Mike McCarthy - McSourcer, Chicago, IL, USA (Spam Scam)

Infuriations: no jobs, this is phishing fraud AND a hot-check fraud.

An entity calling itself Mike McCarthy has been phishing for people's information online for at least three years. It's unknown whether and how that personal information is ever used, although this is NOT a legitimate recruiting agency (as if there were many "legitimate recruiting agenc(ies)"!) The crux of the scam seems to be the long-known check scam that's been adapted to employment. Here's how it works, as documented on this site and others:

The victim performs some meaningless work for which payment is promised. (Bear in mind that no face is ever seen, victims are communicating only through email.) The work may be coding, editing, writing, etc. It's usually simple enough not to raise questions about the end client, but complex enough to warrant several hundred or a few thousand dollars in compensation. The McSourcer criminals then send a check for payment for this work.

The check is for an amount greater than the agreed compensation, so the sender requests that the victim withdraw the remainder amount from his or her bank account and wire it via Western Union. Again, this is in the range of hundreds or a few thousand dollars. You know what happens: the victim deposits the sent check, withdraws real money and wires it, then a few days later the sent check bounces. Meanwhile, Western Union's only identification is a name, perhaps a code used when the wired cash was picked up. Now the victim has invested hours or days of work for nothing, and suffers the loss of hundreds or thousands of dollars without recourse.

UPDATE: See location address below. He/she/they/it have apparently relocated to California.