Did You Get A Job Offer From Fedora Antiques? BEWARE! It Wasn't Actually From Fedora Antiques!

There is a new scam going around, and it seems the scammers are using/victimizing various antiques shops across Canada.

Unfortunately, the list includes mine.

Some scammer, based who-knows-where overseas, has created a bogus Gmail address using my shop name. The fake email is fedoraantiqueandcollectibles@gmail.com. That is NOT my email. 

You'll notice it is "antique", rather than "antiques". Usually missing the "s" points towards someone who is not entirely fluent in English.

The scam works like this: The scammer posts a "job offer" on a Facebook group, and the interested parties are sent a "job offer" letter. The one below is what was sent to a potential victim, who was nice enough to send a copy of to me. The scammer has essentially copied various aspects of my website and information to create the bogus letter.

Notice they tried to "official it up" by adding a Canadian Antiques Dealers logo at the bottom. I don't belong to that group, as thy require 80% of your inventory to be true antiques, and my shop does not qualify, as I deal in a wide variety of collectibles and vintage items, also.  

Anyway, you then are "interviewed" over Telegram, and once they give you the "job", you are sent a (bogus) cheque, which you are instructed to deposit, and then use the money to buy Apple Pay gift cards "for customers".

Then I assume the scammer cashes said cards, and is gone with your money.

So, then the victim contacts the real business, expecting to be paid for their work, also not realizing they have been scammed until the cheque comes back to them as uncashable.

I found out about it from two individuals contacting me to find out if the offer was a legitimate one. I delved into the issue, and found out this information I have detailed here.  I also now know I am one of about 5 antiques shops that have been victimized across Canada, though the number is likely higher than 5. Here is an article on one of the business victims.

So, if you ever see job postings for data entry positions, administrative assistant positions, etc, beware that they could be scams such as this, and be aware that the business names being used are just stolen from legitimate honest businesses to give a veil of legitimacy to the scam.

Be careful out there!