General Job Scam - Example 001

----- Original Message -----
From: [me]
To: Dad
Cc: [my son]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 1:05 PM
Subject: [my son] and Mano Marketing

Dad,

[My son] messaged me this morning. He's cancelled an interview he was going to with someone named "Katherine" at Mano Marketing in Indianapolis today (he found them on a job-board like Monster, I think),

***

Check this out...

Here's Mano Marketing's website. (check it out before going further)

When I pulled up Mano Marketing's site, this time, I noticed that super-fine print in the lower right corner. (You can right-click and "zoom in" in most Macromedia movies, of which this one is.) It's pretty much the same on other pages on the site.

ALL of them have:

What the hell does that mean? An attempt at "subliminal advertising"? Most of them have it twice, sometimes at different angles. Some only have it once. and a couple of the pages have the link:

http://aolsvc.aol.consumerreports.org/auto_new/index_aol.html
?AFFname%20of%20uour%2018&AFFADID=AOL72001&id=97
[NOTE: Bottom half part of link cannot be found, anymore - 08/02/2006]

(You can click it here, but you can't click it on the site... you have to type it in). Apparently, the article's no longer there. Wonder what it said? Wonder if it was a "good" report or a "bad" report, placed by the web-designers (none mentioned anywhere) as a warning? ;-)

***

He, like many others looking for a job, probably ignored the "concept" tab, or didn't understand it. When I read it, I immediately thought "telemarketing". When he described it to [his mother, my ex], she thought telemarketing. Turns out it's door-to-door selling of coupons.

While there's nothing wrong with either, it kinda depends on how you 'sell' your salesmen, doesn't it? (And "disclosure" for prospective employees?) Apparently, they're not known for "disclosing" what they do and how they do it until you're away from the office and not in your car - in someone else's. And, apparently, one of the "top salesmen" is a major piece of work.

He sent me this link: Rip Off Report:Mano Marketing ripoff, life was put in danger, scam artist, demeaning to my intelligence, horrible working conditions, safety was put on the line Indianapolis Indiana

I followed the search, and found Rip-off Report.com - badbusinessbureau.com (Search for "Mano Marketing") [10 entries 08/02/2006]. Read them all, even the "defenders". What type of firm defends itself by telling ex-employees how worthless they are?

Like at least one of the "middle-of-the-road"-type responses said, you can't blame a whole company for one "franchise" or person. Well, MM is apparently either part of, or the owner "came from", one of the other companies mentioned, and she may have learned how to sell, but apparently, not how to deal with people.

I didn't do any other searching on Mano or the other companies named, though I'm sure there are other "rip-off reports" and other sites detailing problems with and successes with them.

At least [my son] found out before going. (Good Job!) Either way, I think he'd have found out somehow even after the first interview.

Later.