Recently my brother got a job with a company called "Civmec" and what he does is he will go to locations like Walmart and accept incoming money grams and then go to a different Walmart and send them to a specified location. He gets to keep 10% of the money gram as payment. This to me has a million red flags all over it. I treid to tell him its a scam first of all because he takes 10% and it's cash with no pay stubs or paper trail so there is no way to tax it and even a legit commission job has a form pay stubs. Also he is sending some of these to places like South Africa and Puerto Rico. He says that it's for their payroll but that's ridiculous also, why can't Civmec just send it to that address themselves. I told him that they are setting him up as the scapegoat for whatever they are doing but he still thinks they are a legit business. Please don't just tell me this sounds like a scam, I know it sounds like one. Is there anyone out there this has happened to before? Or can anyone find me solid proof this is a scam. I just don't want my brother in law to get in serious trouble with the law. Please help me.
Our being set up.
Do not do them!!! This is a scam and you can do jail time for this!!!
Oh dear, Ethan, that sounds exactly like a scam to me! First of all, Civmec is a company located in Australia (already a red flag) and they are an engineering constructor to oil and gas, metals & minerals, etc types of things. That does NOT sound like a company that needs to employ someone in the US to do anything with shifting money through money gram.
What I would guess is that your brother has gotten himself involved in money laundering accidentally.
It's 2017. People can transfer funds immediately through the internet using their cell phones. Why would they pay your brother to, essentially, move money around? I think your brother is helping launder stolen funds and, if caught, he could be in some legal trouble.
PLEASE make your brother read this article: https://www.thebalance.com/money-laundering-job-scams-2062174 -- at the bottom of the article a link about how to report such a scam. I think it's better for your brother to go to the authorities RIGHT NOW because if he keeps going, he could be in big trouble. He could even be arrested.
Keep yourself (and your brother) safe! Learn the ways to spot and avoid job scams here: https://www.jobcase.com/conversations/99b495e9-df66-5cb0-90f3-61718b0d4ecc
Yes, it's a scam. The intention is to gather personal information.