I got mail today purporting to be from Schlumberger Asia Services Ltd.
(a real company with an office in Gurgaon) conveying the good news that
I was one of 62 people selected for an interview for some unspecified
position.
After a lot of text cut-and-pasted from
careers.slb.com
about how the company values diversity and respects everyone's unique
perspective (which doesn't look at all out of place in a scam email),
the mail goes on to say this:
SECURITY DEPOSIT: You have to deposit the REFUNDABLE sum of Rs.8,750/-
( Eight thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty India Rupees ) from your Home
City to our Company accountant name in charge of recruitment. The
Account Number and all other relevant information will be sent to you
upon your response.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This is a REFUNDABLE interview security deposit.
Your offer letter with Air tickets will be sent to your Home Address
by courier after receiving the confirmation of interview security
deposited as instructed. This Company will pay all the expenditure to
you at the time of face-to-face meeting with you in person. The Job
profile, salary offer, and date/time of interview will be stated in
your OFFER LETTER, it will be couriered to you very shortly after
receiving your confirmation of cash deposited and if you are
eventually selected or not, still the amount will be refunded to you,
as the amount is just to prove that you will be coming for the
interview in order for us not to run at a loss after procuring/sending
you the air ticket and you don't show up on the day of interview.
Without much ado,contact Mr.Alex Juden (Secretary and General Counsel)
via Email and telephone immediately.
Said Mr. Alex Juden's phone number is +91-750-307-0880
I've never seen this particular trick before, but I can imagine a lot of
people falling for it.
I wanted to let Schlumberger Asia Services know, but (not surprisingly)
their web site didn't give me any email addresses, just a tiny "contact
us" form into which I did not fancy cutting-and-pasting the message. I
wonder if I could report it to the Delhi Police somehow.