ago?

    Also, I was recently contacted by MK Executive Recruiters with an exact chain mail published in the comments section of this site.

    Thanks for your diligence.

    • @Mike: I would pursue all avenues at the same time. File for a chargeback with your credit card/bank. File a complaint with the FBI, because the scam is inter-state. File a complaint with the FTC. Both law enforcement agencies have easy forms online. File a complaint with your state’s attorney general’s office and its department of consumer affairs, which probably regulates employment agencies. Also file with the US attorney in your state. It’ll take a bit of time, but with that many seeds in the ground, something should pay off. This is how others tackled this. Craig Chrest sued me for publishing these articles. The FTC shut down all his businesses and froze his assets, compiled over 800 pages of evidence and testimony and now has him in federal court on inter-state wire fraud and other charges. The federal judge in my case considered that and dismissed Chrest’s case against me. More here: https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/12779/ftc-halts-sevenfigurecareers

      Like they say, for evil to triumph, good people must do nothing. I urge you to file complaints. The FTC’s purpose in these cases is to seize assets from culprits so they can give restitution to victims. The FTC may already have your information, but I’d make sure.

  79. Greatly appreciated Nick!

  80. Tiffany is hard at work again.

    * * *
    From: Tiffany Carter [mailto:tiffanycarter@fsrecruitinginc.com]
    Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 10:36 AM
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Tiffany Carter and I am a Recruiting Director in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

    * * *

    From: Tiffany Carter [mailto:tiffanycarter@fsrecruitinginc.com]
    Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 5:59 PM
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,

    You experience is convincing. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.

    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

  81. I received this email on Monday, June 17, 2019 and on Wednesday, they still have not called. So I am sure I am the lucky one. The individuals do not have a profile on LinkedIn or the company a page. So, I am also wondering about the no phone number on…. wait for it…. Mrs. Nancy Potter, who emailed me without a phone number. So…. maybe I avoided the scam.

    Hello Beth,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring part-time or full-time consulting opportunities. I am a Senior Executive Recruiter at BS Executive Recruitment Inc. If you are interested to learn more, please reply back to this email.

    P.S. This is a retained search and we get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best Regards,

    Robert Scott
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BS Executive Recruitment Inc.

    55 Water Street
    Water Street Corridor
    New York, NY 10041, USA

    http://www.bsexecutiverecruitment.com

    +1-866-394-2709 x406

  82. Here is the latest from BS Executive Recruitment – be aware: they try to get you to do a personal website…

    Dear XXXX,

    I will use your LinkedIn, I don’t need more details from you at the moment. Based on your professional experience I believe that you are the right candidate for the consulting opportunities.

    Regarding your personal website, I recommend you to use some free resources and get a personal site. As for exploring new jobs/consulting opportunities, a personal website is a very effective tool, where you can showcase your expertise and services in much more detail. Moreover, it readily depicts a certain level of tech-savviness. A personal website is an easy way to say “Not only am I good at what I do, but I’m up on current best practices as well.” Today, nearly every job function touches digital in some way, so showing a level of tech-savviness can only benefit.

    You may try the free resources below:

    http://www.digitalresumes.net

    http://www.portfoliobox.net

    For reasons of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any details of the company with you at this time, unfortunately. However, we have a meeting scheduled with the client on Tuesday next week, and I would love to discuss the opportunity with you in detail after that. I will be available for a call any time on Wednesday next week. Simply reply to this email and let me know the time that suits you best and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and, in the meantime, please try to get your personal site done if it’s possible for you it will make a good impression on the client.

    I look forward to speaking with you.

    Regards,

    Nancy Potter
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BS Executive Recruitment Inc.

    55 Water Street
    Water Street Corridor
    New York, NY 10041, USA

  83. Great article. Stunning, Thanks for the excellent outline

  84. Huh, these guys contacted me too – exactly the same ask. When I asked for contact details they vanished.

  85. BS Executive Recruitment reached out to me with exact same email (nothing wrong with that), and have that 866-394-2709 x406 in the signature, but I am a very-early retired Software Engineer and chose not to reply their email.

  86. Just received this email that matches others listed in these comments word for word:

    Hello David,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter at MK Executive Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Best Regards,

    Patrick Johnson
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    MK Executive Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.mkexecutiverecruitment.com
    01 Park Avenue South 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10016

    +1-866-300-1259 x26

  87. Thank you so much for writing this. I was contacted by one of these firms.

    “Nancy Potter”, who you mention above is now working with the appropriately named recruiting firm, BSexecutiverecruitment.com. Here’s the email she sent after I had shown interest:

    Thanks for the details. I will use your LinkedIn, I don’t need more details from you at the moment. Based on your professional experience I believe that you are the right candidate for the consulting opportunities.

    Regarding your personal website, I recommend you to use some free resources and get a personal site. As for exploring new jobs/consulting opportunities, a personal website is a very effective tool, where you can showcase your expertise and services in much more detail. Moreover, it readily depicts a certain level of tech-savviness. A personal website is an easy way to say “Not only am I good at what I do, but I’m up on current best practices as well.” Today, nearly every job function touches digital in some way, so showing a level of tech-savviness can only benefit.

    You may try the free resources below:

    http://www.thedigitalresumes.com

    http://www.portfoliobox.net

    For reasons of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any details of the company with you at this time, unfortunately. However, we have a meeting scheduled with the client on Tuesday next week, and I would love to discuss the opportunity with you in detail after that. I will be available for a call any time on Wednesday next week. Simply reply to this email and let me know the time that suits you best and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and, in the meantime, please try to get your personal site done if it’s possible for you it will make a good impression on the client.

    I look forward to speaking with you.

    Regards,

    Nancy Potter
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BS Executive Recruitment Inc.

    55 Water Street
    Water Street Corridor
    New York, NY 10041, USA

    • @HKW: When an “executive recruiter” wants you for a big job based only on your LinkedIn profile without even talking with you, you know one thing: The “big job” is akin to the one my friend’s 5 year-old refers to when he needs to go potty.

      “Water Street Corridor”??? “USA”???

      Give us a break! Thanks for posting the entire solicitation. I’d be careful about those two websites.

  88. I was contacted by Robert Scott and Nancy Potter with the exact same email. I did my due diligence, as well– there is no LinkedIn presence for either of them, but interesting that when you type in “BS Executive Search, 55 Water Street, New York” in Google Maps, “Ladders” pops up.

  89. Totally hit with the same Nancy Potter BS. After following up a couple times, here is what I got, total BS.

    *****

    Hello XXX,

    We just got off a conference call meeting with our client. After an extended discussion, the deal fell apart due to a conflict of interests. We will no longer be able to facilitate your placement within this company, unfortunately. This comes as a surprise to us, actually, as we were under the impression that this was a done deal.

    In any event, please accept my sincere apologies for the disappointment and inconvenience. We really appreciate your time and interest in this position, and I am very sorry about how this turned out. It is just how these things go sometimes. I would like you to know that this had nothing to do with your worthiness as a candidate.

    Sorry again. Wishing you the best of luck!

    Regards,

    Nancy Potter
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    BS Executive Recruitment Inc.

    55 Water Street
    Water Street Corridor
    New York, NY 10041, USA

  90. This weeks letter used my last name

    Hello Knight,

    This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am the team leader on this project and have received your information from Mr. Smith.

    I will check my schedule and let you know a few time slots for a brief phone call tomorrow.

    I am having trouble uploading your resume in our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is.

    Best regards,
    Barry Linder
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    MM Executive Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.mmexecutiverecruitment.com
    590 Broadway Suite 201 – 2nd Floor
    New York, NY 10012

    1- 800-551-1691? x26

  91. @David: You could call the number with the ? at the end and talk with Mr. Linder. Ask him to talk with the professional resume writer you used to discuss the problem. I’ve already called many of these numbers – never an answer, always the same-sounding “voice” saying no one is available. Or, if you’re in NYC, go visit 590 Broadway. Bring a cop.

  92. Welcome Jerry Burman!
    (Note when you go to the website it has a phone number with a “518” area code…that’s upstate NY, not NYC)

    Hello Glen,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of FX Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Jerry Burman
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    FX Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.fxrecruitment.com
    118 E 28th Street
    Suite 302 – 3rd Floor
    New York, NY 10016

  93. Now they are passing themselves off as “FX Recruitment” and “Jerry Burman,” who has no presence on LinkedIn or online, except for the dubious FXRecruitment.com website.

    While the note mentions that I “will not be asked to… pay any fees,” no doubt there are opportunities to elevate my candidacy through a financial “contribution”….

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of FX Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Jerry Burman
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    FX Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.fxrecruitment.com

  94. Thanks all who have putin the time to alert others. I received the following:

    Hello ,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of FX Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Jerry Burman
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    FX Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.fxrecruitment.com

    118 E 28th Street
    Suite 302 – 3rd Floor
    New York, NY 10016

  95. .I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker

    Senior Executive Recruiter

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    FS Recruiting Inc.

    https://fsrecruitinginc.com

    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District

    New York, NY 10038

    logo_fsrecruitinginc..another one from FS. This time the name was Jeff

    • “Financial District” is not a part of ANY New York City address.

  96. I received the same email from FSRecruting. It was from Tiffany Carter. I am glad I did not send any info. I emailed back that I was not sending my resume without knowing who was receiving the resume. Tiffany said she must have it and I will then sign an NDA BEFORE SHE CAN DISCLOSE information. I realized that it was a scam. Why would anyone have their resume submitted to a potential employer, without knowing who that employer is? the applicant may not want to work for that employer?

    • @AMA: A recruiter demanding you sign an NDA is so rare it’s not even worth talking about. And anyone that signs an NDA without meeting the parties involved and knowing exactly what the NDA covers is looking for trouble.

      More to the point, why would anyone give ANY personal information to an unknown solicitor?? Just because they claim to be recruiting you doesn’t mean they’re legit. Please, folks! THINK! Would you turn such info over to someone offering to sell you a timeshare?

      “RECRUITING” has become a vector for identity theft.

      AMA, good for you for seeing through a scam.

  97. First of all, Thank You to everyone for sharing this information. Tiffany has been bugging me since last week. My initial hunch that something was off was correct, especially since I could not find her on LinkedIn, plus the referral to a third-party resume company seemed very dodgy, PLUS: what the hell is an ATS Compatible Resume?! I mean, I know now because I Googled it, but I figured that I would have heard of this before. I did send her my resumes in a different format (not the ATS Compatible one she was requesting, which – in over 25 years of job-searching – I had never even heard of), and the final penny dropped when she followed up again, today, with urgency. So, I Googled “fs recruiting inc compliant resume” and here I am. Needless to say, I am never responding to her again.

    Here are my email exchanges:

    —–Original Message—–
    From: Tiffany Carter
    To: ‘John Christovassilis’
    Sent: Mon, Aug 12, 2019 8:36 am
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello, when should I expect receiving your ATS compliant resume?

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038
    logo_fsrecruitinginc

    From: Tiffany Carter [mailto:tiffany_carter@fsrecruitinginc.com]
    Sent: Friday, August 9, 2019 8:24 PM
    To: ‘John Christovassilis’
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    This did not work as well. Issue is not related to the file version. Your resume needs to be optimized. Please have it optimized by the recommended team https://cmsresumes.com

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038
    logo_fsrecruitinginc

    From: John Christovassilis
    Sent: Friday, August 9, 2019 7:28 PM
    To: tiffany_carter@fsrecruitinginc.com
    Subject: Re: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hi Tiffany,

    Word versions attached. Hope they work.

    Very Best Regards,
    John Christovassilis

    —–Original Message—–
    From: Tiffany Carter
    To: ‘John Christovassilis’
    Sent: Fri, Aug 9, 2019 8:12 am
    Subject: RE: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello John,

    Your experience is convincing. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.

    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038
    logo_fsrecruitinginc

    From: John Christovassilis
    Sent: Friday, August 9, 2019 1:20 AM
    To: tiffany_carter@fsrecruitinginc.com
    Subject: Re: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hi Tiffany,

    Many thanks for your email. Please find attached my most recent Short Resume (with Intro) and Full CV.

    I am interested in exploring new opportunities, preferably in the Washington, D.C. metro area, or working remotely.

    Very Best Regards,
    John Christovassilis

    —–Original Message—–

    From: Tiffany Carter
    To: thejpc {she only put my email address here, not my name}
    Sent: Thu, Aug 8, 2019 9:18 am
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Tiffany Carter and I am a Recruiting Director in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

  98. Nick –

    The scam is apparently still alive and well. This morning I received the following email:

    From: Greg Berry
    Date: Wed, Aug 14, 2019 at 10:18 AM
    Subject: New Executive Level Opportunities
    To: Jonathan

    Hello Jonathan,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of TQ Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Greg Berry
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    TQ Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.tqrecruitment.com

    54 W 21st St Suite- 260 – 4th Floor

    New York, NY 10010

    It looked fine when I first opened the email on my phone, but when I sat down at a full size monitor and took another look, I noticed a few things that made me suspicious.

    First red flag – which you actually can’t see in the quoted email below – is that the “from” address actually showed “greg@tqrecruitment.com via amazonses.com”. So the email actually went out via amazon’s “simple email service”, designed for bulk mail, and used heavily by spammers; I’ve read estimates that perhaps half of their outgoing traffic (or more) is spam.

    Next – I clicked on the link in his sig for their website. It’s a mediocre generic recruiting agency site — likely cloned, but with no specific info about clients, roles, etc. The social media icons in the footer only point to facebook, twitter and linkedin home pages — nothing specific to this purported recruiting company’s website. I tried searching for the firm — and the only hit is a page on Medium that they posted themselves, and it has notable errors (like their email address being listed as something like “emailaddress@domainname.com” — i.e., “your name goes here”).

    Angry but intrigued, I went to the About page on the website:
    http://www.tqrecruitment.com/about.html

    I see four portraits and four names. Searching for the names yields no connections at all re: recruiting. Reverse searching the photos lead me to one other recruiting site:
    http://fsrecruitinginc.com/about.php

    Compare the two pages side by side, and you’ll see the same four faces, but different names:

    Frank Hynes == Vernon Smith
    Greg Berry == Jeff Walker
    Gary Hill == Fred Green
    Lauren Johnson == Tiffany Carter

    I then tried a search on their phone number — and it comes up on all the scam phone call lists and also points to a page on the “scamguard.com” website for a company supposedly called, “TBrecruiting”:
    https://www.scamguard.com/tbrecruitingcom/

    I see that “tbrecruiting” also appears in comments here as another iteration of the scam.

    The site itself is gone, but running a google search your article here: “Who’s behind the SevenFigureCareers recruiting scam?”.

    I read the FTC’s temporary restraining order against Chress and his associates, but it expired this past March, and he’s clearly at it again. It’s inconceivable to me that this guy is able to continue running his scam, even after facing off against the FTC — and you — in court.

    One of the criteria that would normally trigger the FBI’s interest in criminal activity is, “A crime where the criminal conduct crosses state lines, for example, an Internet fraud scheme the has victims and perpetrators in multiple states”. I’d think this would qualify.

    How can this guy be stopped once and for all?

    – Jon

    • Also “Suite 260” generally would not be found on the fourth floor of any building. Just sayin’

  99. I just received this one

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of TQ Recruitment Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Greg Berry
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    TQ Recruitment Inc.
    http://www.tqrecruitment.com

    54 W 21st St Suite- 260 – 4th Floor

    New York, NY 10010

  100. I just received this one:

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of SE Headhunters Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Erik Knight
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    SE Headhunters Inc
    http://www.seheadhunters.com

    119 W 23rd St 5th Floor

    New York, NY 10011

  101. I would dearly love to see these jokers in jail.

  102. Well, just received mine also from Tiffany!

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Tiffany Carter and I am a Recruiting Director in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Tiffany Carter
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038

    Hope they ALL riot in JAIL!!!!

  103. Scammers contacted me too! They have a website and everything. Did my homework and the executive recruiters are stock images and the office space is empty ready for leasing. Furthermore, no Linkedin profile and web domain is hosted by a proxy company. I have contacted the FBI and reported it. Sent them a nice note as well.

    Hello Robert,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of SE Headhunters Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Erik Knight
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    SE Headhunters Inc
    http://www.seheadhunters.com

    119 W 23rd St 5th Floor

    New York, NY 10011

  104. It’s been a while but they’re back:

    From: Kevin Root
    To: John
    Sent: Wed, Oct 23, 2019 10:58 am
    Subject: Executive Level Job Opportunities

    Hello John,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of The Executives Hiring Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Kevin Root
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    The Executives Hiring Inc
    http://www.theexecutiveshiring.com
    400 Madison Ave 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10017.

  105. NOTE TO ALL:

    If you believe you have been contacted by a scammer, use this link to submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, which has already shut down SevenFigureCareers, CJOnly, Finnburg Switzer, ResumeterPro and several other fake companies.

    https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/GettingStarted?NextQID=409&Url=%23%26panel1-7&SubCategoryID=11#crnt

    Nick Corcodilos
    ASK THE HEADHUNTER

  106. This is the second time I have been hit with one of these. This time it is with a different company:

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker

    Senior Executive Recruiter

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    FS Recruiting Inc.

    https://fsrecruitinginc.com

    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District

    New York, NY 10038

  107. @Hank: Do ya think that could be JERRY Jeff Walker, the famous musician??

  108. I just got the same email from “Kevin Root” that John posted on 10/23. I replied to the email with my resume before doing any research. I’m thankful to see this stream and know to not do anything further.

    On Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 11:11 AM Kevin Root wrote:

    Subject: Executive Level Job Opportunities

    Hello Todd,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of The Executives Hiring Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Kevin Root
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    The Executives Hiring Inc
    http://www.theexecutiveshiring.com

    400 Madison Ave 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10017.

  109. An update to my post on 10/25/2019 – I got this follow-up email this morning from “Kyle Lambert.”

    On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 7:44 AM Kyle Lambert wrote:

    Hello Todd,

    This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am the team leader on this project and have received your information from Kevin Root.I will check my schedule and let you know a few time slots for a brief phone call.  I am having trouble uploading your resume in our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is. 

    Best Regards,

    Kyle Lambert
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    The Executives Hiring Inc.
    http://www.theexecutiveshiring.com

    400 Madison Ave 9th Floor 
    New York, NY 10017

  110. I would truly love to see these guys in jail. Watching this fraud continue to roll out and be perpetrated on a group of people who really need work and income is infuriating.

  111. I just found this post in a Google search checking up on an identical email I received from “Kevin Root” today. Thanks for the FTC link (I reported) and sharing. This is what I received:

    On Oct 28, 2019, at 8:44 AM, Kevin Root wrote:

    Hello Sophia,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of The Executives Hiring Inc. and our client has retained us to fill various C-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees

    Best Regards,

    Kevin Root
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    The Executives Hiring Inc
    http://www.theexecutiveshiring.com

    400 Madison Ave 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10017.

  112. Re my previous posts, I ignored the email received yesterday (see above) and got another email this morning (see below) encouraging me to check my resume through [http://resumereviews.net]. This is an unsecured HTTP domain and it redirects to [https://optimisedresumes.com] where you’ll see the headline “Resume Getting Stuck in ATS?” and options to pay for ATS Optimization ($99) and a variety of resume layout designs (most are $159).

    I’m not going to pay and take this any further. My assumption is that, after someone pays to “optimize” their resume, they’ll get additional emails requiring additional payments.

    On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 6:54 AM Kyle Lambert wrote:

    Hello Todd,

    I am still having the same issue. I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to check your resume through [http://resumereviews.net] and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

    We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

    We have a call scheduled with the client on Thursday and I will try to make a brief introduction. I am available for a call anytime on Friday, let me know a time that works for you and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

    Best Regards,

    Kyle Lambert

    Senior Executive Recruiter

    The Executives Hiring Inc.
    [www.theexecutiveshiring.com]

    400 Madison Ave 9th Floor
    New York, NY 10017

    • FABULOUS article. I’ve traded a few emails with Ron Smith, Senior Executive Recruiter and Mark Sullivan (see below) at ZRK Headhunters, including this one from Nov. 19 that is almost word-for-word what was used above on Oct. 29 from The Executives Hiring, just new names and websites. I thought it was odd that ZRK headhunters and these guys weren’t on LinkedIn, so fortunately I’m not out any money.

      testmyresume.net redirects to https://optimisedresumes.com/ which wants to lure you in with a $5 resume test, and then an assortment of resume writing services for around $159, with a $20 fee for any change or update you may want to make later. And when I searched on optimisedresumes.com I found your article. So, just in case anybody else out there does an internet search, I want to try to help the keyword matching:

      optimisedresumes.com SCAM, NOT LEGIT
      testmyresume.net SCAM, NOT LEGIT
      ZRK Headhunters Inc. SCAM, NOT LEGIT
      http://www.zrkheadhunters.com SCAM, NOT LEGIT
      Ron Smith ZRK Headhunters Inc. SCAM, NOT LEGIT
      Mark Sullivan ZRK Headhunters Inc. SCAM, NOT LEGIT

      I really hope somebody nails these guys.

      Nov. 19, 2019

      Denise,

      I am still having the same issue. I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to check your resume through testmyresume.net and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

      We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

      We have a call scheduled with the client on Thursday and I will try to make a brief introduction. I am available for a call anytime on Friday, let me know a time that works for you and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

      Best Regards,

      Mark Sullivan

      Senior Executive Recruiter

      ZRK Headhunters Inc.
      http://www.zrkheadhunters.com

      275 Madison Avenue Murray Hill
      New York City, NY 10016

  113. I am so angry and frustrated that scammers like this are able to continue to fleece people. I received the exact same emails as Todd (above) from both “Kevin Root” and “Kyle Lambert” from “The Executives Hiring.” I am so glad that I researched and found this link, and thank Nick for all of the exhaustive research – and for staying on top of this problem which has been going on for years.

    The only follow-up I’ll be doing with “Kevin” and “Kyle” is to contact the Federal Trade Commission as Nick has suggested. Of course, the frustration is that they’ll simply reappear shortly with new names and a new fake company…but let’s keep fighting until they’re all in jail!

  114. They have moved on to another name – domain was registered 132 days ago as of 12.11.19. Even the phone number “Amy Allen” lists is the same as previously used by Tiffany and Jeff.

    Good Morning XXXX,

    The role is aligned with your experience. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.

    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.

    Best Regards,

    Amy Allen

    Executives Search Director

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    Executive Pro Recruiting

    https://execprorecruit.com

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403

    Midtown New York, NY 10036

    cid:image003.png@01D5724B.93DFF7A0

    On Friday, November 15, 2019, 8:10:03 AM MST, Amy Allen wrote:

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Amy Allen and I am a Executives Search Director in Executives Pro Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,

    Amy Allen

    Executives Search Director

    +1 (917) 636-4976

    Executive Pro Recruiting

    https://execprorecruit.com

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403

    Midtown New York, NY 10036

  115. This is the scam that has arrived in my inbox, I sent the resume by mistake, but have now kept quiet. I attach the full texts of the emails at the end…

    This is the web page of these pseudo-recruiters: http://robinrecruiters.com/about-us.html
    I cannot find in Linkedin a profile of the company nor of the executives
    The address in NYC does not have suite or floor number
    The whois of the webpage is confidential
    The founder photo in the about-us page is a stock photo:
    https://www.istockphoto.com/mx/foto/pr%C3%B3spero-hombre-de-negocios-senior-en-ventana-gm970110706-264341423
    Another article detailing this scam: https://www.techlicious.com/tip/how-to-avoid-fake-job-scams/
    The last email is asking me to go to the scam site discussed in this blog: testmyresume.net

    —————
    1st email from victoria@robinrecruiters.com

    Hello XXX,

    I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Senior Executive Recruiter of Robin Recruiters Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best Regards,

    Victoria Jones
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    Robin Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.robinrecruiters.com

    Chelsea Center 322 8th Avenue,
    New York, NY 10001.

    ——————————
    2nd email from brad@robinrecruiters.com

    Hello XXX,

    This email is in response to the resume you’ve sent to us. I am the team leader on this project and have received your information from Victoria Jones.

    I will check my schedule and let you know a few time slots for a brief phone call.

    I am having trouble uploading your resume to our candidate management system. Have you ever had issues with your resume before? There may be an issue with the file, can you please send me another copy so I can try again. You have a professionally written resume so I am not sure what the issue is.

    Best Regards,

    Brad Wilson
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    Robin Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.robinrecruiters.com
    Chelsea Center 322 8th Avenue,
    New York, NY 1001.

    ——————–
    3rd email from brad@robinrecruiters.com

    Hello XXX,

    I am still having the same issue. I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to check your resume through testmyresume.net and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

    We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

    We have a call scheduled with the client on Tuesday next week and I will try to make a brief introduction. I am available for a call anytime on Wednesday next week, let me know a time that works for you and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

    Best Regards,

    Brad Wilson
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    Robin Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.robinrecruiters.com
    Chelsea Center 322 8th Avenue,
    New York, NY 1001.

  116. New Name, same email

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Amy Allen and I am a Executives Search Director in Executives Pro Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Amy Allen
    Executives Search Director
    +1 (917) 633-8650
    Executive Pro Recruiting
    https://execprorecruit.com
    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403
    Midtown New York, NY 10036

  117. Here’s a new Firm name TOP PRIVATE EQUITY RECRUITING and website (that is littered with mis-spellings):
    —————————————————————————-

    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Donna Levan and I am a Executives Search Director in Top Private Equity Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,

    Donna Levan

    Executives Search Director

    +1 (917) 633-8650

    https://topperecruiting.com

    Top Private Equity Recruiting

    71 West 47th Street, Suite 1403, Midtown

    New York, NY 10036

  118. The only way these criminals will stop is if there are severe consequences that are likely to occur. Lacking this, no matter how much we rant and what kind of exposure they get, they’ll keep doing this. There would have to be swift and aggressive follow-up when these scammers are identified, with very visible public trials along with severe, and very public, penalties. While I sometimes think it would be appropriate to string these people up to lampposts in NYC Times Square, it’s perhaps more realistic to think of prime time news videos showing convicted scammers like these being dragged from a courtroom to start a 5 year prison sentence. As long as they’re unlikely to face ugly repercussions from conducting their scams, this will never stop.

    Jon

  119. I posted this to Linked In a few months back –

    Photos from: https://www.techlicious.com/tip/how-to-avoid-fake-job-scams/#comments

    Fake Recruiting Scams – An Ongoing Problem…

    Recently, I received the following email from a “recruiter” –
    “Hello,
    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Jeff Walker and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in FS Recruiting Inc., a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.
    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.
    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.
    P.S: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.
    Company Size: $2.5B
    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    https://fsrecruitinginc.com
    80 Maiden Lane, 14th Floor – Suite 1404 Financial District
    New York, NY 10038″
    If you look up “FS Recruiting” – you find a legit-looking website, with legit looking people listed as the principles. So you send in your resume, and you get this in response:
    Hello Dana,
    Your experience is convincing. Unfortunately your resume does not parse correctly into Candidate Management System. In order to move forward, I need your ATS compatible resume ASAP for the initial process. You may contact https://cmsresumes.com for ATS Compatible Resume.
    For reason of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any detail of the position or company with you at this time, unfortunately. I will check my schedule and let you know few time slots for a brief phone call after the initial process.
    Best Regards,
    Jeff Walker
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 636-4976
    FS Recruiting Inc.
    The above was sent out at after 10pm, which is a bit suspicious, but ok, recruiters work long hours. This was followed by a quick note at 8am – “When can I expect your ATS compliant resume?”
    A look at the CMS Resumes site – also looks legit… and it’s $49 for the “ATS Compatible” resume. Time to be a bit suspicious – and… a bit more digging on resume scams reveals some interesting details. https://www.techlicious.com/tip/how-to-avoid-fake-job- scams/ – Here I find different recruiting companies listed (ProRecruiting and TQ Recruitment) – and the pictures shown for the principles are the same as for FS Recruiting. With different names of course. Now “Jeff Walker” is listed as “Greg Berry.” The other three faces also have different names as well. The TQ Recruitment site now pops up as “under maintenance,” and I didn’t find a site for ProRecruiting. Reading the job scam report from Techlicious – if you sign up for the $49, you’ll get asked to spend more money on other services. And there’s the risk of your personal data being scammed as well. (Side note – I don’t work, consult, or recommend Techlicious – I found the site from a quick search only…)
    Word to the wise –

  120. I hope this message finds you well. My name is Darlene Stewart and I am an Executives Search Director in PE Recruiting Inc. a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Darlene Stewart
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 633-8650
    Executive Pro Recruiting
    https://perecruitinginc.com
    745 5th Avenue, 5th Floor
    New York City, New York 10151

  121. The stupid scammers does not even take care to be consistent on web pages, on different web sites they have posted pictures of of different people with same name, How Robert becomes Mark and Guerrero on different website

    Hello ,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Mark Michel and I am a Sr. Recruiting Specialist in executives Pro Recruiting, a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Mark Michel
    Sr. Recruiting Specialist
    +1 (917) 633-8650
    https://execprorecruit.com

    • Rajesh: It’s simple. There is no Robert. There is no Mark. There is no Guerrero.

  122. They’re back, new shorten email this time:

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Executive Recruiter of Ferici Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Stacy Smith
    Executive Recruiter

    Ferici Inc.
    http://www.ferici.com
    153 W 27th St 5th Floor –
    New York, NY 10001, USA

  123. I received this note recently from the Federal Trade Commission concerning the many recent, new complaints from readers about online recruiting scams:

    * * *

    If you know of any victims, please encourage them to file reports with the Federal Trade Commission (online at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/?utm_source=takeaction#crnt&panel1-1 or by phone at 888-382-4357), with their State Attorney General, and with the Better Business Bureau.

    Anne LeJeune
    FTC | SOUTHWEST REGION

  124. There were a number of things that seemed fishy about “Darlene” which Jeanne has quoted above. I’d like to mess with them, but they are professional scammers and I don’t need that kind of trouble. Glad this site is here to help everyone avoid the scam. Sadly they prey on people’s ego, greed, or desire for new opportunities.

    • @Eric: There’s nothing to be afraid of. These are little people hiding behind fake names, addresses, websites and phone numbers. Call the number after blocking your own. You get a generic message from some phone forwarding service — hardly what you’d get when calling a legit search firm whose clients are so confidential you need to sign an NDA to even talk to the recruiter.

      No legit search firm would ever ask you to sign an NDA. And no legit search firm would contact you via boilerplate e-mail after getting your contact info from some readily available database like LinkedIn.

      Look up the address on Google Maps — then call the building’s leasing office. These are fake people with fake addresses. Check the “firm’s” website. You may find the names are not in text format so they cannot be searched — the names are graphic images. If there’s a photo, check it against Google Images — you’ll find the person doesn’t exist in Google. Successful headhunters are recognizable.

      The real people behind these scams get away with it because not enough consumers turn them in to the federal authorities. Not enough people complain. Federal offices like the FTC and FBI won’t take the time to drill these scammers deep into the ground, find and confiscate all their ill-gotten gains, and then lock them up. These scams succeed because they just barely fly under the radar.

      These scams are proof that crime pays.

      If Ask The Headhunter has helped you avoid being victimized, I’m glad. If you received a scam solicitation and you’d like to repay me, you can pay it forward. Please contact the FTC at the address I provided, send in the evidence and help mount a pile of evidence high enough to trigger an investigation. That’s how we all protect one another. Thanks.

  125. Just today I received the same email as David Knight did on 8/6:

    Hello Jacob,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Executive Recruiter of Ferici Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Stacy Smith
    Executive Recruiter

    Ferici Inc.
    **www.ferici.com**
    153 W 27th St 5th Floor –
    New York, NY 10001, US

    • @Jake: No phone number. And look at the NY address. See the giveaway? (I modified the URL so it won’t come up as a link)

      Most important, any real headhunter would say something in the e-mail that reveals they already know quite a bit about you — otherwise, why would they recruit you?

  126. Same thing happened to me. I’m embarassed that I fell for the initial contact after only checking the website but not digging deeper. Once they ask for money, though, the flag is up!

    ———-

    Hello Mike,
    We are still having the same issue with your resume. I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to check your resume through optimisedresumes.com and see if you can identify and fix the problem.
    We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.
    We have a call scheduled with the client on Tuesday next week and I will try to make a brief introduction. I am available for a call anytime on Wednesday next week. Let me know a time that works for you and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and in the meantime please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.
    Best Regards,

    Graham Williams
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    Exact Recruiters Inc.
    http://www.exactrecruiters.com
    400 Madison Ave 4th Floor
    New York, NY 10017

  127. Back and better:

    Darlene Stewart
    7:06 AM (15 hours ago)
    to me

    Why is this message in spam? It is similar to messages that were identified as spam in the past.
    Report not spam
    Hello,

    I hope this message finds you well. My name is Darlene Stewart and I am an Executives Search Director in PE Recruiting Inc. a reputable Global Recruitment Firm. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities.

    One of our clients has retained us to fill various senior level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested and want to learn more, please reply to this email with a copy of your resume as soon as possible. I will forward it, along with a brief introduction to the client and will contact you back to complete the NDA and get started.

    Note: We are a retained search firm and get paid by the employer. You will not be asked to share any confidential information or pay any fees.

    Company Size: $2.5B

    Best Regards,
    Darlene Stewart
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    +1 (917) 633-8650
    Private Equity Recruiting Inc.
    745 5th Avenue, 5th Floor
    New York City, New York 10151
    https://perecruitinginc.com/

  128. thanks, they are back under http://www.vphiring.com created on 11/11/2020 (see whois link below) and asking you to use http://www.optimisedresumes.com . beware, scam. https://www.whois.com/whois/vphiring.com

    • Thanks, Good citizen, for confirming my suspicions. I just got one of these from vphiring, googled it and landed here.

  129. A new twist to the old scam

    Hello David,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Executive Recruiter of SC Headhunters Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Andrew Brown
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    SC Headhunters Inc.
    http://www.scheadhunters.com

    • @Dave: Look up the “principals” of the firm, do a Google image search on their faces, GoogleMap the address in NYC. Note there is no phone number except on one page, where it’s buried. Been there, done that? Thanks for posting.

  130. Only a week apart now!

    Hello David,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Executive Recruiter of SC Headhunters Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Andrew Brown
    Senior Executive Recruiter

    SC Headhunters Inc.
    http://www.scheadhunters.com

  131. They are still at it, new company name with no address:

    From: Victoria Jones
    Subject: Regarding Job Opportunity
    Date: October 4, 2021 at 8:36:37 PM EDT
    To:
    Reply-To: v.jones@execsearchpros.com

    Hello ,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Head of Leadership Consulting at Exec Search Pros Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Victoria Jones
    Head of Leadership Consulting
    Exec Search Pros Inc.

  132. I received an email from “Victoria Jones” just yesterday.

    “Hello XXXX,

    I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in exploring new opportunities. I am Head of Leadership Consulting at Exec Search Pros Inc. Our client has retained us to fill various senior-level positions in one of their recent acquisitions. I was referred to you by an outside talent sourcing firm and based on your previous experience I think you are a very credible candidate.

    If you are interested in learning more, please reply back to this email with an updated copy of your resume and I will connect you with the recruiter leading this project and schedule an introductory call.

    Best regards,

    Victoria Jones
    Head of Leadership Consulting
    Exec Search Pros Inc.”

  133. They are still at it, I received the following yesterday under the Exec Search Pros Inc

    On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 9:42 AM Brad Wilson wrote:
    Hi XXX

    I am still having trouble uploading your resume, I asked my colleague and apparently, it is a common issue. He instructed me to ask you to get a free resume review from https://resume-experts.com/ and see if you can identify and fix the problem.

    We can open the file without any issues but the problem is with the way information in your resume is structured and formatting used which is resulting in a lot of missing information in experience fields when your resume is parsed by the candidate management systems. Please check your resume and try fixing the issue so we don’t have to manually type everything in our candidate tracking system.

    For reasons of confidentiality and non-disclosure, I am not able to share any details of the vacancy or company with you at this time, unfortunately. However, we have a meeting scheduled with the client today by EoD, and I would love to discuss the opportunity with you in detail after that.

    I will be available for a call any time tomorrow. Simply reply to this email and let me know the time that suits you best and I will give you a call to discuss the next steps and, in the meantime, please try to get your resume issue fixed so our timing is not affected.

    I look forward to speaking with you.

    Best Regards,

    Brad Wilson
    Senior Executive Recruiter
    Exec Search Pros Inc.