I recently was looking for a new job, and I posted on several job sites (Indeed, Career Builder, Monster, etc.). I was contacted by person named Brian Tyms and the company was called BriTechSystems.ca, located in 1 Dundas St W Toronto, ON M5B 2H1. He advised me that they found my resume on Indeed and wanted to set up a phone interview, great, not exactly. Brian set up a date and time for a phone interview which was on a Monday. I received the call and we spoke about 15 minutes, if that. Brian said he would discuss the phone interview with his leadership team and call me Wednesday to update me on the outcome. The one thing that I noticed is that Brian followed through on every detail and was always on-time.
Brian called me and offered me the job (Red flag #1) and discussed all the financial details, position, location, and the approximate start date. Who hires on one 15-minute phone interview? No one! Brian Tyms proceeded to tell me that they’re looking to sign a lease for office space in downtown Orlando and that I will need to buy office supplies. Brian advised me that he will be sending me a check for $4,900. I thought two things; That’s an odd amount and how much office supplies do you need? (Red Flag #2). He told me he would call me Thursday with the tracking number, and he did, he followed through with everything he committed to. I didn’t sign for the check, they just left it at my front door.
I started poking around by checking out a few things and bingo! The web domain was just registered 5 days before Brian contacted me. The web site phone number was the same number Brian Tyms was calling from (289-707-6492) which was more than likely a burner phone. (Red flag #3).
It only gets worse, but I already was playing along after the second red flag. Brian calls me on Tuesday and he asks if I cashed the check, I said no as I just received it. I carefully reviewed the check and new right away it was a fake cashier’s check (Red flag #4). Brian proceeds to tell me that we need to move fast as we are signing our new lease in downtown Orlando Wednesday. After seeing how pushy he was I kept playing along and told him I will cash it tomorrow (Red flag #5).
In a text, I asked Brian to share the business EIN# along with the business license just to let him know I was onto him. This was his exact response;
If you have doubt you can quit. What do you need the EIN for? I have been working here for 5 years and I have not had anyone ask for that before” (Red flag #6)
Though I caught this scam early, I think many people will fall for it. The plan was for me to cash the check and deposit the funds in another account. If I was to cash the fake check and the money cleared, in about a week the bank would have hunted me down to pay back the full amount.
In a recent article written by the Better Business Bureau titled “Don’t Cash That Check” outlines the same check scam, but not related to a new job offer.