'New job' bank scam costs $5000

RIPPED OFF: Rick Pasternak ended up being scammed when he thought he had scored a job. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 191213BF9

A Rotorua man thought he was re-joining the workforce, the last thing he expected was to help fraudsters.

Now Rick Pasternak is $5000 out of pocket and looking for work once again - and on a mission to prevent others from being scammed.

A month ago he saw a job on Trade Me for a customer assistant. The role involved setting sellers up with buyers across the world. Money was deposited in his bank account and he would keep 10 per cent and send the rest overseas via Western Union to his customers.

He had already sent one payment to Ukraine when his bank called.

"I thought I was handling other people's money and doing the right thing - only to get scammed," Mr Pasternak said.

"It sounded legitimate. A lot of people have told me the emails I received looked legit too and they could have fallen for it. How many others already have?"

The so-called business was sending out phishing emails. Those who fell for the emails had their bank accounts hacked. That money was then paid into Mr Pasternak's account for him to launder.

"They send out emails to get access to your account then they take advantage of those people and find people like me to launder their money ... I had no idea."

He said the bank was investigating but the money had been removed from his account and repaid to the person originally defrauded. He was now $5000 out of pocket.

"I've now got a negative balance and no work," Mr Pasternak said.

The email he had received about the job claimed he would work between five and eight hours a week and earn $1500 to $2500 a month.

The email stated: "Bid Services CO has been in business since 2008, with the head office located in New York, US. We offer a variety of services to our clients, including - reselling and selling, providing auction services, and uniting sellers with customer assistant worldwide to contribute to the productivity of the sales force."

Rotorua police head of CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith said anyone taking money and sending to a third party was "taking a risk".

"The money will be auditable and you will end up carrying the can for the whole lot," he said.

"If there wasn't anything dodgy about it people would use their own bank accounts. They often have plausible explanations, but step back and take a look at it - there wouldn't be a reasonable explanation why someone should put money into your account for you to move it for them."